MONROVIA – Polay Emmanuel Nyan, Propaganda Chairman of the Vanguard Student Unification Party (SUP), on Monday, November 24, 2025, launched a critique of the Unity Party-led government, accusing President Joseph Boakai and Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung of deepening poverty, corruption, and social decay in Liberia. Nyan described the December 6 Unity Party event as “a parade of performative theatrics” that masks the government’s failures.
Nyan said, “The Unity Party and its parade of performative theatrics stand today as the clearest example of how a regime can use the masses as political props while abandoning them to rot in poverty, hunger, and hopelessness.” He accused the ruling party of relying on state resources to rent crowds and inflate its presence instead of addressing the country’s mounting crises.
Focusing on the economy, Nyan cited staggering unemployment figures, claiming Liberia now faces “the worst unemployment crisis in its history, 96 percent, according to the Ministry of Labor (2024) and the National Census (2022).” He said the government promised international partnerships and job-creating investments but delivered nothing. “Two years later: zero job-creating investments. Not one. Nothing,” Nyan said.
He also highlighted unfulfilled promises, including the USD 3 billion gold refinery in the southeast, and warned that Liberia is now ranked among the nine poorest countries globally. Nyan further noted that the nation ranks among the top five worst globally on the Multidimensional Poverty Index, describing this as “the Unity Party’s entire economic legacy.”
Turning to health, Nyan said, “Under this administration, the health sector has become a funeral home for the poor.” He cited maternal and infant mortality rates reaching catastrophic levels, with over 82,000 women dying annually according to WHO (2024). He added that Liberia now has a 25,000-to-1 doctor-to-patient ratio, and nearly half the population suffers from preventable diseases, including malaria and typhoid.
Education, Nyan said, has fared no better. “82 percent of Liberian children aged 1–10 have never seen the inside of a classroom,” he said, citing UNICEF (2025) data. He added that Liberia now suffers the highest school dropout rate in its history at 32 percent, while 80 percent of teachers have never received professional training. Nyan also criticized the University of Liberia, calling it “the dirtiest university in the world.”
Highlighting what he termed “misplaced priorities,” Nyan criticized the government for spending USD 9.2 million on party headquarters while hospitals, schools, and communities languish. He added that President Boakai, Vice President Koung, and key officials continue extravagant construction projects using national funds, including Boakai’s USD 10 million condominium in Foya, Lofa County, and Koung’s USD 8 million Nimba farm renovation.
Nyan concluded that corruption and mismanagement are pervasive, describing the government’s use of the national budget as a “legal channel of theft, stripping the poor of their future.” He said the December 6 event will attempt to mask these failures but warned that the Liberian people are increasingly aware of the government’s shortcomings.
Issuing a call to action, Nyan urged Liberians to confront the government directly. “Because of these failures, economic, social, educational, and moral, we are calling on all Liberians, from every community, every county, every walk of life, to join us on December 6 at the University of Liberia campus,” he said. “This is the hour for the people to rise, speak, and act. Silence is no longer an option.”
He concluded with a rallying cry for unity and accountability: “The time has come. Let us stand as one people and demand the leadership our nation deserves. Liberia will rise when its people rise,” Nyan declared, emphasizing that the SUP’s movement aims to hold the government accountable and champion the needs of ordinary Liberians.
