-Sinoe Senator, Crayton Duncan
Sinoe County Senator, Crayton Duncan, has, without mincing his words, said he is disappointed in his fellow senators, for what he called their continued compromised stance on matters coming out of the Executive Mansion, the seat of the Liberian presidency.
“At most instances, I feel reluctant to go to work at the Senate, because I feel uncomfortable there,” the Sinoe Senator said recently on the popular night time talk show, ‘Night Time Heat’ with Sorbor George, on Prime FM Radio.
Asked as to what he is still doing at the Senate if he feels uncomfortable there, Duncan said he doesn’t have to quit, but remain a vocal critic of past and current regimes on issues of bad governance and accountability.
He blamed the Legislature, of which he is a member, of Liberia’s under-development and bad governance. “The Legislature is blamable for eighty percent of this Country’s problems,” the Sinoe Lawmaker alsp said recently during an encounter with students of the University of Liberia.
Duncan, who, it is being rumored, has ambition to contest the Liberian presidency in 2029, has also taken shots at former President George Weah and current President, Joseph Boakai, accusing them of being introverts, who only pursue their personal interest and not the interest of vast majority of the citizenry.
He further alleged that the current administration and previous administrations, including the Weah’s administration, did poorly in governance, fight against corruption and did not have vision to improve the living conditions of the Liberian people.
“Ex-President Weah pursued his personal interest and President Boakai is also doing similarly,” the Sinoe Senator also alleged.
Quizzed about his reported ambition to contest the Liberian presidency in the 2029 elections, Senator Duncan evaded the question.
Duncan, chair of the Senate’s committee on autonomous agencies and commissions, had in a remark said there was nothing wrong with the accumulation of wealth by elected officials of government. He made the remarks when evidence showed that he was engaged in illegal land lease and conflict of interest.
“We can’t sit down and other people come and get rich. Then when Liberian man wants to get rich, everybody fighting and hauling him down,” said in his remarks.
Critics of the Sinoe Senator said his remarks were a validation of claims by Liberians that their elected representatives were becoming overnight millionaires.
Formerly a member of the ruling Unity Party of President Joseph Boakai, Duncan later defected to the former ruling Congress for Democratic Change, CDC, of ex-president, George Weah, but was elected to the Senate as an independent candidate.
Duncan came to prominence during the two successive regimes of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, when he served as a special assistant to former Central Bank governor, Dr. Mill Jones.
Others have accused him of amassing his wealth from shady deals during his years at the Central Bank.
The Sinoe Senator is a vicious critic of foreign investors, who he said, are enormously getting richer from Liberia’s natural resources.
He argued that foreigners claiming to be investors are not investors, but are exploiters.