Tweah Attributes Weah’s Failure to Prosecute Corrupt Officials To UNMIL Withdrawal

Samuel Tweah, former Minister of Finance, has attributed the George Weah-led government’s inability to prosecute former corrupt officials from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s administration to the departure of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). In a recent joint radio interview in Monrovia, Tweah explained that the government chose not to initiate legal actions against these officials to avoid sparking chaos, given the fragile peace following Liberia’s civil war.

The CDC came to power in 2017, 14 years after the guns fell silent, thanks to the Accra Peace Agreement. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Unity Party government was the first to be democratically elected after the war, with Sirleaf becoming Africa’s first female president. During her time in office, Sirleaf also acknowledged the complexities of fighting corruption, citing the interconnected nature of Liberian society.

According to Tweah, CDC officials, including President Weah, were concerned that prosecuting members of the previous government could be perceived as a political witch hunt. Such a move, Tweah argued, might have destabilized the country in the absence of UNMIL, which had helped maintain peace and order in the years following the conflict.

Ironically, Tweah now faces corruption allegations himself, along with others. They are being tried in connection with the suspicious withdrawal of six million U.S. dollars from the Financial Intelligence Agency account, raising questions about the very issue of accountability that has plagued the Liberian political landscape.