Liberia Has Become A Welfare State For Politicians
By Frank Sainworla, Jr., fsainworla@yahoo.com
No Wonder Why Liberia Among The 10 Poorest Countries In The World
With millions of US dollars spent yearly on their luxury vehicles alone, Liberia has increasingly become a welfare state for politicians, while ordinary citizens including civil servants labour in poverty with miserable take-home pay that is unable to take them home.
“Liberia remains one of the ten poorest countries globally, plagued by rampant corruption and a severe lack of public goods and services,” according to BTI Transformation Index Liberia Country Report 2024 Country Dashboard. BTI 2024 Liberia Country Report: BTI 2024
Coupled with rampant corruption has for years been political leaders’ lack of patriotism and greed, which continue to sink the ordinary people deeper into poverty.
The World Bank’s Liberia Poverty Assessment Report of 2024 note that, “Even after two decades of relative peace, more than half of Liberia’s population still lives in poverty, reflecting the scars of a devastating civil conflict and the Ebola crisis. Poverty—measured at the official national poverty line—increased from 54.1% in 2014 to 58.9% in 2016, driven by the Ebola crisis and the 2015 economic downturn.”
Although potentially rich with natural resources such as gold, diamonds, iron ore and fertile soil, Africa’s oldest independent country today finds itself among the
10 poorest countries in the world., a ranking that leaves many bewildered.
Again this year, Liberia continues to rank as the top ten poorest countries in the world 2025, according to the World Bank. Top 10 Poorest Countries in The World 2025
In the 2025 ranking, Africa’s oldest republic stands 8th place just above war-ravaged Middle Eastern country of Yemen, while war-torn Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo sit at the 6th and 7th places among the ten poorest countries in the world.
According to the report quoted by the Economic Insider, “majority of poor countries are located on the African continent, where millions of people do not have enough resources to fulfill their basic needs of life. Many of these countries grapple with political instability, poor infrastructure, limited education, and fragile healthcare systems.”
Just a tip of the iceberg
Ex-President Weah Holds On To US$300K Bulletproof Bought From Taxpayers’ Money, His Successor President Boakai Secures US$3-400K Bulletproof For Himself
Here are some of the facts that have contributed largely to putting this potentially rich nation in such a dismal ranking among the world’s poorest countries in this day and age. For example, the Executive and Legislative branches of government consume the lion’s share of the country’s national budget. This means every year, most of the taxpayers’ dollars are used to cater for the President and the 103 Senators and Representatives—from buying luxury cars for them, fueling and repairing the vehicles to buying the mobile phone calling cards, domestic and foreign allowances, paying their cooks, paying for their housing, giving them huge sums for entertainment besides their fabulous monthly pay, etc.
Let’s take for example, each of the 103 Senators and Representative are US$45,000.00 to buy brand new vehicles to last for three years, which amounts to US4.634 million just for cars. In total, every six years the government has to spend a total nearly US$10 million on cars for lawmakers for the duration of every election cycle. This is just one of several budget lines.
From one administration after another, the question of why Liberia is among the ten poorest countries globally, when yet this country is endowed with so much natural wealth.
Just over the weekend, news of the purchase of a single vehicle costing close to half a million US dollars for the Liberian President Boakai went viral on the social media.
A breakaway prominent stalwart of the Unity Party’s “Rescue Mission” who campaigned for Boakai in the 2023 elections, Martin N. K. Kollie has condemned the latest purchase of the luxury bullet proof vehicle by President Boakai, describing it as opulence.
“Amid increasing public discontent and student protests, President Boakai seems to ignore the harsh conditions he once criticized under ex-president Weah. When ex-president Weah flaunted his luxurious vehicles, including a Polaris Slingshot, President Boakai criticized him. Today, we note with disapproval of Pres. Boakai’s use of a Lexus Super Ultra SUV amid extreme hardship across Liberia. This is opulence, too, and we condemn it. This is not modesty,” Mr. Kollie said in a press statement over the weekend.
Former President Weah’s bullet proof vehicle surfaced in 2020. “Maybe,” someone hinted to this writer a few days ago, “that’s why President Boakai has been soft of withdrawing the bulletproof vehicle government bought and was used by his predecessor former President Weah who is said to have vehemently refused to turn it over since leaving office over a year ago.”
Well, until there is a shift from this trajectory and there is an end to rampant corruption, impunity and greed with patriotic leaders in the driver’s seat, Liberia’s ranking in the world poorest country index may not change any time soon.
And if the future of the growing number of youths is to be meaningful and this country is to become middle income, radical political reform and transformation are needed. Indeed, the place to begin with is doing away with the opulence and waste by political leaders and putting an end to the current state of affairs in our politics—ending the welfare state for politicians in Liberia.