The Intoxication of Power – the case with Ali’s Reckless Outburst

POWER HAS AN unusual way of changing people. Yesterday’s humble politician becomes today’s impatient ruler. Yesterday’s advocate of accountability becomes today’s loudest critic of accountability. Yesterday’s victim of official arrogance becomes today’s practitioner of the very arrogance he once condemned.

MOHAMMED ALI’S EXTRAORDINARY attack on Liberian journalists is not merely another social media outburst. It is a revealing window into a dangerous political culture that has haunted Liberia for generations—a culture in which public office is mistaken for personal elevation and criticism is interpreted as an act of hostility rather than an indispensable ingredient of democratic governance.

THERE WAS A time when Mohammed Ali moved freely among journalists. He appreciated their company. He valued their platforms. He understood the importance of an independent press. But political power appears to have performed its familiar transformation. Since ascending with the Unity Party into government, a different Mohammed Ali has emerged—more impatient with scrutiny, more dismissive of criticism, and increasingly inclined to lecture rather than listen.

THAT SHOULD CONCERN every Liberian.

HIS LATEST REMARKS were not simply intemperate. They were contemptuous. Without producing a single fact, a single name, or a single piece of evidence, he pronounced judgment upon an entire profession. Journalists, according to him, are “bribe seekers,” “corrupt people pretending to be journalists,” whose newspapers have supposedly “lost relevance.” Such sweeping denunciation is not confidence. It is insecurity masquerading as strength. Confident governments answer questions.

WEAK GOVERNMENTS ATTACK the questioners. Confident leaders welcome scrutiny because they understand that transparency strengthens public confidence. Weak leaders mistake every uncomfortable headline for an act of sabotage.

THIS IS THE oldest reflex in African politics. Whenever governments begin struggling under the weight of public dissatisfaction, they search for convenient enemies. Sometimes it is civil society. Sometimes it is the opposition. Very often, it is the press. The messenger becomes easier to attack than the message.

HISTORY IS CROWDED with politicians who believed they could govern by intimidating criticism. History is equally crowded with their failures.

MOHAMMED ALI SHOULD remember a simple democratic truth: journalists do not create corruption. They report allegations of corruption. Journalists do not manufacture public frustration. They give it a voice. Journalists do not invent governance failures. They ask why those failures persist.

IF GOVERNMENT FINDS those questions uncomfortable, the remedy is not insults. The remedy is performance. No administration can bully its way into public confidence. Respect is earned. Credibility is earned. Public trust is earned. None of these commodities can be manufactured through Facebook declarations or wounded political pride.

THE IRONY IS Impossible to ignore. Politicians in opposition routinely celebrate investigative journalism. They quote newspapers. They grant interviews. They applaud fearless reporting because it serves their political interests. Yet once the instruments of state are placed in their hands, too many develop an astonishing sensitivity to the very scrutiny they once demanded.

THE SCRIPT NEVER changes. Only the actors do.

THIS RECURRING ARROGANCE has become one of Liberia’s greatest democratic disappointments. Public office is increasingly treated not as a public trust but as a pedestal. Those who occupy it begin expecting applause instead of accountability, admiration instead of interrogation, deference instead of democratic engagement.

THAT IS PRECISELY the mentality the Constitution rejects. Public officials are not monarchs. They are servants.

THEY ARE CUSTODIANS of authority temporarily entrusted to them by citizens who retain every constitutional right to question how that authority is exercised.

MOHAMMED ALI MAY dislike what newspapers publish. He may disagree with commentary. He may vigorously defend Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung. Those are his rights.

WHAT HE CANNOT do is reduce an entire profession to objects of ridicule simply because some reporting has unsettled his government. That is neither statesmanship nor leadership. It is political vanity wrapped in official authority.

ENCOURAGINGLY, MEDIA EXECUTIVES have refused to bow before this display of official indignation. They have challenged Ali to abandon reckless generalizations and identify whoever he believes has acted improperly. Their response was measured, principled, and necessary. The Liberian press cannot permit any public official, regardless of rank, to normalize the habit of discrediting journalists whenever legitimate scrutiny becomes politically inconvenient.

MOHAMMED ALI SHOULD also remember that governments do not become unpopular because newspapers ask questions. Governments become unpopular when they stop providing convincing answers.

THE UNITY PARTY came to power promising a departure from the arrogance that characterized previous administrations. Liberians voted for humility, accountability, and democratic maturity—not for another ruling class intoxicated by office and irritated by criticism.

POWER IS TEMPORARY. The Constitution is permanent. Governments will change. Journalists will continue asking questions. And no amount of official indignation will ever substitute for the one language that ultimately silences criticism: Good governance.