Liberia: What You Have Done Matters Most

There is plenty of election campaigning going on within Liberia in violation of the Law of Liberia. In this violation, candidates are promising to make Liberia better by presenting platforms on what they will do when they get elected or reelected. However, the candidates are not presenting any record of what has been done individually or collectively. When any candidate does not have a record of what the candidate has done in the interest of the people, especially the poor people who constitute nearly all of the people of Liberia, it is impossible for that candidate to do anything good for the people upon election or reelection. Therefore, for any candidate to have credibility or relevance, what matters most is what has been done by the candidate in the interest of the people.

The actual situation on the ground in Liberia is that nearly all of the people of Liberia remain poor. The platforms on what candidates will do upon election or reelection have not changed the prevailing bad conditions. Instead, the candidates are promoting poverty generation rather than poverty alleviation. The main problem of longstanding and widespread poverty remains the worst societal problem in Liberia. Nearly all of the people of Liberia have access to, at most, less than LD300 a day while National Legislators in Liberia have access to at least LD150,000 a day and their foreign partners, in the commercial sector alone, have access to at least LD300,000,000 a day (Annual Reports of CBL, LISGIS, MFDP, MCI, WB, IMF, ADB and UNDP).

Although the foregoing information points to a bad outcome, a better outcome is taking place. Witness how most of the Legislators of the 52nd and 53rd Legislatures who ran for reelection were not reelected. This non-reelection is a good outcome. It did not happen by chance. It happened through the deliberate work of people who love Liberia, as seen in their raising the awareness of voters to know the Truth. The Truth is still being told and this will influence voters to set back the reelection bids of Legislators of the 54th Legislature and beyond.  

In Speaking Truth to Power, the Truth about the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia continues to be told. This Truth is that NEC is supervising UNFAIR elections. So, there is urgent need to transform the prevailing electoral system from UNFAIR to FAIR. It is only through this transformation that persons with good records can be elected to change the poverty situation from poverty generation to poverty alleviation. 

This transformation will come when the people who love Liberia continue to work together through the Rule of Law. The good outcome from voting out the Legislators with selfish records is encouraging the raising of awareness of the people of Liberia. So, let us elect persons on the basis of what they have done in the interest of the people of Liberia, especially the poor people who constitute nearly all of the people of Liberia.