Senator Biney blasts National Leaders of Southeastern Liberia

By Emmanuel Weedee-Conway

As roads in many parts of the country continue to be impassable, especially as the country heads into the rainy season, the Southeastern Region is even by far worse and Maryland County Senator James Biney has blamed national leaders hailing from the region for not doing well for their people.

Speaking Tuesday, May 16, 2023 at the opening of the second segment of the 6th session of the 54th Legislature, the Maryland County Senator indicated that it is unprecedented that the President, President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker and the Minister of Finance and Development Planning to come from the same region at the same time in a single government while the people live in abject poverty.

In an angry tone, Senator Biney narrated how roads leading to the southeast are impassable and women and children are sleeping by the roadside under the sun and rain, while the loyalists of the President George Manneh Weah are labeling him as “bad road medicine”.

“Women and children are sleeping by the roadside with no hope of returning home. The country is not doing well at all. The Executive lacks the ability to deliver and has continued to exercise negligence in addressing the plight of the people, especially our people in the Southeast, where this government is made of. Remember that life in the Southeast is dependent on the road,” he asserted.

“This is unprecedented that our people are sleeping in the mud by the roadside when nearly our whole government is from that side. We have just before us, in our own chambers, the President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate, who presides over key decision making including how money is appropriated in the national budget, at the House of Representatives, the head who happens to be the Speaker is from there; the Deputy Speaker is also from there, then the Minister of Finance and Development Planning is also from there. Then comes the main man, the President who hails from there. And with all of these, our people suffer from bad road and you call him bad road medicine? This is gross disrespect and mere joke against our people,” he furthered.

The Maryland County lawmaker opined that the past Unity Party (UP) led- Government of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, which did not have many officials coming from the region, was doing far better in the maintenance of the road than the current administration, many of whom officials are from the Southeast.

Predicated upon this, Sen. Biney prefers the national leadership of the country going to another region rather than the southeast, because according to him, this has been of no benefit, but rather a curse to the region and its people.

“The officials from this region are of no help to us as a people and so I suggest that the others take the leadership. You and I know that the Speaker has some of the best cars in the country; I mean some of the very strong 4-wheel vehicles and those cars could not make it that he had to pass through neighboring Ivory Coast before coming back into Liberia. What more ordinary vehicles. We need to think better,” he added.