MONROVIA — Wednesday made it exactly 100 days since Joseph Boakai was inaugurated as the 26th president of Liberia.
When Boakai launched his 2023 presidential bid, Liberia was at a crossroads. Citizens were becoming increasingly disillusioned by their government over impunity for alleged corruption.
The mood of hope and excitement that greeted the election of George Weah six years earlier had shifted, and at least half of the Liberian population was yearning for change.
Indeed, it has been a momentous 100 days marked by deliberately proactive initiatives and reset policies, as well as a few policy missteps, which have been trailed by both commendation and controversy.
Presidency brags about ‘gains’
In his January 22 inauguration speech, President Boakai declared that “no car would get stuck on major highways in the country.” And on Wednesday, the president announced that under his 100-Day Action plan for road maintenance, his government has earmarked 11 key projects across the country to make sure that primary roads are all pliable during all seasons.
President Boakai said the Ministry of Public Works has been undertaking major road corridor projects totaling about 783.5 km in Bong, Lofa, Bomi, Gbarpolu, Nimba, Grand Gedeh, Rivergee, Grand Bassa, Sinoe, Maryland, and Grand Kru Counties.
To date, he added, contractors, equipment, and logistics have been heavily mobilized, and active work such as clearing, grading, shaping, and stabilization of critical spots, identification of culvert lines, and borrowing pits for material testing along all corridors are ongoing.
The Liberian leader said policy changes aimed at improving economic development were a fundamental objective of this 100-day plan. In this quarter, he added, initial reforms and capacity building in agriculture, tourism, and commerce were seen as building blocks for the country’s long-term economic development.
“Pivotal to our 100-day deliverable plan, was the need to introduce key legislations crucial to our governance process, and to the promotion of the potential growth-spurring tourism sector. In these past 100 days, and despite limited resources, we were able to make significant gains against interventions we set out in various sectors,” he said.
In Education, President Boakai said his administration has made strides in meeting targets in education during his regime’s first 100 days.
Key deliverables, he said, included paying scholarship arrears for local and foreign students and investing in Youth capacity building in ICT for the first six months.
“To date, the Government of Liberia has allotted funds for the payment of arrears for both local and international scholarship students. These arrears include underwriting expenditures such as monthly allowances, resettlement assistance, air ticket costs, French language training programs, and other administrative and operational costs associated with students’ well-being,” he said.
President Boakai added: “Additionally, my administration inherited a debt of nearly 6 million of unpaid fees to the West African Examination Council for WASSCE sat by our students. Despite meager resources, US$3.5 Million has been appropriated in the FY 2024 budget for the payment of WASSCE fees.”
Worrying missteps
On coming to office, President Boakai was blunt about the size of the challenges ahead. “Our economy is broken. Our government is broke. Our currency is in free fall. Inflation is rising,” he said.
“Unemployment is at an unprecedented high and our foreign reserves are at an all-time low.”
In running for office, Boakai disparaged the corruption and nepotism that transpired under his predecessor, George Weah. In his inaugural address, he repeated vows to end rampant graft and to bring in a new breed of officials, declaring that it won’t be “Business as usual”.
“I believe the overwhelming mandate that I received from the Liberian people is a mandate to end corruption in public service,” he said. “It is time to be honest with our people. Though corruption is a habit among our people, we must end it.”
Given his experience having worked in government for 42 years, many believed Boakai had the credibility to tackle this problem. But soon after his inauguration, the new president started making worrying missteps.
His choice for Justice Minister, Cooper Kruah, for example, raised eyebrows. Kruah’s appointment drew comparisons to a similar case during President Weah’s era.
In 2018, President Weah withdrew the nomination of Cllr. Charles Gibson, as Minister of Justice/Attorney General after media reports questioned his integrity. It had been established by the Grievance and Ethics Committee that Gibson misappropriated funds from a client, leading to his suspension until restitution was made.
Kruah, who accused of involvement in corrupt practices, undermines the very principles that President Boakai vowed to defend. Kruah was also embroiled in controversy following an investigation conducted by The DayLight, which revealed his alleged involvement as a shareholder in a logging and mining company while serving as minister of posts and telecommunications.
Boakai would go in to reappoint Kruah as Labor Minister after recalling his appointment.
Further eyebrows were raised when it emerged that the President’s appointments indicated that there was no clear departure from the old order, where a system that promotes the president’s county of nativity has been taken into serious consideration.
Boakai’s appointments made have favored Lofa County, his county of origin. where the President comes from. Areas where Lofians have been appointed include; the Mayor of Monrovia, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Youth and Sports, LISGIS, Deputy Minister of Public Works, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the head of the Liberia Revenue Authority, the Minister of Education, Deputy Minister for Administration, General Services Agency, Assistant Minister for Special Services, Minister of States without Portfolio, Managing Director, Liberia Telecommunications Corporation, Director, and General Corporation Development Agency, among others.
Not only is this reminiscent of former president Weah’s appointments of people from his Southeast region to key positions, but questions his ability to unite the country, according to civil society organizations.
President Boakai’s first 100 days in office may have been a rude awakening for the former vice president. He has already faced some high-footed challenges and experienced some slip-ups in pursuing his ambitious agenda.
CDC Score Boakai low
Meanwhile, the opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) has scored President Boakai low in his first one 100 days, describing the Unity Party’s 100-Day Action Plan as a Fiasco and collosal failure.
The party said its conclusion is drawn from Unity Party’s own published “achievements” during the period under review.
The CDC said Unity Party performance was dismal as it achieved a 0.0035%, far below 1% of its hundred day’s projects and programs objectives. The CDC said the Unity Party said it would have funded using US $ 23,488,543.00 of taxpayers ’monies’. Additionally, of the government 67 routine targets for the hundred days, appallingly, the government only achieved 12, representing 18%, the government failed to achieve 38 of those targets, representing 58% not achieved, while 17 of those projects remain incomplete, representing 24 percent, the party said.
“This assessment does not consider the projects and targets the government said its partners would implement. Besides this statistical evidence above, the evidence of the obvious colossal failure of these overambitious plans are evident in the street and every corners of the country,” the CDC added.
“As we release these assessments, the price of a 25kg of rice is LD$300 more than what it was before the Unity Party’s first hundred days, likewise, the cost of a dollar GSM card and voice and data bundles have also increased.”
