By Hon. Musa Hassan Bility
This week’s Letter from Saclepea comes from Providence, Rhode Island.
For nearly two weeks, Liberia’s public conversation has been dominated by drugs and their devastating impact on our country.
Yet I have struggled to hear any major political actor address this crisis without politicizing it.
Those who lost power are using the crisis to fight their way back. Those desperately trying to keep power are shifting blame.
Others seeking power are using the pain of our people to promote themselves.
But while the politicians argue, who is speaking for the children?
No one is seriously discussing the young people whose futures have already been damaged. No one is presenting a clear plan 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. 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.
I walk the streets. I see the anguish of ordinary families. I see parents looking into the eyes of politicians, hoping to find some reflection of their pain. Instead, they see politicians taking shots at one another for political advantage.
The recent dismissals and suspensions by the government may be important first steps, but they are not a national recovery plan. Those responsible for importing, financing, protecting and distributing drugs must be exposed and prosecuted, regardless of their positions or political affiliations. But 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.
This is where the Citizens Movement for Change must be different. CMC cannot become another voice in the endless contest of blame. We must hold the government accountable without turning a national tragedy into campaign material.
Liberia needs an urgent National Drug Recovery and Prevention Plan. It 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 our country.
Sitting here in Providence on this Saturday evening, the human cost of this crisis has hit me deeply. We have allowed the suffering of our children to become another subject of everyday politics. The same political establishment that has controlled our country for nearly twenty years continues to argue over who is responsible 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. A grieving mother does not need another campaign speech. She needs her child back.
History will not remember who scored the most political points from this tragedy. History will remember who had the courage to save the children.
Liberia cannot afford another election that merely changes the people holding power while preserving the same politics. Unless we begin to think differently, act differently and place people above politics, we will repeat the same mistake.
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.