MONROVIA – MONROVIA – The Government of Liberia’s May 24th reaction to Edwin Snowe’s commentary was not just unnecessary; it was a revelation, a sad one. It exposed a government clutching for relevance, drowning in insecurity, and fumbling through a performance marked by chronic incompetence. 2029 presidential hopeful Matthew Nyanplu called it “a disgraceful showboating that elevates fringe sidetalk to the national platform, a conduct typical of the insecure and unsophisticated people leading the country under Oldman Joseph Nyuma Boakai.”
That statement alone captures the essence of how this administration has chosen to govern, not with vision or seriousness, but with defensive pettiness and hollow public relations. Nyanplu laid the blame squarely at the feet of Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah, stating that the May 24th statement responding to Snowe was only issued because “Mr. Piah must be ‘talking’ through one of the four traditional communication channels he considers as the job: holding press conferences, printing The New Liberia, issuing press releases even on worthless issues, and appearing on radio talk shows.”
This government’s obsession with appearances rather than substance is not simply a flaw, it is a threat to good governance. The Ministry of Information has become a performance theater, recycling errors and distractions in place of real policy engagement. According to Nyanplu, “these are the four cardinal domains of Mr. Piah’s conception of the job of a Minister of Information and hence he must fulfill all four, however worthless an intervention is at a given time.”
At the center of this breakdown is President Joseph Boakai, whose leadership, Nyanplu argues, is the real source of national decline. “Oldman Boakai has no clue about statecraft and democratic governance,” he said. “This subpar performance from MICAT, and the broader government, is given steam by the incompetence of the person who leads the country currently.”
Indeed, the evidence of this ineffectiveness is plain. The summary dismissal of Central Bank Governor Aloysius Tarlue and the rushed appointment of Boakai’s nephew Henry Saamoi was not just nepotistic, it was illegal. “Oldman Boakai did not have the power to do so,” Nyanplu said. “He was challenged in court and caved to a $375,000 settlement with the former Bank governor.”
The chaos extends to the Legislature, where the Unity Party effectively hijacked the House of Representatives. Nyanplu decried the May 13 election of Richard Koon as Speaker, one day after Fonati Koffa resigned, calling it “disgraceful.” He noted that “Koon had claimed all along since November 21, 2024, to be the legitimate Speaker, and the Unity Party government did business with him in that illegal capacity.”
Such disregard for legal process and democratic order, Nyanplu warned, is “the thuggish and gangster conduct in leadership of an 80-year-old president, who boasts of more than 40 years in government.” He argued this conduct will “crash-land the Unity Party government,” not anything said or done by Edwin Snowe, “who himself has no power whatsoever to destabilize the country.”
In the end, Nyanplu struck a hopeful note about the resilience and discernment of the Liberian people. “I have faith in the Liberian people,” he said. “They remained patient under the dismal leadership of the former CDC administration and voted them out. This will be the fate of UP.”
Over a year into the Boakai administration, the signs are already clear. What should have been a period of rebuilding has become a downward spiral of confusion, misplaced priorities, and retrogressive governance. Nyanplu may not yet be on the ballot, but his assessment rings with clarity: this government’s worst enemy is not its critics, it is itself.
