MONROVIA – The ruling Unity Party Chairman, Rev. Dr. Luther Tarpeh, has strongly rejected claims by former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah that the previous Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) administration lifted Liberians out of poverty, describing the assertion as misleading and detached from reality. Tarpeh issued his response on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, amid an ongoing public exchange following Tweah’s recent media appearance.
Reacting sharply, Tarpeh questioned the credibility of Tweah’s claims, noting that despite such assertions, the CDC government was voted out of office. “You claimed that your government pulled Liberians out of poverty and yet you were voted out, and you want Liberians to believe that trash?” Tarpeh wrote. He accused Tweah and former CDC officials of engaging in propaganda rather than confronting the realities of their record in government.
Tarpeh further stated that the Unity Party is not preoccupied with future elections but focused on governance. “Frankly, we are not concerned about 2029. Our utmost concern is to serve the Liberian people with distinction,” he said, adding that the Unity Party remains committed to modernizing Liberia and improving the lives of its citizens.
Also weighing in was Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation Managing Director, Mo Ali, who supported Tarpeh’s position by outlining actions he attributed to the CDC administration that he said worsened poverty conditions. Ali alleged that these decisions contributed to plunging more than half a million Liberians into abject poverty.
Ali cited the alleged theft of US$6 million in the name of a security operation, stating that Tweah and others are currently being prosecuted over the matter. He further accused the former administration of illegally taking US$83 million from the Central Bank of Liberia to pay civil servants for a single month in December 2023, insisting that such actions would not go unpunished.
In addition, Ali pointed to the alleged mismanagement of US$5 million allocated for a mop-up exercise, describing it as another example of financial recklessness under the CDC-led government. He maintained that accountability would be pursued for all such transactions.
Ali also criticized the salary harmonization policy implemented during the CDC administration, saying it drastically reduced civil servants’ earnings. He said the Unity Party–led government is now working to gradually reverse the negative effects of harmonization on public sector workers.
The statements from Tarpeh and Ali followed comments made by Tweah during an appearance on Spoon Talk on Tuesday, December 30, 2025. Tweah raised concerns about what he described as the current government’s borrowing of US$64 million from the Central Bank of Liberia in 2024, calling for clear public explanations.
Defending the CDC’s record, Tweah insisted that harmonization was a sound policy that future governments would not be able to reverse. “For the next fifty years, no government that comes to power will be able to reverse the harmonization policy because it is a sound policy,” Tweah said, arguing that harmonization was misinterpreted as salary cuts rather than a long-term plan to increase public sector wages.
Tweah further claimed that abandoning harmonization would jeopardize Liberia’s relationship with the International Monetary Fund, insisting that the policy was central to macroeconomic stability and future salary growth. The exchange underscores deep divisions between the Unity Party government and former CDC officials over economic management, poverty reduction, and public sector reform, as both sides continue to defend their records heading into the new year.
