Letter from Saclepea : A Sad Day for Liberia

By Musa Hassan Bility

The publication of the State Department’s reports on Liberia, which I have painstakingly read, darkened my weekend. Page after page, the words leapt at me like a cold betrayal. I never saw this coming. I never thought that a government led by a respected and experienced statesman like Joseph Nyuma Boakai would have acquired such a horrible status as abusive and corrupt as alleged by the United States government. The shock is not only in the content of the report but in the weight of its implications for our country.

This is more than a political embarrassment. It is a national heartbreak. It is a devastating blow to the faith and hope of many Liberians who trusted that decades of public service would translate into integrity, transparency, and compassion in leadership. Those who once believed that his years in the corridors of power had prepared him to lead with honor must now confront the painful reality that trust has been betrayed. The man many saw as the moral elder of our political class now stands accused in a way that stains both the office he occupies and the dreams of those who elected him.

The allegations are not just about individuals. They speak to the state of governance itself. They reveal a rot that, if left unchallenged, will corrode every pillar of our democracy. When a government is seen by its own people and the world as abusive and corrupt, it loses the moral authority to lead. The damage is not confined to the Executive Mansion; it spreads to every institution, every policy, and every international partnership we depend on.

This is not about partisan politics. It is about the dignity of our nation. It is about the expectations of millions of struggling citizens who looked to their leader as a symbol of discipline, morality, and genuine public service. It is about the simple but profound truth that leadership without integrity is no leadership at all.

This is a sad moment for Liberia. The shame is not only in the allegations themselves, but in what they represent — a confirmation of the fears of many that our democracy is still at the mercy of greed, arrogance, and abuse of power. It is the breaking of a promise that was never supposed to be broken: the promise that the highest office in the land would be used to serve, not to exploit.

We must not normalize this. We must not lower the standard of what is acceptable in leadership. We must not become numb to corruption simply because it is dressed in the calm voice and gentle face of an elder statesman. Liberia is bigger than any leader. And it is the duty of every citizen to demand a government that is accountable to the people, transparent in its dealings, and committed to the principles that keep a nation strong.

From Saclepea, I call on every Liberian to see this moment not just as a day of disappointment, but as a wake-up call. If we allow the weight of this report to fade into the dust of forgotten scandals, we will have no one to blame when history repeats itself. Our silence today will be the foundation for more corruption tomorrow. We must rise and insist on better. We must let our voices be the verdict. Our country deserves nothing less, and the world must see that we still have the courage to defend her honor.