Liberians have sharply reacted to President Boakai’s decision to travel with a 23-man delegation of government officials drawn from both the Executive and Legislative Branches of government to this year’s Japan-African Summit, with some terming it as sheer display of hypocrisy, waste of public resources and a brazen departure from the rescue mission.
The Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) is a two-day (August 20-22) event being held in the Japanese City of Osaka. It is Japan’s way of partnering with Africans in strengthening and supporting its development programs.
President Boakai, who is being invited for the first time to the annual event that brings leaders from Africa together, departed the country Saturday along with twenty three government officials, in addition to other support staff such as communication, security and others.
Officials accompanying the President include Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Finance and Development Planning Minister, Augustine Kpehe Ngarfuan, Minister of State Fpr Special Services, Sam A. Stevquiah, Minister of Education, Jarso Jallah, Minister of Agriculture, Alexander Nutah, Minister of Commerce, Magdaline E. Dagoseh, Minister of Lands & Mines, Wilmot Paye, Minister of Health, Louise Kpoto, Minister of Information, Jerolinmek Piah, and Jeff B. Blibo, Chairman of the National Investment Commission.
Others include Minister of Gender, Gbeme Horace Kollie, Morley P. Kamara, Economic Advisor to the President, Sekou Dukuly, Managing Director of the National Port Authority, Mohammed Bah, Presidential Special Envoy on Investment, Christopher Onanuga, Presidential Special Envoy on Tourism, Edward Appleton, Liberia Ambassador to Japan, Senator Darius Dillon, Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, and a host of other officials.
The huge number of officials accompanying the President for the two-day event is seen as sharp contradiction or departure from his overly emphasized Rescue Mission, which is interpreted as undoing everything he criticized his predecessor and promised to correct.
As an opposition, President Boakai and some of his supporters including Senator Abraham Darius Dillon did not hold back scolding former President Weah and his officials for unnecessary profligacy on foreign travels.
In his inaugural address, President Boakai said “there would be no business as usual.” He vowed to deal with any officials who would undermine the intent and purpose of his agenda.
Public Reactions
Both supporters and opponents did not mince words in condemning the President, and calling his attention to the vows he made to the Liberian during the presidential elections.
Martin K.N. Kollie, one of those who supported the President, expressed disappointment and termed the decision as waste of public resources. Writing on his social media page, he said “Mr. President, traveling with over 23 persons on a single trip is a public waste, and we do not support it.”
Apart from its wasteful nature, Kollie also reminded the President that his action is a violation of Rules #3 &4 of the Revised Travel Ordinance Law of Liberia 2025/
“Over US$110,768 of public money is about to be spent just on a single foreign trip,” he asserted, adding that the amount in question excludes plan tickets.
He reminded the President that traveling with huge government delegation is a complete mismatch of the Rescue Mission, noting “we did not support it yesterday, we do not support it today.”
Kollie’s concerns were also echoed by many other Liberians, apparently supporters of the President. Philip Kangar could not hold back his anger with the huge number, saying “This is my point. I mentioned the same delegation will be little over 40 people just for two days conference.”
Cyrus Sneh Manneh, adding his voice to the discourse, stated “nothing is surprising about this situation. The President himself is aware of everything that is happening; there is nothing anyone can tell me.”
According to him, he has since known that that Liberia was headed for another wasted six years from the moment President Boakai started to violate the Constitution during the House leadership crisis concerning the removal of the speaker.
Kane Meme Teegwiah Kpao, in four words, said “disappointing to the core,” while Peter W. Koyea reminded Kollie as saying: “I told you and will continue to tell you. Joseph Boakai, Alex Cummings, George Weah, Tiawan Gongloe, Benoni Urey, Musa Bility and all of them are rotten with a rotten system.”
He claimed that all of them are in cohort and “depleting the little resources our nation has.”
For his part, Patrick Mbayo said the bloated 23-man presidential trip to Japan is shameless fiscal indiscipline and a brazen assault on Liberia’s struggling economy, adding “President Boakai should know better.”
He added that the President’s decision to travel to Japan with more than 20 delegates is a slap in the face of every Liberian struggling to put food on the table, stressing “this is reckless, wasteful, and deeply tone-deaf at a time when the country is in the middle of a fiscal crisis.”
Mbayo argued that no serious leader who cares about the suffering of his people would burn through scarce taxpayer money on “such bloated foreign trip that could be effectively handled by a lean and focused team of no more than five people.”
In his long write-out on the issue, he recalled President Boakai’s recent setting up of special committee to look into the hardship Liberians are facing, but wondered why he is “engaging in the very kind of extravagance that deepens that hardship.”
“This is not leadership; it is hypocrisy,” Mbayo accentuated. “Every unnecessary ticket bought, every per diem handed out for this overstuffed entourage is money stripped from our schools, hospitals and crippling infrastructure.”
According to him, the country’s economic reality demands what he called “austerity, not grandiose processions parading across the globe,” and added that “if President Boakai truly wants to attract investment and strengthen partnerships, he should start by showing the world that he respects his country’s limited resources.”
He went on saying that the President’s action sends the opposite message that government’s fiscal indiscipline and resource mismanagement will continue while the people suffer and stagnate in abject poverty.”
“Instead of leading, our president is lavishing; we are in perilous times,” Mbayo concluded.
Also, Peter D. Best made a mess of the President’s decision, saying “when a friend of mine was excitedly telling me that Boakai said no more than 5 persons will travel with him on foreign trip, I told him to stop believing a 42-Yr-old experienced liar.” “I hope he realizes that I did not hate Boakai when I made that statement.”
“You’ll told us this man was the saint, let us allow him to do whatever,” remarked Moses D. Yomoi. “
Although Liberia has an official embassy there and an ambassador, he wondered why the president has decided to travel to Japan with 23-man delegation. “I wonder if Liberia is the one hosting the Summit because Japan won’t have 23 active officials at the event,” Yomoi wrote, joining the drove of comments critiquing the President decision.
Mo Fofana, adding his voice to the many concerns, urged the President not to do anything that has the potential to provoke the anger of the Liberian people.
“You cannot contradict the principles we upheld during our time in the opposition. This is completely unacceptable and there is no need for justification for sending an excessive number of delegates to Japan for a simple conference,” Fofana said.
Sam Kermoh put it succinctly, saying “Boakai is too embarrassed with the presidency; it is glaring,” while Abraham Kamara referred to the trip as “Japan Rescue Family vacation trip,” noting “in fact, once it is about discussion on Liberia, we all need to go to Japan, too.”
Others like Korkulo Gbadaweekoiwood said it is only befitting if those criticizing the President could ask about the roles each of the 23 men is going to play, while Massa Kollie stated that the President perhaps forgets his own guidelines on travels outside of Liberia.
“He is a bad steward of public resources; his national budget is $800 million which mainly benefits himself and officials while majority of Liberian live in extreme poverty,” Kollie said, stressing “shame on him.”
The barrage of criticisms, according to experts, only show Liberians are fed up with their leaders using scheme to get to power, only to repeat the same they condemned others. “Liberians are getting tired with such a sheer hypocrisy,” they believed.
