Look into your sincere heart and read this fairly and justly. Uncle Joe is repeating the past with each passing day.
The dismissal of CDCians represents poor governance and a disregard for the interests of Liberians. It's time for Boakai to wake up and show true leadership. This situation demands courage, and we encourage everyone to stand up for their fellow Liberians.
The Constitution grants the right to select and appoint political appointees, not professional workers and civil servants. In the USA, a president can appoint 4,033 out of 1.4 million workers in the federal government.
In Liberia, there is no Presidential Appointment Act that clearly defines the number of people a president can appoint. Boakai, Pro Tempore Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence, and Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa have neglected to pass such laws in Liberia, allowing the President to potentially appoint over 5 million people to any position he can create on the fly. This is Bad Governance 101, yet the disorganization continues under Boakai.
We must stand up against bad practices, whether they come from Uncle Joe Boakai, Weah, Sirleaf, Bryant, Taylor, Doe, Tolbert, or Tubman. We cannot pick and choose based on tribal or political lines. Liberia is hurting and not at peace, with zero opportunities for jobs for ordinary folks. So far, we see no rescue, only a replacement game.
Even UP partisans are being left out due to friendship and cronyism. Look at the officials in the Executive Mansion--99% are not Unity Party partisans. The mansion is one place where 100% of the people in political appointments should be UP partisans to enforce the UP platform.
That said, in the civil service, party affiliation should not determine a person's right to employment--Boakai's team is repeating the same mistakes Weah made, and this needs to stop. Boakai and his team criticized the Weah administration when a few UP partisans were dismissed for allegedly "insulting" President Weah. Liberians rejected Lenn Eugene Nagbe's statements that no UP partisans would be employed if the CDC won a second term. Many of us spoke out against Weah's administration when a few partisans were unfairly dismissed.
Under pressure from us, Weah himself intervened, stopping the overzealous actions of some ministers and officials who were trying to prove false loyalty.
We are victims. For instance, Gender Minister Williametta Edouarda Saydee-Tarr foolishly fired UP partisans. This same fake zealot, Piso Tarr, once claimed, "John Morlu will never be associated with Weah's government because he supported Boakai in 2017," but later changed her stance. This attitude drove away supporters and alienated people.
Now, in 2024, we're seeing a similar pattern with Josiah Joekai, the fast-talking CSA Director. For full disclosure, Josiah used to call me "uncle," but now he barely acknowledges me. Until the day he was appointed, he would frequently call to express grievances. This "nephew" of mine is undermining Boakai's government by promoting the dismissal of CDC partisans--a move that is just plain wrong.
Boakai must intervene, just as Weah did, to put an end to this nonsense. In contrast, individuals like Jefferson Koijee and the Comptroller General kept the UP partisans they met and worked alongside them. Despite Lenn Nagbe's unfortunate and anti-Liberian statement during the campaign, he opposed firing UP partisans throughout Weah's six years in office. Eugene Nagbe didn't fire anyone on account of being a UP partisan.
Where are the strong leaders in Boakai's government willing to stand up to Josiah Joekai? Many officials are opposed to Joekai's crude actions against CDCians but have cowardly gone into hiding.Every Liberian deserves a job to support their family.
Instead of dismissing people, Boakai's economic team should focus on job creation. But are they? There's no evidence so far--they are busy chasing officials at CBL and backing bailouts for their personal benefit. In any respectable country, the finance minister's role should be centered on debt management, tax policy, and expenditure to foster job growth. However, in Liberia, finance ministers have reduced their roles to being little more than Accounts Payable Clerks, spending 90% of their time managing voucher payments--a shameful state of affairs.
Instead of crafting monetary policy to ensure price stability and boost the economy, the CBL governors have turned CBL into a commercial bank, cashing checks over the counter to the tune of $178 million, undermining the nation's banking system. Boakai's Liberia is just as chaotic as it was under Weah.
We advised Boakai during the campaign, throughout the transition, and recently on Spoon Talk, urging him not to sack CDCians simply due to agitation. Weah's administration was increasing employment even at the last minute. Instead of dismissals, we proposed repurposing employees to roles better suited to their skills.
Firing Liberians in a country where the government has failed to create an enabling environment for job creation, and where there has been little investment in building the capacity of Liberians to compete, is both unfair and detrimental to peace.
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History has shown that leaders like Samuel Doe, Taylor, Sirleaf, and Weah left office in disgrace because of overzealous individuals like Josiah Joekai. Boakai and his administration must reject this personalization and manipulation of the bureaucracy.
We are deeply surprised that Mayor John Siafa would support such actions, but power can change even the most decent people. Mayor Siafa, don't get dirty in Josiah Joekai's ill-timed and crazy ideas about governance. Joekai needs to be properly onboarded. He doesn't seem to know his job or its limits.
We commend Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa for speaking out against the actions of the CSA Director Joekai However, where is the "Rescue Mother"? Senate Pro Tempore Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence should take a front-and-center role in addressing these divisive issues, especially as the country becomes increasingly unstable.
Both Pre-Tempore Karbga Lawrence and Speaker Koffa should prove their commitment: Draft and pass Presidential Appointment Act. This is a classic good governance.
