What Kind of Country Is This? -Gongloe Laments, Pointing Out Why Liberia Wallows In Decadence

Many national and international organizations’ statistics are unanimous on the fact that Liberia is a chronically poor country, lying at the bottom of the Human Development Index, notwithstanding its vast resources, coupled with honeyed promises by successive political regimes to turn the tide. At 177 years, the country remains stagnant, even retrogressive, backward and pitiful. The miserable, unchanging and worsening condition seem to “fill the cup” of a Liberian lawyer and human rights advocate so much that he had to exclaim, “What kind of country is this?”—a refrain he chose as the subject of his keynote address at the Commemoration of the 2nd Triennial Convention and the Celebration of the 6th Anniversary of the Liberian Labor Union. THE ANALYST reports.

On Friday, October 4, 2024, the Liberia Labor Union commemorated 2nd Triennial Convention and celebrated its 6th Anniversary on the theme, “Decent Work Through Unionization” and on hand to make the major statement was Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe, a former Minister of Labor under the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Unity Party government.

Gongloe, presidential candidate in 2023 elections, is also a renowned lawyer, social advocate, who actively allied with a group of Liberians fondly labelled “progressives” – young Liberians in the 1970s, 1980s who agitated against the elite status quo or class hegemony, whether it was the True Whig Party one party system or the military junta that overthrew the TWP.

In his keynote statement to Liberian unionists last weekend, Gongloe stamped his feet on the floor powerfully and growled on top of his throat asking and lamenting, “What kind of country is this?” in clear reference to a chain of oxymoronic tendencies amongst Liberians and ironic trend of events in the socioeconomic and political realms sustaining decadence, stagnation and lack of progress.

With effective use of parallelism to get his point across, and to obviously raise emotions and actions for change, the Liberian lawyer asked: “What kind of country is this where honest, hardworking union and community leaders as well as public servants—those who serve with integrity—are shunned, ridiculed, and ostracized?”

Conversely, he said, “in other nations, such individuals are celebrated, respected, and honored, but here in Liberia, the opposite happens: the honest ones are branded as poor, mean-spirited, and selfish because they refuse to flaunt ill-gotten wealth. They refuse to throw money around in the reckless, corrupt manner we have come to accept. Instead of admiration, they are met with disdain and rejection. Their families, friends, and communities turn their backs on them.

“What kind of country is this?”, he lamented. “Where is the respect for integrity? Where is the admiration for honesty? Where is the pride in choosing the difficult, righteous path over the easy, corrupt one?”

In Liberia, the human rights lawyer said, it is rather the corrupt, those who flaunt stolen wealth, who are celebrated, adding: “In our communities, our churches, our mosques, and civil society organizations, we hail the dishonest while the honest suffer in silence.

Then he repeated the refrain: “What kind of country is this? What kind of country is this where government officials act as though they are helpless bystanders to the very problems they were elected to solve? These officials, who have been entrusted with the highest responsibilities, speak as if they are powerless. Instead of acting like leaders, they behave like opposition figures or civil society activists. They point fingers at the corruption, inefficiency, and incompetence that they themselves should be addressing.”

“Is this how Botswana, Rwanda, or Cape Verde rose to progress? he quipped, and answered himself: “No! The leaders of these countries took bold and decisive actions to solve their national problems. They did not merely talk about the corruption or inefficiency within their governments; they fought these ills head-on. They rolled up their sleeves and cleared the dirt out of their systems.”

Cllr Gongloe continued his lamentation: “What kind of country is this, where the leaders merely talk about corruption instead of eradicating it? What kind of country is this, where former opposition leaders, once loud critics of government corruption, now defend the very practices they once condemned? These leaders once spoke out passionately about the need for change, about justice, about accountability. And yet, once in power, they become the same defenders of the status quo they once advocated against. What kind of country is this?”

He also zeroed in on other levels of debauched acts in the country, specifically the educational system, when he asked: “What kind of country is this, where parents are forced to pay exorbitant graduation fees—sometimes higher than the entire school fees for the year—just to attend a one-day ceremony?”

“Public universities, declaring free tuition, burden students and families with outrageous graduation fees. And yet, many of the government officials imposing these fees enjoyed free education themselves, from primary school to university, without paying a dime in graduation fees.

“I went attended public school without my parents paying a dime and even got free textbooks. My parents did not pay even up US$100 a year while I attended St. Mary’s High School in Sanniquellie in the 1970s. My parents paid US$37.50 per semester at the University of Liberia until I graduated in 1981. In all those schools my parents did not pay one cent for graduation fee. Perhaps, I would not completed school if my parents were faced with the unneccessary financial burden of graduation fee imposed on parents today.

“There is no justification for graduation fee. On graduation day, schools only rent a sound system and chairs if it does not have enough chairs. The imposition of graduation fee is an act of wickedness to students and parents, to put it mildly. Government should stop it. It is not fair to parents and students. What kind of country is this?”

Tongue Lasting “Rescue GoL”

The Liberian lawyer contested the 2023 elections which President Boakai and his Unity Party under the campaign mantra of “Rescue Train” which he (Gongloe) supported in the runoff, but he used also his keynote address to take a particular aim at the regime’s failure to, likes others before it, keep its promises.

“Our leaders promised us hope,” he said in apparent reference to the running Unity Party government. “They promised us ‘no more business as usual.’ They promised to ‘rescue’ Liberia. But what has changed for the ordinary Liberian?

“What has changed for the struggling parents, the students, the workers? The only changes we see are in the personal lives of high-ranking government officials and heads of public corporations. Their homes grow bigger, their cars more luxurious, while the rest of us wait for the promises to be fulfilled. We are asked to manage our expectations.”

“What kind of country is this?” he growled again in apparent astonishment. “What kind of country is this, where wage disparities are so glaring that it would take a teacher, law enforcement officer, or nurse at least five years to earn what some government officials make in a single month? These are the very public servants who hold our country together. They educate our children, they enforce our laws, they care for our sick. Yet they are paid peanuts while officials at the top live in luxury. What kind of country is this?”

Continuing in the parallelism format, Gongloe quipped: “What kind of country is this, where we tolerate poverty, hopelessness, and mass anger among our own people? Our young men and women, driven to despair, fall victim to human trafficking, risking their lives for a chance at dignity. Some die in the Sahara Desert, chasing a glimmer of hope. Aye, God! What kind of country is this?”

Questions not Rhetorical

As far as the human rights advocate is concerned, his line of questioning as presented in the oration was not rhetorical.

“These are not rhetorical questions,” he said. “This is a call to action. We must confront these harsh realities. We must hold our leaders accountable. Government is a place to serve, not to steal.”

He called for rejection the notion that elections are investments, where candidates spend money during campaigns only to recoup their ‘investment’ once in office.

“This is not governance,” the Liberian progressive said. “This is not leadership. It is legalized theft.”

He called on Liberians to reject those he called “political investors” the next time they go to the polls, but that “we must elect leaders who will truly serve the people—leaders who understand that holding public office is a sacred trust, not an opportunity for personal enrichment”.

Better Liberia Possible Gongloe assured his audience that a better Liberia is possible but it will not come by waiting.

“It will not come by wishing,” he warned. “It will come by action. It will come when we change the mindset that government is a business venture and that corruption is acceptable. It will come when we stop making excuses for dishonesty and start holding each other accountable.”

Together, the human rights advocate said, “we must sweep corruption from the government of Liberia. Only then can we stop asking this painful and heartbreaking question: What kind of country is this? No!, No, we cannot continue to ask this question from one government to another because a better Liberia is possible when we sweep corruption from the Government of Liberia.”