MONROVIA – It seems the cooling off period and honeymoon with the year-old Joseph Boakai-led Unity Party Government are over for the Political Leader of the Alternative National Congress, Alexander Benedict Cummings. Unlike some opposition leaders who think by giving the Boakai administration time to prove itself wrong would give solidity to its excesses that will be difficult to erode, the businessman turned politician “went up to the mountain” for a year, politically aloof, to allow the UP government sufficiently drown itself in the pool of its own failures, perhaps so that it would not give the excuse it was distracted by premature noise and uproar. A year after the regime has proven its true colour and political demeanour, the ANC leader has given up the wait-and-see posture, and in his first major public interview held Tuesday, he amongst other things described the Boakai government heavily corrupt, and the 55th Legislature dysfunctional. The Analyst reports.
When the ANC political leader participated in the immediate past two presidential and general elections, 2017 and 2023, his critics variously accused him for not being the typical Liberian politician who could stir voter’s sentiments with passionate speeches and fiery condemnations of the powerbrokers. But emerging from a long political hiatus following the shocking aftereffects of the 2023 elections, Alternative National Congress Political Leader Mr. Alexander B. Cummings is coming out swinging, telling it just like it is, without sugarcoating his words about the ills in the Liberian society.
He has been speaking especially about the nation’s number one scourge, corruption, which he terms outright stealing that soiled the soul of the nation from its foundation in 1847, grew wings under the Weah administration and now wears coat suit and tie under the Boakai administration.
Speaking on a wide range of national issues on a local radio station, the ANC political leader noted from the beginning of the country’s founding in 1847, stealing has killed more Liberians than the protracted civil war, and that stealing continues from the Weah era to the current Boakai administration.
Cummings said Liberians should stop romanticizing stealing by calling it corruption. He noted: “Corruption is a big word; it makes stealing more elegant,” he said during the talk show. “These people are rogues. When we call it corruption, we dress it up. What’s sad about the stealing in our country is that, although we talk about it, we generally tolerate it because we want our chance to get there and do the same thing. Our elected officials only talk against stealing when they are outside, but when they get there, it’s the same behavior, the same stealing continues.”
He warned it is a problem that needs to be addressed urgently.
The ANC Political Leader continued: “Let me give some examples to address the stealing. You have got to prosecute people. There must be consequences for people when they steal. Yes, suspension is a good start, but you must follow up. People must go to jail. They must lose the property that they stole. You must prosecute people at every level. And you cannot be selective about who to prosecute. Don’t cherry-pick. Because I don’t like you, I prosecute you, but if I like you, I will let you off the cook when you steal. If you do that you will never get rid of the stealing.”
The second cause for stealing, Cummings said, is with civil servants’ living wages. He stressed: “If you don’t pay the policeman a living wage, he will go out to get money to feed his family. That’s human nature. If you don’t pay the teachers a living wage, they will take money to change grades. If you don’t pay the healthcare worker a living wage, they will sell the medication that is supposed to be free. These are just examples of how you can reduce corruption by paying civil servants living wages.”
He said what’s needed to be done is for those in authority to simplify rules and regulations so that everybody understands the rules, as doing it consistently helps in reducing the stealing.
He gave what he called the “real life story” about corruption in Liberia, recalling that there was a Liberian fellow who made some money in the States, who came to Liberia to try to do business during the past administration, and he got the running around.
Cummings narrated that the fellow got so frustrated he left and went to Kenya where he’s doing a thriving business in agriculture.
“This is what he told me,” the ANC leader illustrates. “He said there is corruption in Kenya too. But the difference is that in Kenya they will let the cow grow before they milk it. But in Liberia, we want to milk the cow before it is even born. Before one can even register a business, people want to extract bribes, as opposed to nurturing and encouraging Liberian businesses to grow and thrive.”
He called on Liberians to get rid of the stealing, which has not fundamentally changed from time and to time.
What’s to learn from Dysfunctional System
Responding to his critics who often say he should have aspired for a legislative seat or even the vice presidency, to familiarize himself and gain experience within the political terrain before running for the nation’s highest office, Mr. Cummings peevishly called out his critics for making such suggestion that “lacks common sense”.
“It’s complete nonsense,” he retorted. “I should get this so-called experience in the system that has not produced anything for the Liberian people. So, what am I going to learn in this legislature that is dysfunctional? The legislature is not working. We have two speakers. We got Fonati Koffa, and we got Richard Koon. Two speakers. Dysfunctional. That’s just an example of asking me to go and get experience from something that doesn’t work. When people see our governance system, when they see us standing in line breaking the speaker’s office. Doesn’t it send a bad signal?”
He called on Liberians to respect and follow rules and regulations and stop the gangsterism.
According to him, there are clear rules to elect and remove a speaker. He added: “If you want to remove a speaker you need 49 votes. If you have 49 votes, you can remove the speaker. If you don’t have it, you don’t have it. You can’t have 45 or 46 votes, and you insist you remove the speaker. This is not for or against Fonati, that’s not the point. The point is there are rules. How can we be a gangster country? We make our rules and break those same rules, and then you want people to come here and invest?”
Cummings said more often than not, Liberians always want to do things fundamentally differently.
He said Liberians desire investment in the Liberian people but the national budget for the legislature alone is almost $40 million for 103 people.
“That is too much,” he cried. “You can pay a lot of money if you are getting results. But we are getting no results, no value, and yet we’re spending US$40 million on 103 people. That’s almost US$40,000 per person. How does that make sense when schools don’t have supplies, teachers, healthcare workers, police are not getting paid a living wage, medical supplies are not adequate in the hospitals? So, learning and getting experience from a system that is not working makes no sense.”
Liberians got what they chose
When quizzed about the reason why he thinks the Liberian people rejected him twice at the polls, and whether his dismal performance in the 2023 presidential elections could be the result of his message of change not resonating with the voters, Mr. Cummings said the message of change is even more relevant today than ever before.
He asserted: “We will always tell the Liberian people that you cannot keep doing the same things and expect different results. We have elected leaders who exemplify that kind of gangster behavior, attacking others. But what has that gotten us in terms of result? What have such attitude done for the Liberian people? We will be 178 this July. We are among the poorest countries in the world. So, that style of talking, yelling, that gangsterism that’s happening in the legislature, in the House, has it improved the lives of the Liberian people? Have their lives gotten better? I am who I am. If the Liberian people want someone else, of course, that’s their democratic right. We will accept their decision.”
According to Cummings, the message the ANC preached is even more relevant today than it was back then. He said it is possible they didn’t explain the message well enough to the Liberian people, may be the messenger’s style and approach didn’t resonate with the Liberian people.
“I accept that, and it’s ok,” he said, adding: “But the message is still relevant. The message that we cannot keep doing the same thing and expect different results is even more relevant today. The message that Liberia deserves better; the message that it’s about the economy, creating jobs, improving the livelihood of our people, about investing in the people, not in the politicians.”
He expressed strong belief that if a government invests in the people, the people will develop the country, a message that is relevant today more than ever.
Then he said: “So, the message is right. Maybe the messenger was wrong. Clearly, the Liberian people wanted something else. Maybe how we delivered the message didn’t work. We keep electing the same kind people, with the same experiences, we will get the same results. We elect people who yell, scream, who have not shown any tangible results, who have not managed anything concrete. The same kind of inexperience, just because they talk, yell, we elect them. We will get the same results.”
On constitutional review suggestions
Speaking on the issue that the government of Liberia intends to review some provisions of the constitution, Mr. Cummings noted that it is a good idea to review the constitution and make adjustments.
For example, he noted, it is important to change the tenure of officials of the three branches of government.
“I agree with senators going from 9 to 7 years, representatives from 6 to 5 years, presidents 6 to 5 years,” the suggested. “I think it makes sense. We should do that. I keep going back to this legislature and I will get a lot of attacks from them, but I don’t care. Do we need a bicameral legislature? Do we need a Senate and a House? Should we go for a unicameral legislature, just have one national parliament? Is that something we should consider?
Looking across Africa, Cummings contends, it varies though some African countries have unicameral, while some have bicameral legislature but that given the dysfunctional nature of Liberia’s House of Representative, and the fact that they don’t really act like they have value, “do we need two? As we have a constitutional review, we should look at that.”
He said Liberians should study what other countries do, look at the cost implications of that.
“But more than that,” he said, “we need to contemporize our constitution to fit where the country is. And so, we should be looking at not just tenure and terms, but we should be looking at critical issues like decentralization.
“Is there too much concentration in the presidency, the executive branch? Decentralization is something that we strongly advocate in our manifesto. We should be pushing more responsibilities to the counties.”
President Boakai’s first year in Office
In providing his candid assessment of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s first year in office, the ANC political leader was cautiously optimistic, but provided some thoughtful recommendations for progress, noting that one year in a six-year term is not a long time.
“I like to be balanced and fair,” he said. “Something that Liberian people don’t like. But it’s just a fact. We should be hopeful that in the next five years the country will change for the better and most Liberians will see the difference in their lives. But I want to put the pressure back on the Liberian people because they made the decision in terms of who they wanted to lead them, and it was their right to do so. It is the Liberian people who must decide if their lives are better off a year since the last election. That’s their decision to make.”
He asked rhetorically: “Are the schools in better shape? Are the hospitals in better shape? Are we investing in agriculture? Are we taking advantage of the tourism opportunities we are having in our country? These are questions the Liberian people have to answer for themselves.”
Cummings said he still believes Liberians deserve a better Liberia, but it’s up to the people to make the decisions as to the direction of the country, and they have to decide if they are better off and if they are not, what are going to do about improving their lives.
“But if I am speaking as an ordinary Liberian, not the politician Cummings, I will be frank to say that the cost of living in Liberia is higher. The currency has weakened. A bag of rice is higher today than it was a year ago,” he further emphasized.
“But I want our people to take responsibility for where we find ourselves today. It is always easy to blame somebody else. Let’s take ownership and decide what we want to do about it. If we are going to keep selecting the same kind of people, the same experience, then our lives will not change. And even as individual Liberians, if you want an improvement in your life, you must do something different to get that change you want.”
“The economy is an area that I understand the most,” he boasted, adding: “There is still an opportunity for the government to improve the business environment, to make it easier for people to do and start businesses, to look at the whole regulatory tax environment in our country.”
He said Liberian must go after corruption, because, unless that is done, it will be hard to attract investors in the country.
He also called for fixing the governance system in Liberia, because according to him, when one talks to people in the region, and people look at what’s happening in Liberia, there are questions about how serious Liberians are, particularly what’s happening in the legislature.
“We should focus on Liberian businesses and the business environment,” the ANC leader further.
“We import almost everything we use and consume in Liberia, something that we shouldn’t be proud of, and should want to change but it will take time to change if we want to. In the meantime, Liberians can import things in our country.
“We don’t need foreigners to do that for us. Is the government using Liberians to procure the goods and services the government consumes? That’s a way to put money into the pockets of the Liberian people. Those are the kinds of things we need to do. The economy is projected to grow by 4 or 5%. That is a good thing, but is this growth being left by the average Liberian? Is the teacher feeling that benefit, Are the healthcare workers, military, farmers, motor cyclists feeling this growth? Are our policymakers pushing down the benefits of that 5% growth to the people? Our policies should be directed at that. I heard that the government would undertake a national youth service program, which is a good thing. The average young person can benefit from that. The government should be providing through the banking systems or through the microloan institutions funding to Liberian businesses, market women, small businesses. President Weah in his last two state of the nation addresses said he would do it, they never did it. This government should do it. I am encouraging them to do it because it will help Liberians, especially the young people,” Mr. Cummings matter-of-factly.”
On a personal note, Mr. Cummings cleared the air on the decision he took immediately after losing the 2023 presidential election, which results he vehemently opposed at the time.
“After the elections I did not go to court to object to the outcome because it would have been a waste of time and money. I am a very practical man, I don’t like to waste people’s time, my time, resources, etc. It’s highly likely that I didn’t win the elections, I think that’s clear. I wouldn’t have even come in second, but the one percent made absolutely no sense at all. We know of precincts where our own counts we did better than the reported results. We did actual scientific polling, and we know we were never in first or second place, but all our polling had us in third place. And for the result to be one percent was a complete joke. So, for us to NEC, the court, given our judiciary, it would have been a complete waste of time, money and resources.
“I shy away from the sectionalism and fragmentation of our country. I focus on constituents like youths and young people, which we didn’t do a good job of, because young people issues cut across tribe, region, country. Same with women; women issues and challenges cut across religion, tribe, region, etc., and those were the constituencies we focused on. Of course I am from the Southeast, and so, that would have been an important constituency. But the former president was also from there, and he had incumbency and resources on his side. My base is national, but it didn’t reflect in the results. It is what it is. We accept the results,” he said.
Touching on his professional life since the 2023 elections, Cummings said he is not a professional politician, and that he entered politics only to serve his country and make a difference.
“I am a businessman, a philanthropist. This idea of constantly running for something, I don’t subscribe to that. But I’ve been around the country mostly. I did some travels because I have interests outside Liberia. I am on some boards. I do executive coaching. I give advice to companies. I am a senior advisor to the CEO and his management team of one of the fastest growing artificial intelligence companies. But I’ve been in Liberia, and I decided to listen, observe, consult, give the government a chance to get their feet under the table because they just took on a new job. And I don’t think it makes sense to constantly criticize, which I consider a waste of time. But we continue to be committed to our country. We are not going anywhere. As I said, when we congratulated President Boakai, we wished him well. His success is Liberia’s success,” the ANC political leader said.