The pretentious behavior of the President of the Republic of Liberia, George Manneh Weah could lead him to trouble with the United States of America if he fails to seriously act on the sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under the Global Magnitsky Act for public corruption on three of his officials.
Political pundits believe, President Weah lacked the political will to fully act on his three senior officials, Minister of State, Nathaniel McGill, Managing Director of the National Port Authority, Bill Twehway, and Solicitor General Syrema Cephus who were recently sanctioned by the US for corruption.
A day after the US sanctions were imposed on the officials, President Weah moved by suspending them. The President’s suspensions of officials didn’t detail anything further of the officials’ suspensions, however, their suspensions were embraced little by Liberians rather majority (Liberians) wanted dismissals for the three officials.
But it seems the President’s suspensions, especially for his chief of staff, Nathaniel F. McGill seems to be a joke!
McGill, who is a very close friend to the President, still enjoys executive protection. He moves around with the government’s elite security guards, the Executive Protection Service (EPS). His (McGill) political activity is fully covered by the state broadcaster, Liberia National TV (LNTV).
According to the U.S. Treasury Department under the Global Magnitsky Act for public corruption, McGill bribed business owners, received bribes from potential investors, and accepted kickbacks for steering contracts to companies in which he has an interest.
The sanctions narrated that McGill manipulated public procurement processes in order to award multi-million dollar contracts to companies in which he has ownership, including by abusing emergency procurement processes to rig contract bids.
The sanctions further indicated that McGill is credibly accused of involvement in a wide range of other corrupt schemes including soliciting bribes from government office seekers and misappropriating government assets for his personal gain. And that he used government funds allocated to other Liberian government institutions to run his own projects, made off-the-books payments in cash to senior government leaders, and organized warlords to threaten political rivals.
The US sanctions also detailed how McGill has received an unjustified stipend from various Liberian government institutions and used his position to prevent his misappropriation from being discovered. McGill regularly distributes thousands of dollars in undocumented cash to other government officials for government and non-government activities.
And McGill is being designated for being a foreign person who is a current government official who is responsible for or complicit in, or who has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.”
The US sanctions are graved, which should have compelled the President to take the appropriate action on the mentioned officials.
McGill was brought to the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) by then Standard-bearer, Cllr. Winston Tubman, has, since the inception of the CDC regime in 2018, been allegedly deep into alleged corruption. But it seems the President buried his political will act most appropriately.
McGill is referred to by Liberians as the Prime Minster. He is feared by some senior colleagues in the CDC-led regime.
Is President Weah fear McGill too?
President Weah has to take the US sanctions imposed on three seriously.
Don’t play gain!
You may, Mr. President, face US sanctions if…
