By Bill K. Jarkloh/0886468244
Jucontee Thomas Woewiyou has broken silence after a long time of quietude on the political landscape of Liberia, warning that the government is looking for trouble if it continues to pay extravagant salaries to officials while 83 percent of the population lives on a dollar and twenty –five cents a day.
Woewiyou, a former Grand Bassa County Senator, also frowns on laws against pluralistic participation in governance, citing recent law still pending before the House of Representatives from the Senate which has raised registration for legislative positions from US$700 to US$7,500.
The New elections bill provides that one of the eligibility criteria for a candidate to contest legislative seat is to tender a non-refundable amount of US$7,500 to the National Elections Commission. But Mr. Woewiyou said if passed, the law is intended to entrench present legislators whom are paid US$15,000 of taxpayers’ money at the Legislature by preventing potential legislators from contesting their seats.
The former Minister of expressed dissatisfaction with the high salaries paid some officials, making specific reference to the US$15,000 being paid to a legislator as salary plus benefits and US$30,000 paid the Maritime Commissioner and an excess of US$20,000 paid the Minister of Finance as their respective salaries when the vast majority of taxpayers were living in abject poverty.
Some rebellion is going to start
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The ANALYST at his residence at the outskirt of Monrovia, Mr. Woewiyou considers as an “abomination and a crime against humanity” the consumption in extravagant salaries paid officials who are paying no taxes, indicating that the people are paying their hard earned money in taxes to government for their welfare. “If you are consuming whatever little society has at the detriment of others, is a crime against humanity and you should expect trouble when the people rise up against you,” Mr. Woewiyou emphasized.
He did not only speak about the high salaries paid officials and how it may be the reason for rebellion, he spoke of the new elections law that is being passed at the legislature and how raising the fees for candidates is equally an abominable offense resistible amongst others, proffering a solution to save the situation.
He said for the country to be run in a way that people are making all kinds of salaries and demanding huge benefits while 83% of the people are living on 1.25, “I think they are looking for trouble”.
“The most important thing the government should consider,” he warned, “is that as soon as citizens wake up and realize that they are living on up to 1.25 a day and paying taxes to people who are making more than 15,000 a month, then some rebellion is going to start, and we don’t want to go that route,” Mr. Woewiyou declared.
Beginning his exclusive with The ANALYST, Mr. Woewiyou, a former Defense Minister of Charles Taylor’s defunct NPFL diagnosed that the government is broke because of the manner public funds are expended to officials in huge salaries in the absence of inadequate economic activities in the country at a time there is not a lot of industries working in the country.
According to Mr. Woewiyou, “Even though we have more of less attracted this 16 billion dollar investment, the companies here are not working, they are not employing. However, when a government finds itself in such a distrait, it needs to take actions that the citizens will know that the government is broke, that the government is facing financial challenges.”
Never before even...
Questioned what then is the solution to what he called “the economy in a distrait - meaning it’s getting broke, Mr. Woewiyu said, “the solution now is is to scale down the huge salaries to US$3, 000 to US$5,000, and use the surplus from these salaries to support education and health.
“We see what happened in the health sector recently; the nurses and medical workers struck - around the country maybe there were more than three hundred of cases dying because there were no medical personnel at the hospital.”
For this, he said, :… a person living on 1.25 a day and is paying taxes, and you are taking the taxes in the name of our people and our people dying because you are taking the bulk of the taxes, that is crime against humanity. “
He explained that the government is paying to some officials, extravagant salaries that never before even when there were industries working in this country, no government was paying a salary equal to this one. “The government needs to look at the kind of salaries it is paying legislator – 15,000 USD a month plus benefits of all kinds and certain ministers of government making the excess of $20,000 a month; but 83% of the people lives on $1.25 a day,” he said.
“You just sit down and calculate the person who makes 37.50 that is 1.25 a day, if you calculate that by year which is 450.00 a year and divide it by 15,000, that is it will take that person 33 years to consume 15,000 as his earning, while it will take a civil servants who is paid $100 month 12 and a half year before he can earn 15, 000 which is the salary of one person in the government who is practically paying no tax,” Mr. went into mathematical deduction of his argument
According to him, he was appalled to have heard from the Minister of Finance and the President Pro Tempore of the Liberian Senate that the Liberian economy is in a dying state, meaning it is getting broke, but noted that these officials are saying the government is getting broke without saying why and what to do to recover from the economic doldrums that they are announcing.
Commenting on the US$30,000 monthly salary paid the Maritime Commissioner, Mr. Woewiyu said he would understand why a Liberian living here like any other individual would be paid that kind of salary when LISCR, a Shipping agency is being paid in millions to administer the Maritime Program.
He added that the President should be blamed because if she never sign the budget, it will never you into effect. “If she doesn’t sign it, if she sends it back to them telling that … what you are doing is ridiculous, you are looking for trouble,” these huge salaries wouldn’t be paid out to officials at the expense of the people and the economy.
Raining Day in Hell
Commenting on corruption as the second vice that got the economy broke, Woewiyu said the money is not used for properly and what it is budgeted for. He cited the 200 million the President reportedly spent on Public Relations to foreign firms as captured by the U. S. Congress’ report, saying that it is useless to spend such a huge amount on Public relations abroad when the Liberian people do not have safe-drinking water and electricity, which no amount of public relations will wide.
Woewiyou then described the president Senate as “law passers” who go about passing laws that will only serve their interest. He cited the new election law that is pending before the House for concurrence, which when passed will raise registration feeds from 700 to 7,5000.
The one time warlord and public official called on all Liberians to prevail on their representatives not to concur with the Senate in passing such a law that has the tendency to perpetuate bad senators in power by disenfranchising potential good legislators.
He also called on the President to veto elections law being enacted if the House should concur, saying that any attempt by the Legislature to override such a veto will be what he called “a raining day in held.”
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