LIBERIA: Two Major Opposition Political Parties Call On President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf To Take Administrative Leave or Resign
By: Augustine N. Myers – In the wake of the mass dismissal of the entire Liberian Cabinet referred to as “Administrative Leave”, two major opposition political parties in Liberia are calling on President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to also take administrative leave or be forced to resign.
The two parties are the Liberty Party (LP) of Former President Pro Temporal at the Liberian Senate, Legal Counselor Charles Walker Brumskine, and the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of former World Best Footballer, George Mannah Weah.
Two separate press releases from both camps of the Liberty Party (LP) and Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) described as a political blunder, recent action of the Liberian leader, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to send her entire cabinet on administrative leave and immediately flew to the United States on an official visit.
For the opposition Liberty Party (LP), it says while Liberia endeavors to make sense of the “leave of absence” President Sirleaf granted her entire cabinet, it was honorable for her to take similar leave to complete the cycle of what it calls administrative reflection.
The Party’s position was contained in a press statement issued last evening, following President Sirleaf’s clarification regarding the reasons provided for sending the entire cabinet on an administrative leave.
President Sirleaf at the close of last week, sent her entire cabinet on administrative leave, noting that the decision presented an opportunity for officials of the Liberian Cabinet to reflect on their performance or consider alternative opportunities.
But in its statement, LP said rather than presents an opportunity for the Ministers’ reflection for possible improvement on the job, the President’s action was an admission of the kind of governance failure that requires her to take a “leave of absence”, besides opening a Pandora’s box of suspicion and speculations.
For the Opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), it directly called on President Sirleaf to submit her resignation to the Liberian people in the wake of the ‘Administrative Leave’ forced on members of the Liberian Cabinet by the President.
CDC in a release said it disagrees with President Sirleaf for putting blame on the cabinet for what it described as “for this crisis”-corruption, joblessness and poverty in Liberia.
The CDC further notes without an iota of surprise President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf demanded for the immediate resignation of the cabinet.
According to the CDC, the act by the President was inevitable-giving the unrelenting and unprecedented high rate of corruption in government, and is evident of a failed government and a frustrated Administration desperate to redeem itself.
The Opposition Party said the President’s action was belated; stressing that she her self must take full responsibility for the actions of members of the cabinet, and therefore the most honorable thing to do was for the Liberian Leader to resign.
