MONROVIA – Writing from Providence, Rhode Island, Representative Musa Hassan Bility turns his weekly Letter from Saclepea toward Liberia’s rawest wound. The drug crisis has dominated national conversation for two weeks, yet he hears only politics in the response. Those who lost power weaponize the tragedy, those holding power shift blame, and those seeking power promote themselves. Lost in the noise, he argues, are the children whose futures the narcotics trade has already damaged. Bility calls for a National Drug Recovery and Prevention Plan pairing rehabilitation with prosecution of the trafficking networks. His challenge lands on his own party as much as its political rivals: accountability without campaign opportunism. The children cannot wait, as THE ANALYST reports.
Nimba County District #7 Representative and Citizens Movement for Change (CMC) Political Leader Musa Hassan Bility has accused Liberia’s political class of politicizing the country’s drug crisis while ignoring the children whose futures the epidemic has already damaged. Writing in his weekly Letter from Saclepea column, penned this week from Providence, Rhode Island, the lawmaker said the crisis has dominated Liberia’s public conversation for nearly two weeks without any major political actor addressing it beyond politics.
According to Bility, those who lost power are using the crisis to fight their way back, those desperately trying to keep power are shifting blame, and others seeking power are using the pain of the people to promote themselves. “But while the politicians argue, who is speaking for the children?” he asked.
The lawmaker lamented that no one is seriously discussing the young people whose futures have already been damaged. He said no clear plan exists to rescue them from the streets, provide treatment and rehabilitation, return them to school, teach them useful skills, or reunite them with their families.
“These children are not statistics. They are our sons and daughters,” Bility wrote. “They were once the hopes of mothers who sacrificed everything to raise them. Today, those mothers watch helplessly as the promise of a better tomorrow disappears before their eyes.”
Describing his encounters with ordinary families, the Nimba lawmaker said he sees parents looking into the eyes of politicians hoping to find some reflection of their pain, only to watch those politicians taking shots at one another for political advantage. That anguish, he suggested, is what the national debate has so far failed to answer.
‘Not a National Recovery Plan’
Turning to the government’s response, Bility acknowledged that the recent dismissals and suspensions may be important first steps, but insisted they are not a national recovery plan. He maintained that those responsible for importing, financing, protecting and distributing drugs must be exposed and prosecuted regardless of their positions or political affiliations, while cautioning that arrests alone will not restore the lives of the children already affected.
“Law enforcement without rehabilitation is incomplete. Rehabilitation without stopping the supply is equally meaningless,” he wrote.
The CMC political leader also directed a pointed challenge at his own movement, saying the party must be different from the rest of the political establishment. According to him, the CMC cannot become another voice in the endless contest of blame, and must hold the government accountable without turning a national tragedy into campaign material.
Demands National Recovery Plan
At the heart of his letter is a call for an urgent National Drug Recovery and Prevention Plan. The plan, he said, must include treatment and rehabilitation centers, street outreach, mental health services, family counseling, education and vocational programs, and a transparent investigation into the criminal networks bringing drugs into the country.
Reflecting on the human cost of the crisis, Bility said Liberia has allowed the suffering of its children to become another subject of everyday politics. He accused the political establishment that has controlled the country for nearly twenty years of continuing to argue over responsibility while an entire generation is being destroyed.
“A child struggling with addiction does not care whether the person offering help belongs to UP, CDC, CMC or any other political party,” he wrote. “A grieving mother does not need another campaign speech. She needs her child back.”
The lawmaker warned that history will not remember who scored the most political points from the tragedy, but who had the courage to save the children. Liberia, he argued, cannot afford another election that merely changes the people holding power while preserving the same politics, warning that unless Liberians begin to think differently, act differently and place people above politics, the same mistake will be repeated.
Bility concluded that what he calls the third lane must be the road of compassion, policy, responsibility and courage. “Our children are waiting. Our families are suffering. And the time to act is now,” he wrote.