Africa-Press – Liberia. The Alternative National Congress (ANC) Youth Congress has released a scathing “Third State of the Youth Report,” accusing President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s Government of betraying the Liberian people and failing to address pressing national issues.
Speaking to the press over the weekend, ANC Youth Congress Secretary Alieu Kadii offered condolences to the family of the late Minister Sylvester Grisby, describing him as a “statesman of rare restraint.” However, he quickly pivoted to the group’s core message, stating, “While one man departs with dignity, the government he served continues to govern with disgrace.”
The ANC Youth Congress cited the 2024 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, framing it as a mirror reflecting a nation plagued by “arbitrary killings, torture, and censorship.”
According to the report, the government has become a “predator” that “hunts the truth” and “devours dissent.”
The group highlighted the government’s raid on a location it referred to as the “World Trade Center,” where it said young Liberians, “geniuses in cybersecurity and IT,” were “imprisoned” and “brilliance” was “treated as a crime.” Drawing a parallel to South Korea, which has a cyber-defense force, the ANC Youth Congress urged the Liberian government to work with these young minds, not against them. It called for the “World Trade Center” to be transformed into a National Hub of Technology, Creativity, and Innovation.
The report also sharply criticized the government’s approach to the drug crisis, calling it “a war that exists only in speeches, but not in the National budgets.” The ANC Youth Congress alleged that the Ministry of State spends more on “state celebrations buying stout and beer” than the Ministry of Justice allocates for drug rehabilitation.
According to the report, the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) receives US$3.5 million, but 90% goes to salaries, while the presidential convoy alone costs more than US$4 million.
“This is not a war on drugs—it is a war on common sense,” the report stated, calling for a policy that invests in rehabilitation and intelligence
The ANC Youth Congress appealed directly to the U.S. Government to intervene, arguing that President Boakai’s leadership in the fight against drugs has been “ineffective” and that the LDEA has become a “breeding ground for corruption.
” It requested the U.S. help establish an independent, transparent framework to bypass what it called “compromised institutions.”
Kadii concluded by questioning the President’s recent trip to Japan with 23 officials. “Where is the report? Where is the benefit? What sector will be transformed?” and accused the trip of being a “vacation disguised as a mission.”
The report ended with a defiant tone, urging Liberians to “reclaim the Republic” and build a nation that “honors its dead, uplifts its youth, protects its truth, and invests in its future,” he added.
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