President George Manneh Weah was shameless when he referred to himselfas earning the trust of the Liberian people, the Council of Patriots(COP) said in a press statement Thursday, 30 January.The COP furthers that not only has Mr. Weah shamelessly referred tohimself as earning the people's trust, but he views himself as agentof change by the international community.

"If the thoughts expressed weren't the expressions of a man living inthe low lands (not grandeur) of delusion, with potential tragicconsequences for the country, the COP would have ignored these fauxemotions from self-centered leader, who lives to dress, drink and fly around in a private jet while his people live in poverty," COP says.

The CoP statement read by its Vice Chair for Administration MenipolkeiDumoe challenges President Weah to incognito to the slums in the urbanareas and in the rural villages to see the level of hardship hisgovernment is imposing upon the people that cause most Liberians to have lost hope in his administration.

CoP says contrary to President Weah's assertion that Liberians willnot be spectators in their own economy, most construction contracts inthe country are granted to his foreign allies such as foreignbusinessmen Zidani and Mohammed Bittar.

The statement also notes that the only Liberian contractors involvedare the President's political cronies, noting that the Presidentcannot state which other sector, in government procurement whereLiberians' participation has been prioritized.

It discloses further that President Weah boasts about political roadprojects (constructed basically in communities where the politicalelites have connection) that have little or no economic rates ofreturn, but are merely intended to bamboozle an unsuspecting public.

According to COP, the government has been in power for two years butyet cannot give a close - to - accurate statistics on the number ofjobs it has created, except for the bloating of government ministriesand agencies with unqualified partisans and praise singers.

It stresses that given the Weah - led government's history of fiscalindiscipline, the COP strongly doubts and questions the government'scapacity to carry out reforms required to attain even the moderategrowth rate of around 4% projected in recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) articles.

It indicates that under these circumstances, it is clear that povertywill subsist in Liberia, with all of its ugly manifestations,including hunger, poor health, and an unstable political climate, with high inflation.

The COP emphasizes that it had thought that as President Weah isleading a country with a very weak or non-existent health sector, hewould have reported to the Liberian people measures that hisgovernment has taken to prevent or decisively deal with the very realthreat of such virus, should the country experience an outbreak.

The organization maintains that in the face of low economic growth,Liberia's public debt burdens continue to increase and now stand at1.27 billion dollars, representing an increase of 28.5 percent from2018, and finds this troubling.

The statement discloses that President Weah could not indicate howmuch resources, including capital and manpower would be required toboost the agriculture sector, asking as to what kind of agriculturedevelopment strategy would be employed, taking into consideration the failure of past programs funded by donors such as the LiberiaAgriculture Sector Investment Plan (LASP).

It concludes that the government has thus far shown very low capacityto drive expansion of the agriculture sector where the sector wouldrequire real political will, significant capital and technical inputs,as the banking system in Liberia only provides 4 percent of credits to agriculture.

By Emmanuel Mondaye