Liberia-Former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah has strongly defended his service in government saying that he is proud of his record under the Coalition for Democratic Government.
Tweah appearing on a local radio station yesterday, said whatever he did as Minister of Finance in the CDC Government was in the interest of the Liberian people including his most-criticized harmonization process.
According to the former Finance Minister, if the harmonization was not done, the CDC government would’ve collapsed adding that no government including the Unity Party Government can reverse the harmonization process introduced by the past administration.
The tough-talking former Finance Minister added, “The harmonization process brought about 7,000 down and brought 15,000 Liberians up. We harmonized because we didn’t have the revenue so, that was a good step which cannot be reversed by any administration.”
He said though the harmonization process was good, it was not meant to benefit everybody but intended to set the stage to be built on. He said because of this process, Immigration Officers’ salary was increased while doctors and nurses’ salaries were also increased.
Tweah boasted that the system he put in place at the Ministry of Finance during his administration cannot be changed by any government.
Former Minister Tweah accused the Boakai administration of seeking to tarnish his image. He added that the government’s goal is not justice but to publicly humiliate him by placing him in handcuffs.
Tweah also described the corruption charges against him as part of a politically motivated witch-hunt but pointed out that he’s trust Liberia’s democracy of which the court is a part.
“We are not against the legal process but let it be done holistically void of political interference and witch-hunt,” he added.
Mr. Tweah though refused to criticize the legal process, but added that the legal actions against him and other former officials of the CDC government are designed to damage his reputation rather than address any actual wrongdoing.
He accused the Unity Party of campaigning against the CDC government on lies saying, “And now, nine months in, they haven’t delivered on their promises.” He said the CDC is more capable of managing the country’s affairs saying that the current administration lacks a national development plan.
Commenting on the much-publicized yellow machines brought in by the Boakai administration, former Minister Tweah said the UP government has violated every law of the country including the PPCC law. He said the yellow machines deal is not realistic and lacks honesty.
Responding to the question of why he left the country immediately after the 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections, Tweah said he left because he needed to rest as there are lot of issues including the US sanction he has to deal with.
“I didn’t escape and I have no reason to escape, I left to prepare myself to come back. I also wanted to give the new administration a chance after the elections even though they didn’t give us chance when we took over,” Mr. Tweah said.
Commenting on why the CDC administration didn’t prosecute past officials of the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf administration, Tweah strongly defended his government saying that the George Weah administration didn’t want to be accuse of witch-hunting. “We didn’t witch-hunt, that’s why we did not prosecute former officials of the Ellen administration.”
Former Finance Minister faces charges from the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), including economic sabotage, fraud, and criminal conspiracy related to him signing off a disbursement L$1 billion and US$500,000 to the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA).
After turning himself in at Criminal Court ‘C’ on September 25, Tweah was granted an US$8 million bail, with his trial scheduled for November 12. He maintained that the charges are baseless and part of an effort to discredit both him and the former administration.
