— Former TRC Commissioner John Stewart Presages
By Elwood Dennis, Executive Mansion Reporter
John H. T. Stewart, a eminent citizen of Liberia who is also a longtime member the progressive class to which now President-elect Joseph N Boakai quietly associates is predicting a very tough and rocky grounds that lies ahead in the governance process of the Unity Party.
Mr. Stewart, a politician, journalist and former commissioner of dissolved Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Liberia, sniffing through the President-elect’s leadership closet, seems to be discovering a stock pile of pitfalls when the Unity Party takes over state authority under Josept N.Baokai in about 8 days.
In a strong communication roaming the Liberian media and social media platforms, the former TRC Commissioner there are mounting challenges ahead political governance circle of the Boakai that would pose mountainous difficulties in the decision-making process as regards to the selection of people to head top and lower ministerial positions in the government.
“With just a few days left to the expiration of this government’s tenure, national attention is now focused on President-elect Joseph Boakai. This is because expectations for immediate relief from extreme economic hardships are very high,” Stewart says.
He added that “additionally, there are lingering concerns that what appears to be a dogfight over spoils, especially jobs in the national bureaucracy, is going to prove counterproductive to professed good intentions to fight corruption”.
Expressing concerns over the rapid waves of people with personal interests for which position to occupy along with their principal deputies were some of those uphill challenges that would entangle the entire Unity Party in a continue deadlock process “with the President-elect on a sleeping dog showpiece.”
“Already, the lists of cabinet appointments are being bandied on social media which is raising even more contentious debates about inclusion and exclusion, he noted.
He added, “Some parties which supported the candidacy of Joseph Boakai in the runoff elections have formed themselves into an alliance and are not surprisingly, according to sources, demanding their fair share of plum jobs as payback for their support”.
He said the Unity Party and Joseph N Baokai were elected to power based on their campaign to rescue Liberia and Liberians out of a challenging condition including poverty and the fight against corruption in the country.
According to Stewart, “…They pledged to fight corruption pales in comparison to their acquisition of plum jobs in the bureaucracy not on the basis of merit and competence but rather on political considerations.”
He believes that even before the new government is seated, it is becoming apparent that the fight against corruption as pledged by President-elect Boakai could likely falter in similar fashion to that of President Sirleaf who at the inception of her administration pledged a robust fight against corruption” but failed to fight corruption.
He said former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s corruption fight later became a mere statement without a concrete action that would make public officials be guided by fear of committing corruption.
“She was to later admitted to failure claiming that corruption had morphed into a vampire when involvement of close family members including her children, who were accused of acts of corruption,” Mr. Stewart asserted.
According to sources, a fight is brewing in the ranks of the Unity Party over the issue of accountability for officials of the outgoing government. Fears are being expressed, according to sources, that the actions of former Auditor-General John Morlu so far suggests that officials of the Sirleaf administration could be swooped into the audit dragnet especially in view of persistent and incessant public demands for an audit of the Weah government”.
The former TRC Commissioner noted that there are also expressed concerns from some quarters that John Morlu’s probe could even extend to Vice President elect Jeremiah Koung who was accused in a Center for Accountability and Transparency (CENTAL) of illegally diverting money from the national budget to fund his private hospital in Ganta
“Liberians are meanwhile anxiously awaiting the swearing of a new government which should in their view make a marked difference from that of the outgoing government. Indeed difficult days do lie ahead for President Elect Boakai”. The former Commissioner of TRC John H.T. Stewart.
