President George Weah has made fresh commitments as he heads into the second round of voting with hope it would entice the country’s 2.5 million voters to grant him a second term mandate.
Cracking down on corruption, expanding road networks, improving livelihood of the population and creating better paid jobs are amongst offers the President has made to voters who are preparing to cast ballot on Nov. 14.
He renewed pledge to building a prosperous nation for all, regardless of political, social or religious affiliations.
“The next term will be dedicated to completing Liberia’s road infrastructure. We intend to fulfill the pledge of ensuring the country’s capital is connected to every nearby county through fully paved roads,” Weah said.
“We will continue to grow our economy in order to provide more jobs for Liberians, including creating jobs in the small and medium enterprises sectors and in key sectors like agriculture and manufacturing.
“We will expand the capacity of the Liberia Electricity Corporation to reach more homes while enhancing industrialization and the creation of jobs.
Fighting Corruption
President George Weah has promised to accelerate the fight against corruption if he secures a second term mandate.
The incumbent President who is facing a tough reelection battle was heavily criticized for his poor handling of graft related issues.
Three of his top officials were sanctioned by the United States department of Treasury for corruption.
Weah’s main rival has been rallying the population on the falling of the current administration to decisively crackdown on misapplication and mismanagement of state resources.
‘Having reconstituted the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission – which now has seven independent commissioners – we will accelerate efforts to fight corruption and ensure accountability across government,” Weah told supporters Wednesday in the capital Monrovia
“The new LACC – which has already been given unprecedented powers – will have my full backing to independently fight waste, fraud, and abuse of public resources.
We will similarly continue to empower every integrity institution, including the Internal Audit Agency and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, while making sure that they work together to move the fight against corruption to a new level.
“We will also double our efforts to address concerns about livelihood, employment conditions of civil servants, and youth empowerment.”
As a start, we will re-examine the Beach & Waterways Program and bring it back under the supervision of the Liberia Maritime Authority.
This is intended to abolish the adhoc approach that has affected this crucial program, which is a source of income for thousands of young people.
At the inception of my government five years ago, we increased the salary of medical doctors.
However, due to budgetary challenges, this did not extend to all of our public sector workers including clinical health workers, mainly nurses, midwives, physician assistants, lab technicians, the security sector and teachers among others.
I pledge that we will effect appropriate increments that will be crosscutting in order to impact every public sector worker performing critical service, including those in the security, education, health as well all other sectors, with a view of ensuring improved working conditions so that salary/wages commensurate with prevailing economic conditions.
We also intend to accelerate efforts to ensure traditional leaders are all added to the government payroll.
Today, I am also announcing the end of voluntary workers’ programs both in the health and education sectors. All health workers and teachers currently volunteering will be placed on the payroll beginning January 2024.
Since 2020, we have placed thousands of voluntary teachers on the payroll, and next year, my government commits to placing the remaining voluntary teachers on the public wage.
Beyond 2024, my government further commits to hiring additional teachers to continue to close the teacher gap.
As the government continues its policy of subsidizing public schools, we will also subsidize the payment of registration and graduation fees for all students.
We shall also ensure that the WASSCE FEES payment is made perpetual by pushing through with new Legislations, and explore our Tuition-Free Policy for Grades 1-6 in all public schools, in addition to the implementation of our campaign promise of establishing a Nationwide Cadet Program for young graduates.
