Monrovia, — --John Morlu terms CBL Executive Governor's suspension
President Boakai suspended the embattled CBL Executive Governor on July 30, 2024, based on an audit report by the General Auditing Commission (GAC).
Liberia's former Auditor General, Mr. John Morlu, says the suspension of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) Executive Governor Mr. J. Aloysius Tarlue is completely illegal, wrong, and irregularly measured.
Morlu, who backed President Joseph Nyumah Boakai's 2023 presidential bid, has accused the incumbent of committing a serious crime by suspending the CBL boss outside of the Act creating the entity.
Morlu also denounced Tarlue's replacement by someone outside of the CBL system.
President Boakai suspended the embattled CBL Executive Governor on July 30, 2024, based on the Auditor General's report on the compliance audit done by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) of the CBL for fiscal periods 2018-2023.
Speaking on the Spoon midnight conversation, Mr. Morlu said President Boakai had committed a serious crime by suspending Tarlue.
He argued that when the government creates tenure positions in its wisdom and judgment, they are for good corporate governance.
Despite his claim that Mr. Tarlue was not qualified and competent to be the CBL Executive Governor, Morlu argued that he can't be removed irregularly as President Boakai has done.
Mr. Morlu insisted that the CBL Act does not mandate that the President remove the sitting governor.
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He, therefore, believes that suspending Tarlue and appointing someone from outside the entity sends a negative signal to the outside world.
"The Central Bank Act or law laid out clearly the procedure for removal, and it includes illegal acts and misconduct," Morlu explained.
"My advice to President Boakai is [to] reinstate Tarlue, constitute an investigation body, look at the GAC Report, and hold him for misconduct that is in the Act," the former GAC boss noted.
Morlu stated his second problem with the CBL saga: You can't remove a sitting bank governor who has been confirmed by the Legislature and bring in an outsider to act.
He said nobody put guns at the head of the government to create tenure positions through the Legislature.
He, therefore, noted that the government has a mandate to obey the law and respect people who are protected under the law with tenures.
"When former President George M. Weah was removing people at the LTA (Liberia Telecommunication Authority), we told him to obey the law," Morlu recalled.
"Also, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf did the same thing to other people. In my recommendation to President Boakai, while handling some of these tenure issues, I told him to investigate first before removing as the law instructs."
"Finally, I want to say that on this tenure issue, the President is wrong, and he must reinstate the Governor ... and recall that man whom he placed there from outside," he suggested.
