Liberia: Independence Day Orator Chides Weah’s Critics

Liberia’s 175th Independence Day Orator, Mawine Diggs, did not only offer a dose of hope for national healing and reconciliation but chided just as well those who criticize President George Weah and his administration for the way the country is being run. 

Speaking on the theme, “Fostering Unity, Protecting our Peace for Development and Prosperity,” Diggs said the way people portray the image of their country to the outside world undermines the very objective they also pursue, which is to lead the same nation tomorrow.

“What we say matters but, most importantly, what we do is what will ultimately make the difference. Honestly, it is quite simple to sit behind a computer — or better yet call into a radio or online show — to spew negatives about Liberia. But let me tell you this today, such actions do not demonstrate strength, courage, or love for the nation,” the Minister of Commerce and Industry said.  “Quite the contrary, it demonstrates weakness, arrogance, and lack of patriotism in the face of opportunities to engage and make an impact in your country.”

Diggs added that what critics of the government do amounts to hate, rather than love for the country.

“Today is about Fostering Unity, protecting our Peace for Development and Prosperity and, as the Good Book reminds us, there is a time for everything under the heavens; so we as a people must learn to be patriotic even while waiting for our time. Patriotism is defined as ‘the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one’s country.’  At times I do wonder if we as Liberians truly understand what it means to be patriotic,” she said.

 “175 years of Independence and 200 years of existence require a  different level of boldness, so let me take a moment to address our self-proclaimed social media and talk show heroes who are constantly disguised in self-dignified arrogance. Understand that your criticisms without the proffering of solutions or actions are just another level of hate.”

 “So as you use your platforms to point out the ills of our Liberian society, I challenge you to demonstrate your love for the country by not just words but also actions that make a difference in the lives of everyday Liberians.”

She called on the critics to join hands with the government to unite amid the differences and move Liberia forward so that if they are ever allowed to lead, they will inherit a wholesome nation, not one divided based on personal interest or political ambition.

The operation mode of donor funds must change

Meanwhile, Diggs said there is a need for the donor community to reexamine the mode of operation of donor funding intended for the country.

She pointed out that the restrictions imposed for the country to benefit from donor funds are some of the primary reasons why such funds are not making a significant impact. 

She said usually developmental partners would influence the direction in which money is spent and that the procurement processes involved in getting funds released to ministries are most often delayed.

“If we were to pause for a moment and request the dollar value of the total amounts in donor funding over the last decade or two, whether in the form of loans or grants, I am certain it will be several billions of dollars. Yet, if we are to match that with the corresponding impact, we would all agree to a re-examination of the mode of operation of donor funding,” she said.

According to her, the donor community remains a major partner to Liberia’s development agenda. However, she said in partnerships, there must be honest exchanges and flexibility in operations to truly support the agenda of a nation.

Liberia is a heavily donor-funded country for not only its infrastructural development programs but also to augment the government’s fiscal purse to pay salaries and benefits to employees and contractors.

She emphasized the numerous alleged bureaucracies that arise for the government to access donor funding, which include the time involved in negotiating for the fund(s) to implement each perceived or planned project is always long and must be critically reconsidered.

“Perhaps the level of bureaucracies in the approval and procurement processes and the excessive control over these projects can lead to reduced impact and subsequently shift the pressure back to the government, who in most instances have little or no control over these projects but yet are held accountable for the dollar value of these projects.”

“On average, it takes half of a presidential term, if not a whole term to get a donor-funded project signed, implemented, and completed. This I am certain needs to be looked at critically,” she said.

Diggs reminded her cabinet colleagues that as lieutenants of Weah, they must all strive to reduce the bottlenecks associated with the implementation of these donor projects, as those delays “work against the timely delivery of these projects in the interest of the Liberian people.”