By Frank Sainworla, Jr. fsainworla@yahoo.com
Nearly two months ago back in late January, the Chaplain General of the Liberian Senate, Rev. Michael Holder said this country was “under a severe curse” as a result of the worsening economic condition in the country for the ordinary citizens and the deeds of their leaders.
Now, Rev. Holder has on Thursday, March 14, 2019 launched a verbal missile by laying some of the blame for the high inflation and hardship on President George Weah’s Advisers, including his Religious Advisers.
This time, the venue was not the Senate chambers packed with mainly Senators, but the Rotunda of the Capitol Building in Monrovia crowded with not only Lawmakers– people from all walks of life during the funeral of one of two outspoken female Senators—Geraldine Doe-Sheriff of Montserrado County.
She laid in state for several hours.
In his sermon and message to the audience as he prayed over the Liberian flag-dripped casket bearing the remains of the fallen Montserrado County Senator, the Senate Chaplain General spoke directly to President Weah, “most of those advisers often tell lies to you.”
Rev. Holder cautioned Liberia’s international football icon-turned politician to beware of ill-fated advice coming from the Advisers surrounding him since he took office over one year ago.
There is so far no reaction from any of the Presidential Advisers.
Recently, a team of experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said instead of Liberia experiencing a 4.7 percent growth rate, the country’s economy is on a downward economic spiral in 2019, spiking a threat to the CDC government’s pro-poor agenda.
The report cited the fate of the most vulnerable in the Liberian society.
“Liberia’s economic situation is challenging, and strong policy actions will be required to maintain as favorable an outlook as anticipated at this time last year. Macroeconomic stability has proved elusive despite improved revenue collection in the first half of FY2019, and the fiscal stance has loosened significantly,” say the IMF experts in a preliminary findings released after the end of a recent visit to Liberia.
The Liberian cleric then gave the Presidential Advisers a 72-hour ultimatum “to repent or face the wrath of God.”
Rev. Holder has always been vocal and spoken truth to power in the past two regimes in Liberia.
The Senate’s Chaplain General, who was in this same post when President Weah was Senator for three years, told the Liberian leader that if his CDC government fails, it will come from the wrong advice from his Advisors and other loyalists close to him.
Rev. Holder recalled that the Holy Spirit moved him to speak out during the Charles Taylor regime, when he predicted the early collapse of that government, because of its failure to listen to the many cries and complaints of the Liberian people at the time.
Back in January this year, Rev. Holder said: “This country is cursed and we need to be serious in this country. It is hell and our people are really catching hard time in this country. Do your survey and see how many persons do have a breakfast or a three-square meal a day.”
At the time, the Senate Chaplain quoted the Bible book of Nehemiah Chapter 5:14-15. Among other thing, he said that when Nehemiah was appointed governor in the land of Judah, he (Nehemiah) and his brethren had never eaten bread of the governor, but the former governor that were before him were chargeable.
“Somebody said to me that this man is a Nehemiah but I say back to them no because Nehemiah did not buy a land or build houses, so this man cannot be a Nehemiah for Liberia,” Rev. Holder said.
Rev. Holder told President Weah on March 14, 2019 that his advisors are giving wrong pieces of advice.
He cited the actions of Liberian leaders, including President Weah to take their own pastors as advisors, something he said is causing serious problem for the Country.
The late Senator Doe-Sheriff, who broke away from the ruling CDC before its 2017 elections victory, blamed similar wrong advice for the earlier rift between her and its Standard Bearer Weah.
Few months into President Weah’s presidency, Senator Doe-Sheriff hit back at what she said were “attempts by detractors to draw a wedge between her and the President” owing to her leaving the CDC for the former ruling Unity Party (UP) and her open political support for former Vice President Joseph Boakai.
At her funeral on Thursday, the Liberian Senate Chaplain General also warned lawmakers to be mindful of their actions, because curse could come upon their children if they failed to do the right things.
He wonders why Liberia at 171 year-old does not have good hospitals thus causing Liberians to run to Nigeria and Ghana to seek medical attention.