LETTER FROM SACLEPEA Never Again Must Bigots Rule Our Politics

By Musa Hassan Bility

As Liberia slowly turns the corner and we stare another election in the face, we must ask ourselves one painful but necessary question: What do we do with the tribal and religious bigots who continue to poison our politics? They are still around. They are sharpening their knives, lowering their voices into our communities, whispering fear into the ears of our people because they know one thing: when their failures become obvious, when their incompetence begins to stare them in the face, when the people start demanding answers for poverty, corruption, bad roads, unemployment, failed hospitals, and failed schools, they have only two weapons left — tribe and religion. And for decades, they have used those weapons effectively. They divide us because they cannot develop us. They frighten us because they cannot lead us. They manipulate our faith because they cannot defend their stewardship.

Liberians must understand this clearly: the problem has never been religion, and the problem has never been tribe. The problem has always been bad leadership and dishonest politics. Every tribe in Liberia has produced leaders. Every county has produced leaders. Every religion has produced leaders. Yet ordinary Liberians remain trapped in hardship because tribe was never the solution, religion was never the solution, and fear was never the solution. Character, competence, courage, stewardship, and principle were always the solution. If the principles written in the Bible and the Quran were truly followed by those who shout religion the loudest, Liberia would not be where it is today. Religion condemns corruption, greed, deceit, wickedness, hatred, and division. Yet the same people who wave religion before elections throw morality away the moment they enter public office. They use God to gain power, then abandon Godliness once they have it.

We cannot continue to choose leaders based on fear manufactured by warmongers and ethnic merchants. We cannot continue allowing politicians to reduce Liberia into a battlefield of tribes while they sit comfortably, enriching themselves. Enough. This country belongs to all Liberians — not to the Congo man alone, not to the Gio man alone, not to the Mano man alone, not to the Mandingo man alone, not to the Krahn, Grebo, Bassa, Kpelleh, Vai, Kru, Gola, Lorma, or any single group alone. Liberia belongs to all of us. And the next election must be about one thing only: who can govern with integrity, vision, compassion, courage, and results.

We must judge leaders based on their record, on how they treat people when they have power, on whether they protect public resources or steal them, on whether they unite the country or divide it, and on whether they stand for principle when it is difficult. We must stop allowing the Legislature and public service to become marketplaces where loyalty is bought and sold with no conviction, no conscience, and no commitment to the people. Liberia deserves better.

And this time, we must never again allow tribal and religious bigots to dominate the national conversation. We must challenge them directly, reject them openly, and expose their hypocrisy loudly. Because every time Liberia has listened to fear instead of vision, division instead of ideas, and tribe instead of competence, the Liberian people have suffered. Never again.

The future of Liberia must rise not from fear, but from principle; not from tribe, but from stewardship; not from religion as a political weapon, but from humanity, justice, and truth. This is our time to grow beyond the politics that broke us, and we must never allow the bigots to take center stage again. Never again.