-Opposition Political Parties Described Weah’s Statement, But Provide Alternatives
By Jackson C. Clay, Jr.
Three of the opposition political parties in the country have proffered some recommendations to George Weah’s government in addressing the current state of the country’s economy.
Cummings Boakai Karnga-Lawrence
However, the opposition community has termed as ‘generally bad’, the President’s statement regarding the state of the Liberian economy.
Addressing a news conference over the weekend on behalf of three opposition political parties, Alternative National Congress (ANC), Liberty Party (LP) and the Unity Party (UP), Alexander Cummings, the political leader of the ANC said they listened to the President recent address on the state of the economy with great anticipation, but the news they heard was ‘generally bad.’
“We, members of the Collaborating Parties (UP, LP, and ANC), listened with great anticipation to President Weah’s statement on the economy. The news we heard was generally bad. The President told us that since he assumed office in January 2018, the Liberian Dollar has depreciated by 25 percent,” Cummings said.
The ANC political leader asserted that the issue of the country’s economy is a serious problem that according to him needs serious policy plan in addressing the situation, but the government has provided no detail for the structural transformation of the Liberian economy.
Cummings further said given the enormity of the country’s economic challenges currently, it was certainly their hope as oppositions and the country as a whole that the President long term strategy was now available for robust public debate and implementation.
He continued “for starters, we have set forth some thoughts we hope the President and his team will consider as they go about developing their plan. Unlike the President, our focus is not on short-term fixes that, at best, produce only temporary relief from the current crisis.”
Cummings named the maintaining of sound fiscal discipline, where the country must live within it means as a nation and avoid unwise debts it cannot afford, the adopt smart growth inducing tax policies, where desperate for cash to fund what he thinks amounts in many cases to unwise spending and the government maintains a regime of relatively high tariffs and other taxes that stymie growth and risk taking so essential to wealth creation as some the ways this government can tackle the ongoing economic crisis in the country.
In a nine-count recommendation to the CDC led government, the three opposition political parties highlighted the Establishment of industrial parks in coastal cities like Buchanan and Harper with built in advantages such as sea ports and easy road access to airports and Monrovia, thus, these advantages would serve to attract investors looking to manufacture for export or local consumption.
He called on the government to implement reforms that according to him make it easy to move goods in and out of the ports, thereby moving goods in and out of the Ports is unnecessarily cumbersome, complicated and expensive, “noting that reforms to simplify moving goods in and out of our ports should be implemented to enhance ease of doing business and to help ordinary Liberians among others.
Meanwhile, the ANC political leader, Alexander Cummings has asserted that he remains forever willing and prepare to offer his services and expertise to this government in the betterment of the country’s economy but clarified that he does not wish to hold anything like position as a government official.
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