Monrovia — Liberian political analyst Mr. Abdullah Kiatamba says it's too early to render judgment against President Joseph Nyumah Boakai's administration, but the country's missteps and misdirection are too troubling to ignore.
He told an exclusive interview with the NewDawn newspaper on Monday, 17 June 2024, at a local hotel in Monrovia that President Boakai's early missteps are troubling signs for the country's direction and future.
"It's too early, but at the same time, the signs are too troubling for the country to ignore," said Mr. Kiatamba.
"It's too early to make a conclusive judgment on President Boakai's impact and achievement, failure, but the signs are clear that if those things are not addressed, the President and his government will lose the confidence of the people he enjoyed while in opposition," he argued.
Kiatamba also reacted to President Boakai's statement that he is not God to perform an immediate miracle to change things for the country.
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According to Kiatamba, President Boakai's reply to the Liberian people is completely poor and sound of overreaction.
According to him, the President's statement is more of an excuse than an explanation of why things are not right in the country.
He urged President Boakai to respond to the issues instead of critics, describing his assertion as a poor talking point.
"That tells you that the President has been hearing these things, and I think it bothers him. Of course, he is not God, and nobody expects him to be God, and nobody says he should be God."
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"But, that argument also gives the impression that the President is overreacting. I think it was a poor talking point," he continued.
Mr. Kiatamba said that means that the President says things can't get better than this.
"So, he is admitting that it will get worse, and his future answer will be he is not God," Kiatamba noted.
Additionally, Mr. Kiatamba suggested that President Boakai's Asset Recovery Team collapsed after starting on a terrible footing because its composition raised more questions than answers.
"President Boakai, since becoming President with all the growing concern and everything that had been happening, has not taken his time to address the media; it's a misstep," said Kiatamba.
"Your predecessor was said not to love the media or address Liberia; now you came and are doing the same thing even worse."
On the issues of roads, he added that President Boakai's government engaged in huge corruption within the first hundred days in rewarding contracts to maintain roads across the country, particularly when it comes to procurement and how contracts were obtained.
"President Boakai, everything about President Boakai looks the same, and the change is not coming. The change looks different, and then he gives the impression that something is coming."
He wondered which of President Boakai's major initiatives was making progress.
