MONROVIA – The Unity Party, under President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, has already bagged one year out of its six-year term in national leadership, and is about to embark on the second. By this time last year, the nation was on edge, the palpitation of hearts amongst citizens – both supporters and detractors — who were not sure what the victorious party that had promised so much to the people would do. With 12 months of stewardship now archived, everyone, as we say in Liberia, “knows what’s up na”, left to take cue as to how to relate to the regime, whether to ground arms or accelerate their critique. For The Analyst newspaper, which closely followed the achievements and failures of the last year, and has kept the criticality sword in ploughshare in 2024 knowing the UP needed time to adjust, this year, 2025 and going forward will be different, as our Resolution for the Year outlines.
The conclusion of last 2023 general and presidential elections, including the runoff elections of November 14, adds to Liberia’s credit and pride as an emerging exemplary democracy on the West Coast of Africa. Citizens peacefully participated in campaigns with parties of their choice, cast the ballots, awaited results, and when the results were announced – all went quiet, nonviolent.
The former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), particularly President George Weah, demonstrated high political sportsmanship, letting the highly emotional period concluded without protest contrary to the naysaying that they would not bow gracefully.
The new ruling Unity Party administration picked up the mantle to responsibly consolidate nation peace, harmony and reconciliation needed to underpin their agenda for development promised the people of the country. But did it do that?
Handling Hyper-hyped Expectations: Liberia’s expectation for transformation and possibly prosperity under the UP administration has been quite high, and needless to mention. The height derives not only from long years of political neglect and intractable hardship; it also comes from the boast by the UP that it is most situated for national leadership, and has the solution to problems of underdevelopment faced by the people.
The party did not come with the boast only during the campaign; all through the six years of CDC incumbency, the UP was fierce and provocative in its agitation, stating invariably that the CDC administration was mismanaging the country and there was need for change.
It seems the rhetoric resonated with the people such that when the ruling party was maximizing its incumbency with lavish campaigns in style and grandeurs, the UP managed to pull nearly similar crowds at its rallies. And in the end, by its agitation and honeyed promises, it snatched power from the hands of the incumbent administration.
By dismissing and condemning all that the CDC was doing, including the government’s well-sung pro-poor development programs, the UP was saying essentially that it was capable of building more roads, fight corruption head-on, create more jobs, expand the electricity grid more, put more medicines, beds, doctors, equipment in the health sector, amongst other bread and butter issues.
Liberians, both supporters and opponents of the UP, have been speaking loudly—and rightly so—that they would settle for nothing less than the “rescue” and the “change” that the party had boasted for in six years and promised during the campaign.
Resolution: Promise is a debt, so goes the maxim, and it is an understatement saying the UP administration is under moral and political obligation to deliver on most of its promises if not all. The source of conflict in the developing world, which at times is fanaticized de-election, is failure of political elites to deliver on promises made to their people. Asking citizens to manage such high expectations, particularly without a strategy in doing so, following a high-stakes election is not only to fuel disinterest of the masses in our country’s politics and democracy but also a source of conflict.
It can be recalled that one of the allies of the Unity Party, perhaps a foe now, former Auditor General John Morlu, was right he was at the onset, “We must live up to expectations, not manage them.” According to him, the UP was obligated to meet the expectations of Liberian people, and that managing their expectations is not an option but a duty.
It must have been an accidental assertion when senator Amara Konneh in a crude way, without doing the intelligent thing, nakedly dumped his “manage your assertion” campaign on the social media.
Playing with the expectation of the long-denied people of Liberia is a playing around a tanker of gasoline with a flaming touch. It needs to be handled gingerly, something that can only be done by communication experts and not politicians.
Liberians deserve good life. They deserve change. They deserve rescue. They deserve social services. They deserve bread and butter. And thank God President Joseph N. Boakai and his lieutenants put their necks on the chopping board they knew how to do it; that they were the most capable people to do so.
In the last 12 months, we did not see much of that promises. All we saw was much noise. The expectations of the people remain high.
The Analyst will follow up on the promises, and compromisingly hold the feet of the of the regime to the fire. On this, we shall not waver.
Giving Rescue Mission Meaning: Challenging Poverty
Supporters of the new UP government and the potential officials, amid the waves of enthusiasm taking over from the CDC, will have to recognize a major fact: the conditions and circumstances that underpin the UP’s first term which took 12 years are not the same as they were. Exogenous factors of crippling proportion are at bay. The departure of UNMIL and its over 16,000 troops, and the exit of a swarms of other international players, are new dynamism on the horizon to grapple with. Thus, the supposed flagship program of the new regime call ARREST may not have the same contexts and catalysts as were the UP’s 150-Day deliverables, iPRS, PRS and Alft of its 12year reign. This is not to argue that poverty is not the major pandemic to tackle. It is a known fact that Liberia from time immemorial has been fighting tooth and nail to lift itself, by its own fusty bootstraps, from the depths of poverty and degradation it had sunk due to more than a century of mismanagement compounded by 14 years of senseless civil war.
Then came the six years of CDC rule which saw reasonable progress, first the maintenance of the peace and stability in the absence of the international stabilization forces, and the provision of basic social services, and impressive repair of the Liberian macroeconomy.
Liberia has recorded modest gains in security, politics, the economy, and foreign relations over the last 22 years, since the end of the civil conflict. However, Liberians think, as the young government is all-too-ready to admit, the UP is expected to do much since, or every step forward, there seems a half step backwards – for every gain in socio-economic and political development, there is a loss to corruption and mismanagement; there is a loss to political or communal acrimony of a sort.
The way out of this, pundits agree, is for the nation to set a roadmap, a resolution of a sort, for 2025 that sets the trajectories for sturdy recovery, peace, and stability.
Resolution: To give the Rescue Mission meaning in the fight against poverty and socioeconomic stagnation, the UP must resolve to establish and maintain the necessary environment and ground conductive for development and human interaction. That requires deliberate campaign to maintain the peace, reconcile the people and establish an inclusive political regime.
In 2024, Liberians expected it would eschew winner takes all, and make every qualified Liberian feel part of the administration and a sense of belonging to the nation. However, it is not late for the UP administration to lead a crusade of peace, mobilizing Liberians at home and abroad that they shall never again tread those muddy grounds and quicksand of political bickering, undue skepticism, incrimination, and what many consider the beginning of witch-hunting and obsession with official expediency.
As the nation embarks yet on another epoch of national integration and peace and development this year, there loom spiraled expectations amongst the citizens, putting pressure on the ruling elites to work firmly for the good the nation. All this requires sobriety, determination and focus if tangible achievements are to be bagged at the end of the year.
For the economy
The current picture: As far as everyone saw in 2024, the UP administration was not confronted with as much turbulence of the Liberian economy as it was when the part then turned over to the CDC in 2018. That was when the nation at that time had faced deadly Ebola virus and inflation was unprecedentedly high. Before the Coalition for Democratic Change government took over state power, the gains made got upside-down. Why the evolving situation may not be making of the current government, the economists will have to decide the proper rescue path to take.
It can be said with boldness that the CDC fought turbulence and in succeeded in reducing inflation from nearly 40 percent to single digit, attracting rare favor from international financial institutions such as IMF and World Bank. Economic recovery and reconstruction are still a matter of hunt and peck, largely reliant on foreign assistance. The international community, mainly the United States and its economic allies, is warming up to the needs of the country through increased aid and lending, evidenced by the MCC Pact just granted.
There is agreement in both Monrovia and Washington that economic assistance must follow austere fiscal and economic management and sustainable peace in Liberia. The Government passed the revered Millennium Challenge Corporation, setting it on the page to benefit from copious US assistance.
Obviously, there is no lack of consensus, neither is there any lack of trying to erect these safety posts, as the government’s financial management team fights tooth and nail to resuscitate the economy that was in shocks if not in coma.
Jerking tenured officials of integrity institutions out of job has been ringing bells in the ears of international partners and watchdog institutions. The crack down on rule of law, including shunning Supreme Court edict, cast doubts if the administration’s started on any positive note.
Citizens’ Expectation: Notwithstanding this current phase of the Liberia economy, the citizens expect increased job opportunities, improved wages, the jumpstarting of the private sector, and drastic reduction in the prices of consumer commodities specifically rice, building materials, and transportation fares determined by reduction in the prices of gasoline and fuel oil. They want also improvement in social services such as improved delivery of safe drinking water, electricity, refurbished and equipped public schools, and refurbished and equipped health faculties across the country. For them, post-war peace and reconciliation is inextricably bound to the provision of these facilities and opportunities. Even those who sympathize with government’s efforts have joined critics to press for robust government programs to alleviate the biting pervasive hardship.
The resolution: Boakai administration, in one accord with the people, must muster all of the nation’s human and material resources to resolve that this nation needs sober programs for 2025 since it has done little or nothing in 2024. The administration must redouble its efforts in making itself the darling of the international community so that direct foreign investment will flow and international confidence restored, as it makes progress on domestic popularity owing to emphasis on road construction.
The Government’s foreign affairs or diplomacy must be stepped up because Liberia is not an island. The Weah administration did little on this front. The is a dire need for robust domestic program to start this year, 2025, to maintain or possibly increase foreign partners, including investors, stop leakages in foreign affairs as to attract the favor of international community which will lead to improved investment opportunities and Liberia’s place in the international realm.
Much must be done to eradicate or minimize corruption through the efficient streamlining of fiscal spending, revenue collection and saving, and the establishment of priority spending regime; and that, the donor community is made to build confidence in the ability of the Administration to run the economy without hitches. In this regards, domestic and international fiscal and resource monitors, including the Liberia Extractive Industries (LEITI) must be left to do their jobs without interferences; they should not continue to be window dressing and armchair monitors but must become the true technical guards of transparency and accountability they were intended to be.
For Politics
The current picture: The country is divided, arguably as never before. Besides the fact that the October and November elections witnessed bellicose campaigning on both sides, and crude words and melees took place, the president and his administration have done nothing to heal wounds. In fact, they created more and deeper wounds. The political playing field has been quite charged with aggression, bitterness and hate. The acrimonies in and amongst the media speak unfavorably of its political temperament. Some opposition political leaders are still counting their losses, knocking on woods, and hinging their lucks on the 2029 general and presidential elections. They see no accommodation or olive branch from the power that be. Independent minds are uncertain what will happen; whether the opposition community will break apart or they can put up a formidable force in the year to keep the government’s feet to the hearth. Still, others are fearing a make or break scenario as the Boakai administration put up stick neck on calls for political inclusion and reconciliation.
Citizens’ Expectation: Political harmony, constant dialogue between the opposition on one side, including the CDC and ruling UP administration, must be avoided. The instance of divisive political bickering that has the potential to prompt donor drawbacks. Besides, they expect strategic cooperation between the opposition and the administration whereby inclusion will be based on individual merit rather than on politically derived job placement of the mediocre in government. They want prosecution of those violating the laws and the repeal of obsolete statutes that are hindering the anti-corruption fight and the safe delivery of justice in the courts of the land. They expect a law-driven opposition and not one relying on sentimentalism to push sectoral agendas at the expense of the rule of law. They want the prosecution of corrupt officials, something that will indiscriminate and not cheery-picking; and above all, they want a national peace and reconciliation agenda the implementation of which will not lead to more strife as some fear will be the case with the calls for War Crimes and Economic Crimes tribunals.
The resolution: We will hold the Boakai administration to draw up a political agenda that will introduce sobriety—or political hygiene as pan-Africanist Patrick Lumumba would say—into the political field. Accomplishing this will require the administration to organize a series of disinterested political meetings aimed at drawing up what will be called the National Dialogue Conference where all Liberians will voice their positions on the path to transformation. Such a Dialogue will, amongst other things, exact consensus amongst politicians to critically monitor the government and exert reasonable pressure that will compel the government to deliver on its promises within the ring of wherewithal availability. It will also eschew radicalism for its own sake since radicalism finds its strength in violence and fear mongering, and violence and fear mongering measure their successes in the level of security breach, which Liberians do not need. It will be unreasonable, for instance, to require the government to supply electricity to pre-war status when it is clear that the Mount Coffee Hydro-Plant requires more than it is doing. The Liberia Electricity Corporation needs to increase its output and penetration to cover many more homes, as electricity is the fulcrum of development and transformation that comes with employment and decent living. However, it will be unreasonable to expect the government to provide employment for all those unemployed and at the same time pave all major highways in the country within a year. The citizens will expect the opposition to play its role as the monitor of public policy and not to degenerate into the abyss of violence advocacy.
For Security
The current picture: Six years before the second advent of the Unity Party, the CDC was seen doing better with security. Liberia’s internal security, without the help of outsiders as it was for nearly decades, was jealously protected by the Weah administration. The departure of the international stabilization force, UNMIL, puts much strain for the security of a country that had depended on the international community for national security for years. The Weah administration did not falter. It has rose to the occasion.
It fought massive unemployment, particularly amongst young people, something that is taking its toll with implication on security. Excruciatingly low wages for security personnel and the massive peddling of narcotics are all red flags that hovers on the horizon to contend with in the coming months. Armed robberies are on the rise as electricity is still a luxury in the country.
Citizens’ Expectation: Following years of war and fear, Liberians cannot afford insecurity and violent crimes. Thus, they expect nothing less radical reduction in violent crimes through joint security vigilance and preemptive operations. Also expected is the acceleration of the police re-forming process, the full rearming of the police, and the systematic prosecution of the criminals to serve as deterrence to would-be criminals. They expect the recycling of criminals – wherein the security forces simply arrest violent or career criminals, detain them without charge for unspecified period under so-called special security operations, and release by the force of the rule of law – to end. Expected also is the complete rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-combatants. Granted, there was once the DDRR program years ago, but the citizens will expect a remedial program to address residual issues.
The resolution: The Analyst will during the year follow up on and urge the Boakai administration involved itself with policy actions to will prevent chaos, conflict and disharmony. We would want the administration order a special commission to independently review conditions and situations being faced by various security apparatuses in the view of improving the quality of their service to the population. Such a commission, for instance, could review remunerations for security personnel, the quality of the places of their residence, the uniforms the wear and their exposure to training opportunities. The backgrounds of security personnel must be checked and those involved with excessive drinking and narcotics weeded out. Day and night patrols must be enhanced in communities and highways to help the free movement of goods and services. The Administration must insist that reintegration of ex-combatants is placed at the top of security priorities, remaining convinced that unless the issue of ex-combatants is solved, the security question will remain elusive and will continue to be an obstacle.
For Social Services
The current picture: It is important to first state that the past Weah administration deserves some amount of credit in the provision of social services. Electricity was expanded. Tens of thousands of homes were connected to the grid. Several community roads and highways were built and started. More mega hospitals were built or were under construction. Pro poor housing units built or under construction. Free education in public universities and free WASSCE. And the list continues. But challenges remain. Major highways were cut off and many regions inaccessible during the raining seasons. The prices of basic commodities are high. Little was done, as was the case for past governments, in the agriculture sector. There are concerns in the area of water and sanitation. The public corporations that supply water and electricity are still largely operating at the mercy of humanitarian organizations and the development partners of Liberia. The government’s contribution has been marginal and will continue to be due to the volume of service competition amongst the various sectors of government. The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) is operating minimally.
During the last year, the new government’s social services were intangible or unimpactful, and public expectation is exceedingly high. Critics and supporters are equally asking the questions: what has this government done to put smiles on the faces of citizens, both urban and rural. And it seems the answer to them is “nothing; a big nothing”.
Citizens’ Expectation: The public expect the further expansion or restoration of electricity and water at least to the capital and beyond. They expect also the reduction of the prices of basic consumer products or the stepping up of minimum wages to honorable levels. Current national budget estimates for minimal national wage is US $150.00. Whether or not the government has been able to activate this minimum wage is a question to ask. They will expect the UP government to concentrate seriously on constructing at least one all-weather highway for the ease of travel and to spur commercial activities from which government draws much of its revenue. Furthermore, with the giant steps taken towards public education, installation of digital registration at the University of Liberia and free tuition for public colleges, the Boakai government must step up its support to these public tertiary schools and improve conditions in secondary schools which are feeders of the colleges.
The resolution: The Analyst will ask the necessary question and pester the Boakai administration get involved with austerity program to raise money/revenues and obtain external support in order to jumpstart the restoration of basic social services at least to Monrovia and its environs. The recent reconditioning of access and back roads in the capital is commendable; but it is a drop in the ocean of the demands for access roads throughout the country. Besides, it must review the so-called Monrovia electrification program so that efforts can be concentrated on the restoration of the facilities of LEC at least in Monrovia by the second quarter of 2025. The administration must resolve to prioritize education by stepping up the budgetary allotment for education to take into consideration the role of education. It must remove bottlenecks to fair business practices such as unnecessary freight and surcharges that never reached government coffers, in order to reduce the costs of petroleum products, rice, and transportation. It must remove the high risk factor associated with the use of the Freeport of Monrovia by holding talks with UN, EU, the U.S. government, UNMIL, and Maritime officials to declare Liberian ports free of security risks. The National Budget must consider between 15% to 25% for education consistent with international protocols and national laws.
Remaining Engaged
In the coming months under the political administration, the Liberian people, be it supporters and opponents of the UP, must not be aloof. Our democracy requires participation and engagement with the ruling class, keeping it in check and its feet to the fire because those in authority are humans and prone to errors, ego and pride that have the tendency to mismanage the national voyage. To keep them on track requires the full participation of all, not in any negative and destructive way but in constructive ways with Liberia considered the common denominator.
Our resolution is to use our pages, particularly our Editorial pages and “Memo to the President” as mouthpieces of the silent masses of the people who have no means and medium to communicate their heartfelt concerns to the power that be.
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