Two CDC officials who administered the affairs of Liberia for six years have recently come into the news, with one accusing the other of failing to prosecute corrupt officials from the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf government, following the departure of UNMIL.
This accusation comes from former Finance and Development Planning Minister Samuel Tweah against his ex-boss, former President George Weah. It is unclear whether Samuel Tweah provided any form of advice to his former boss, but he was frank in his statement that the former president should be blamed for not taking legal action against those who siphoned state resources during Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s administration.
Liberia’s former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah stated that the CDC-led government’s failure to prosecute alleged former officials of Madam Sirleaf’s government after UNMIL’s departure was serious negligence that hindered their political success. In a joint radio interview, Tweah told journalists that the CDC government did not want to create chaos, given that they took power at a time when Liberia was experiencing fragile peace.
His statement draws attention to the nuanced truths and implications, considering the time between the end of Liberia’s civil war and their rise to power. It is known that the CDC was elected in 2017, about 14 years after the last gun was fired in Liberia due to the Accra Peace Accord. The first government democratically elected after the civil war was the Unity Party government headed by Africa’s first female president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
However, Tweah argued that officials of the CDC government, including the president, didn’t want to be blamed for a witch hunt that could have automatically destabilized the country in the absence of UNMIL.
Just like Madam Sirleaf, who publicly stated that one of the challenges of fighting corruption is the interrelated nature of society, Weah made similar statements. It is rumored that former Minister Samuel Tweah and ex-President George Weah, both officials of the CDC, are not on good terms.
While the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) continues to go through internal wrangling, political pundits view Tweah’s latest statement against his former leader as political damage.
Former Minister Samuel Tweah and others are currently on trial for alleged corruption surrounding $6 million that was reportedly removed from the Financial Intelligence Agency account under questionable circumstances. Upon returning to the country after facing two court arrest orders, the former Finance and Development Planning Minister has submitted to legal proceedings, securing an $8 million criminal appearance bond.
Under Liberia’s legal jurisdiction, the allegations of crimes against former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah are bailable offenses. However, what has left many Liberians pondering is the availability of such a substantial criminal appearance bond.
There have been reports indicating that no government official in the George Weah administration or President Joseph Boakai, whose salaries and benefits, when summed over six years, are equivalent to such an amount of money.
However, some companies buy and sell guarantees that can amount to the $8 million criminal appearance bond secured by the defendant.
It was earlier reported that former Liberian Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah returned to Liberia early at 1:00 AM on Wednesday, September 25. CDC’s Samuel Tweah, represented by his legal team, was able to secure the $8 million criminal appearance bond after hours of first appearance at the court.
According to reports, the former minister arrived in the country on an Air Peace flight, escorted home by family members and friends.
This institution is unable to reliably verify the entity through which the indicted former Finance Minister secured the $8 million criminal appearance bond. Upon voluntarily surrendering to the justice system, he avoided arrest by the police, despite having two court writs of arrest against him.
