Africa-Press – Liberia. Opposition Movement for Progressive Change (MPC) political leader Mr. Simeon Freeman says there will be an interim government if the Weah administration refuses to provide funding for the conduct of the 10 October 10 presidential and legislative elections.
“Now if the Weah administration doesn’t provide funding to the elections commission to conduct this election, we will pick an interim government that will conduct the affairs of the next election,” Mr. Freeman said over the weekend.
The businessman-turned-politician issued the warning when he appeared on local broadcaster Prime FM Friday for a live interview with a team of journalists.
During the interview, Mr. Freeman said if the government should better provide the funding for this year’s elections to avoid having a back-to-back discussion.
Recently, the National Elections Commission (NEC) through its Chairperson Madam Davidetta Brown-Lansanah told the Liberian Senate that the Commission is yet to receive an initial amount of US$4 Million from the Ministry of Finance to begin the 2023 elections process.
Appearing before the Senate Plenary Thursday, 9 March 2023, Madam Brown-Lansanah explained that the Ministry of Finance had promised to provide US$4 Million from the allotted US$10 Million for phase one of the processes leading to the conduct of the elections.
She added that the Commission earlier submitted a budget of US$91 Million, but it was reduced to US$51 Million following discussions between the Commission and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
But Mr. Freeman believes that the government should provide funding for the conduct of the elections, saying “in every respect, they need to fund this election because there’s an increment in the budget.”
He suggested that as long as there is an increment in the national budget, the government shouldn’t be having a problem with funding the election.
Meanwhile, Mr. Freeman said his party’s involvement with other political parties recently is to help address some of the wrong things that are seen from the government ahead of the elections.
The MPC political leader also frowned on the 2022/2023 fiscal national budget, terming it as wasteful to the growth of the country.
He argued that there are more pressing and cardinal issues that need the government’s attention and should be addressed by the budget.
Instead, Freeman claimed that the budget captures unnecessary spending which is undermining the growth of the country.
“Imagine people going to bed with hunger, yet our president wastes resources on [a] sports park that is of no relevance to this country,” the MPC leader claimed.
“… Since that so-called sports park was built, how many games has Liberia won? What’s the need of continuously allotting money in the budget for things that have absolutely no impact on the lives of citizens?” Freeman added.
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