By Emmanuel Mafelah,mafelahemmanuel29@gmail.com
GBARNGA, Liberia- Several Citizens in Bong County have attributed the limited jobs and opportunities for young people across the county to “bad and wicked leaderships” over the years.
In a meeting with United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guetarres at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday, September 26, 2019, the Executive Mansion says: “President Weah urged the UN Secretary General to work with Liberia in finding lasting solution to the current economic challenges which, he said, was contributing factor to agitation and public dissent”
And over the past decades, various national leaderships in Liberia have been haunted by the deep-seated problems of corruption, bad governance and lack of accountability amidst a serious lack of national reconciliation, thus hampering national development.
President Weah appeared to have doubled down from previous assertions on the current state of affairs of the country, by admitting that the worsening economic hardship was triggering the wave of anti-government protest in the country, since he took office less than two years ago.
In separates interviews with www.newspublictrust.com over the weekend in Gbarnga, the citizens said facilities such as theaters, multi-purpose gymnasiums, e-libraries, laboratories, and modern arena are cardinal to the development of the young people of the county.
“Life is getting very hard in every corner of the country, you go to hospitals and clinics you don’t get drugs, in public schools no instructional materials, teachers are not been pay adequately for services they render to our Liberian children, nurses are not being pay on times but Lawmakers are getting their pays regularly,” the Liberian citizens said.
According to the citizens, despite having Liberia’s first female Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor, Deputy House Speaker Prince K. Moye amongst others as senior official of government coming from Bong County, there has not been much from these positions.
“The lack of proper after school activities have resulted to most of the young people adopting alternative habits which involves drugs, sex and other illicit habits. If this goes unnoticed, our country is headed to destruction,” some of the citizens asserted.
Mr. Togai George, a resident of the Kokoyah Road community cautioned leaders of the county to always be there for the common people, who stood in the rain and sun to get them elected, saying after 172 years of independence, Liberia is only experiencing theoretical freedom.
“Theoretical freedom because Liberia is not yet free from hunger, corruption, illiteracy, poor educational infrastructures, poverty, and economic growth,” Mr. George said.
“Our leaders received the highest salaries in this country while people like teaches, nurses, doctors and other civil servants are being underpaid, that is being a total wickedness unpatriotic,“ Mr. George addded.
Another residents of the Rbber Factory community, Madam Beatrice Togbeh made similar assertion: “It’s a shame that a county like our cannot boast of the basic educational facility like public libraries and laboratories but yet expect our students to perform magically at public exams when they do not have the least access to these facilities.”
Madam Togbeh furthered that acquiring education in a third world country is laden with many challenges. “With poor electricity, poor seating space, poor ventilation, underpaid and tired teachers, and sometimes unbearable environmental conditions you still saw value in your education!”
“Our leaders of the county are only working in their own interest and the interest of us the ordinary people in suffering,” Madam Togbeh continued.
“Look at the different roads in our county, these different public schools, various government health facilities across the county and see the way we are suffering all because people we elected are no longer there for us,” Madam Togbeh added.
Meanwhile, citizens in Bong County have called on their fellow compatriots not to elect people “who don’t have a mark” and also who have no plans to redeem the restless youth of the county.
“You must desist from electing people who only called on youth during election time. You must desist from electing people who have no deliverables to show for youthful developmental initiatives.”