I’m going to start this off by saying my truth: the performance of our government in the last few years have left me discouraged, but still hopeful about a future Liberia.
I love politics! Matter of fact, I see politics as a means for any country to develop faster. Why do I say so? Politics, as I have read many times and have seen from other developed nations around the world, is about the competition of ideas through actual implementations. Unfortunately, Liberia has been at an unknown destination on that compass. In fact, we’ve been reported MISSING! This has happened because our piloting crew consists of incompetent, ignorant and unprepared folks who lack integrity.
This might surprise you, but I personally do not think the ‘’It’s Our Time Mentality’’ is wrong. Hold up now, don’t get me confused. My reason simply coincides with my earlier point of politics, competition of ideas and implementation. Such a mentality is not wrong, if the general outcome is aimed at positivity.
Every new administration of a National Government should be excited after a victorious election’s result. This is when you interpret the phrase as, it is our time to:
– Govern better than the previous administration
– Repeal bad laws that are against human rights
– Serve justice
– Offer better educational alternatives for our next generation, etc…
Instead they say, “Lay ollor people nen where wor eating their own na fays ay, lah us way fays ay? We belleh eat our own and moo…” (Translation: The government before us stole the people’s money and didn’t fix any of the issues, why should we be the ones to fix anything? We will just steal our share and leave office).
ISN’T THIS SAD?! Our politicians and public officials, for as long as I can remember, have chased and are continuously chasing only those things that benefit them personally. They simply do not care about the rest of the population, approximately five million people, and their futures. In this era of competition amongst African Nations, we read international news and countries like Rwanda, Ghana, Angola, South Africa, Ivory Coast are constantly fighting to achieve greater goals and attract foreign INVESTMENTS instead of foreign AID, and avoid delays in elections results on the basis of fraud.
On August 2, 2019, according to Daily Accra, an online Ghanaian news source, Hollywood Actor and Super Star, Samuel L. Jackson officially obtained a Gabonese passport. This came about because he wanted to find his roots to Africa after Ghanaian President, Akufo-Addo, declared 2019 “The Year of Return” during his address of 400 representatives of the African Diaspora months ago in France.
Coming back to Liberia, let me ask a question: which serious minded individual of African descent would wish to identify with a country like Liberia, when there are never ending issues of struggle for power, bad governance, disrespect for the Rule of Law, poor health services, bad road networks, unaccounted for missing billions of Liberian dollars, and the “no head or tail” 25 million USD mop-up stories. Essentially, there are too many questions to answer.
So, please tell me, my people, please tell me, who way pay their way all lay way here to hear that coco story? You OYO!
Most of us today will know the country Haiti for her major tragedy in January 2010. Haitians experienced a deadly earthquake that led to the death of over 300,000 citizens (may their souls rest in peace). Being one of the world’s poorest countries, some Haitians live off a reddish dirt known as Mud Cookies. The mud is processed into cookies and sold at cash value. The cookies contain less than 1% of nutrients and even causes health problems when they are overly consumed. Something as terrible as this is, some people must eat for survival.
Kindly equate the MUD COOKIES of No Nutrients to what most Liberian politicians and public officials chase, and we will understand why we suffer as well. Politicians and Public officials are made Presidents, Vice Presidents, Ministers, Law Makers, and Judges with the hope that the general population will benefit from their rule, only for them to gain personal wealth and create no benefit for the rest of the country. This results in good and honest folks choosing to stay on the sidelines, not wanting to join and make what could be better contributions because of the discomfort and stigma public service now has.
It is a beautiful thing to be given the opportunity to lead a group of people, because it allows you to showcase your personal ideas that were once debated by opponents during political campaigns. But we must all keep in mind that if a leader fails, his/her people fail; if a leader succeeds, his/her people succeeds. This is a simple logic that has been true since the establishment of time.
Just so you know, I personally don’t push for perfection in people. Instead, I support rational and satisfactory results.
After lucrative salaries, benefits, and sometimes, useless fame, a leader or public servant throws away their integrity for something similar to MUD COOKIES. The citizens then blindly elect the same quality of leaders, especially the greedy old men, repeatedly.
The chase for MUD COOKIES has led to Liberians being outside of the stadium of their own economy, while the foreigners play the game and our government watches in pleasurable ignorance.
The chase for MUD COOKIES has led to our Legislators continuously signing terrible concession agreements that underplay the dignity of their own citizens and have them working in in-conducive environments and not making ends meet.
Aren’t you aware that the Chase for MUD COOKIES has led to our leaders fighting for breadcrumbs under International Aid tables? Leaving them no option, but to play by the rules of the colonizers.
These guys lack innovation, their brains are clouded by corruption, so you know what’s not there: juice!
The chase for MUD COOKIES distracts most oppositions, until they become a whole process of pollination – carrying themselves as the pollinator in search of pollen (i.e. greener pastures) from one flower (i.e. political party) to another.
All these things we CAN stop, but I must feel you nodding your head wherever you are reading this, acknowledging that this can only be achieved through the efforts of the young people.
Join me in becoming a part of a new wave in Liberia. It will be a sweet journey. We will change the bad names Liberia has out there by creating and managing systems that are based on merit and integrity. We must and will change the narratives by stepping outside of our comfort zones, catching that fresh air every morning and reminding ourselves of this journey. Let’s transmit this message to our brothers and sisters who have not been fortunate to acquire such reading and comprehension skills. It’s either you join the nearest person or group as we all make our country great, or envy the few who history shall celebrate as great ancestors tomorrow.
All young Liberians should stop the hate and support each other, no matter the different affiliations. We must collaborate in advocating for our rights to live and learn in an improved environment in order for us to win big and win together.
Follow me, we move to secure our future now. We stop the games at this point!
Thanks for reading and I hope we all #RESET.
Authored by Levi Martin
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