By Musa Hassan Bility
This morning, I have been thinking about one of the saddest habits in Liberian public life. No matter how serious an issue may be, we make noise about it for a few days, promise an investigation, and then let it go quietly.
Too many serious matters have already been swept under the carpet by this government.
We watched a multimillion-dollar project rise in Foya amid conflicting descriptions and figures. Some called it a presidential villa and estimated its cost at US$10 million. The government later described it as the Mano River Union Center for Regional Peace and Development, with an estimated cost of US$6.1 million. Yet the Liberian people still deserve a complete accounting of the project. Who provided the money? How much did each contributor provide? Who selected the contractors? What procurement process was followed? What obligations, if any, were created for Liberia? Who owns and controls the completed property? The government’s explanation gave the project a name, but a name is not an audit and a press briefing is not a complete accounting.
In a poverty-stricken country where pregnant women go to bed hungry and without medicine, children sit in overcrowded classrooms, and hospitals struggle without basic supplies, no multimillion-dollar public project should emerge without complete transparency. Yet we have seen no prompt and comprehensive public report from the General Auditing Commission, the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, or the Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Taskforce.
Now, I fear that the same familiar Liberian story is beginning to unfold around the US$19.2 million cocaine case.
We acknowledge the seizure. We acknowledge that an investigation was announced and that several individuals and a company have been charged. But charges written on paper are not the same as suspects being arrested and brought before the court. The only defendant publicly brought before the court reportedly returned to Liberia and voluntarily surrendered. Others remain beyond the physical reach of the justice system. The cocaine seizure involved approximately 237.6 kilograms, making this one of the gravest drug cases in our recent history.
We have now gone another full week without a meaningful public update. No new arrests. No clear report on the search for those at large. No explanation of where the drugs originated, who financed the operation, how long the network may have operated, or who facilitated its activities. The Legislature has entered recess, severely reducing the opportunity for continuous public oversight unless extraordinary steps are taken.
We are not proceeding well.
The government must understand that investigative confidentiality and public accountability are not enemies. Investigators can protect sensitive evidence while still providing regular and credible updates. The public can be told whether warrants have been issued, whether international assistance has been requested, whether financial accounts and assets are being traced, and what progress is being made toward bringing every suspect before the court.
This is not politics as usual. This is a threat to our children, our families, our national security, and Liberia’s international reputation.
It was estimated before this government came to power that two in every ten Liberian youths were using narcotic substances. The United Nations Population Fund publicly reported that estimate. The drug crisis was used as a serious indictment of the George Weah administration. The failed prosecution of the previous major cocaine case was presented as evidence of incompetence, interference, and national decline.
We cannot use one standard to condemn George Weah and another standard to protect Joseph Boakai. What was described as a national emergency under the previous government cannot suddenly become a public relations inconvenience under this government.
The government has asked for time, and we have given it time. We understand that dismantling an international criminal network requires patience, evidence, cooperation, and due process. But time must produce results. Time cannot become an excuse for silence. Patience cannot become permission for the matter to disappear.
Where did the drugs come from? Who financed the shipment? Who arranged its movement through Liberia? Who were the intended recipients? How long has this network operated? Who assisted it? How did known persons of interest leave the country? What is being done to return them? These are questions, not convictions, and the Liberian people have every right to ask them.
This story will not go to bed because the victims of drugs do not have that luxury.
Parents do not forget when they wake up and find their children under the influence of narcotics. Families do not forget when their children leave school and begin living on the streets. Mothers do not forget when their sons steal, fight, beg, or harm themselves just to find a few Liberian dollars to purchase drugs. Parents do not forget when they are forced to place their children in rehabilitation centers, uncertain whether those children will ever return to the people they once were.
As long as these things continue, Liberia will not forget.
No amount of public relations, partisan attacks, political distractions, or silence will make this matter disappear. The government must change its approach, communicate regularly, pursue every suspect, follow the money, expose the entire network, and invite credible international assistance where necessary.
This is not a threat. It is a promise of democratic vigilance.
This drug story will not go to bed. It will not be forgotten. It will not rest until the Liberian people know the truth and everyone responsible is brought to justice.
There is no turning back.
Have a thoughtful weekend.