-Warns of “Incumbency Deficit”
Monrovia – Jefferson T. Koijee, the former Mayor of Monrovia and Secretary General of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), has accused the the Boakai administration of leveraging state power for political gain while creating a “deficit of incumbency” through failed governance.
In a recent article,, Koijee argued that the “power of incumbency”—control over institutions, resources, and narrative—often creates an “illusion of invincibility.” He contends the Unity Party administration now faces the opposite force: a growing deficit where governance detaches from the people’s reality.
“Two years into its tenure, the Unity Party administration under Joseph Nyuma Boakai and Jeremiah Kpan Koung illustrates this deficit with unsettling clarity,” Koijee stated. “What was promised as rescue has translated into calculated suffering for the poor and working class.”
Koijee centered his critique on fiscal management, presenting figures that allege a misuse of public funds. He claimed the national payroll swelled from approximately $296 million when the CDC left government in 2023 to about $354 million today—a $58 million increase.
He argued this increase did not relieve over 20,000 civil servants trapped below a $200 monthly salary, as promised. Instead, Koijee alleged, it financed new hires aligned with Unity Party structures, many earning above $500 with benefits.
“The much-publicized call to undo wage harmonization quietly evaporated once incumbency tasted comfort,” Koijee wrote. “Harmonization was neither reversed nor corrected; it was selectively applied, preaching equality while practicing privilege.”
Citing Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire, Koijee accused the administration of masking oppression as reform. “This is the anatomy of a regime gone rogue. Incumbency has become a shield for inequity, and fiscal policy a tool of political reward rather than social justice,” he declared.
He warned that such a deficit historically precedes political collapse. “When empathy gives way to arrogance and hunger is met with speeches instead of solutions, power begins to rot from within,” Koijee stated.
Directing his message to Liberia’s youth, he framed the moment as an “awakening,” not a despair. “History is not waiting for the Unity Party. It is waiting for Liberians who refuse to normalize suffering and who understand that liberation is never gifted by incumbents; it is claimed by those ready to rise,” he concluded.
The statement, shared widely on social media and tagged toward international bodies like the African Union and U.S. Embassy, signals an intensified opposition strategy framing the administration as abandoning its reform mandate for political self-interest. The Unity Party administration has yet to publicly respond to these specific allegations.
