Montserrado County Senator Darius Dillon says the honeymoon is over for President Boakai and that it’s time to work for the Liberian people.
By Lincoln G. Peters
Monrovia, Liberia, January 14, 2025 – Montserrado County Senator and Chair on Foreign Affairs Abraham Darius Dillon is disgusted with President Joseph N. Boakai and the ruling Unity Party government over poor administration of the state of affairs here, warning the Executive that the days of honeymoons are over.
Addressing a press conference at the Liberian Senate on Monday, January 13, 2025, following the opening of the Second Session of the Liberian Senate, Senator Dillon said that going forward in 2025, the Senate will be more robust and progressive in the governance of the state.
He said in 2024, they allowed something to slide because they wanted the government to be fully operational with the personnel needed by the President in place, adding that now that they have done that, they will no longer allow honeymoons.
“You want me to grade this Legislature and the government overall performance, now, on the overall governance, the country was in 2024, I am not too pleased to grade this government. The glass is half-full, not completely empty. The Senate has made some progress with the website, buying employee buses, and salary payment and insurance. We did system audit. We’re putting things in place for the Senate to experience financial audits. I grade the senate in my view from a reform perspective about 80%”, Senator Dillon says.
According to him, he still has in his possession a key to the door that leads to the Office of the Presidency, adding that the key is still new and useable because he believes that doing his work to enhance the working of the President is important. He has used that by correcting some administrative errors that don’t belong on the senate flow or appeared on the flow.
Dillon continues that if they had not been using that, 2024 probably would have been worse than what people perceived it to be.
He says 2025 and in the future, they themselves and the country deserve better; therefore, if the senate didn’t set the stage, the nation would not move anywhere, adding that as a rescue senator, he has a duty to ensure that what they rescue is not just rescued, but marked by progress.
“Now, the honeymoon period, the babysitting period, ended December 31, 2024. Now, in order to hold the Executive and the Judiciary accountable, we will have to start with ourselves. Every session, we will have to meet quorum; if we can’t, it will be left with the Liberian people through the media to know who is coming to work or not”, he says.
He discloses that the period of feeding is done, and it’s time for work because they have set the stage for the President, explaining that when a new government takes power, even in the United States, they confirm nominees forwarded by the President, which the Liberian Senate has done.
He notes that after elections, there is a honeymoon period where the Executive is given one year to set up with regards to the personnel they want to work with “because you don’t want them to fail,” and so, in 2024, they gave President Boakai everything he wanted therefore, it’s time for Liberians to have the chance.
He assures Liberians that beginning this January and in the future, they will not sit and watch the President have people acting in tenure positions, which violates the Tenure Law of Liberia, stressing that it should not be and will not happen.
Dillon points out that the Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia, who presides over the country’s money and monetary policy, can’t be acting for more than a year, noting that this January will end all those periods because the government is sitting. They will ensure that they do the right things.
“We give the President a free hand in the first year to run his government, especially in settling. Because if you’re too technical, it’s possible that the government doesn’t run. Imagine February 11, 2024, when the AFL wives took to the street, the Country didn’t have a Defense and Justice Minister, the security sector was not functional. So, when we say honeymoon, we are talking about allowing something to slide that you couldn’t have ordinarily allowed”, argues.
Sen. Dillon is a member of the Liberty Party, one of the collaborative parties that supported Boakai in the 2023 elections. Editing by Jonathan Browne
