Office of Vice President Joseph N. Boakai
Capitol Building, Monrovia, Liberia
From the Desk of Atty. George Saah
For Immediate Release
OFFICE OF VICE PRESIDENT BOAKAI TERMS OPPOSITION CLAIMS ON GROUP OF 77 AS FALSE AND MALICIOUS- VP BOAKAI IS CREDIBLE, HONEST, TRUSTWORTHY, AND PEACEFUL
Monrovia, June 2, 2017-The Office of Vice President Joseph Boakai categorically condemns the barrage of false assertions made against the Vice President, by some Opposition politicians.
In recent times there has been series of falsehood over the airways meted against the Office of the Vice President regarding the Group of 77 by some opposition politicians stating that the Vice President has allocated to himself money from the Group of 77 to fund campaign activities in the tune of four million dollars.
The Office categorically denies these claims terming them very malicious and misleading.
In a press statement Friday, the Office of the Vice President said the Group of 77 has only two components in the budget, salaries and goods and services. Goods and services are paid for by the Ministry of Finance and development planning to vendors for their goods and services to the Group of 77 and that the Group of 77 does not have operational funds. For Fiscal year, 2014-2015 the group allotment in the budget was$ 281,908.00,- $ 136,500 for salaries and $145,000 for goods and services. For 2015-16, the amount of $227,677.00 was allotted; of this amount $125,302 was allotted for salaries and $102,375.00 for goods and services. For 2016-17 Fiscal year, $203,853 was allotted and of this amount $125,302 allotted for salaries and $67,353.00 for goods and services.
A release said these are the facts; there is nothing more than what we have stated in the budget for the group of 77 and these figures are in the budget and can be verified.
According to the statement, there are thirty four staff employed with the group of 77 operating in eight counties, Nimba, Grand Bassa,Maryland,Montserrado,Bong, Margibi, Bomi and Lofa Counties, these branches are headed by coordinators who are responsible for formulating and implementing programs geared towards improving the livelihood of disable persons.
The Vice President of the Republic of Liberia has oversight responsibility over the group of 77, this obligates the Government of Liberia to the welfare, rehabilitation and protection of persons with disabilities, something the Second Lady of the Republic of Liberia, and Mrs. Kartumu Y. Boakai has effectively been doing.
This is in line with the statutory responsibility of the Group of 77 to ensure that disabled persons have access to formal, technical and vocational education; provide basic social needs such as shelter, food, clothing, medication for disabled persons and empower and reintegrate disabled persons into the mainstream of society. Other core responsibilities include seek and create job opportunities for qualified disable persons in the public and private sectors.
According to the release, the budget is an open document; to conclude that anyone can manipulate the budget or cause allotments to be increased is a blatant misrepresentation of the truth and high degree of ignorance on how Government works.
These kinds of assertions are criminal, regrettable and unfortunate especially when they come from people who are aspiring to be President of Liberia. The release went on to say Mrs. Kartumu Y. Boakai has done a great deal of work to improve the lives of inmates at the Group of 77.
The Vice President is a man of high moral standing, good character, a man of peace and credibility, the release said.
