A Commentary By Jonathan Paye-Layleh/Former Liberian Journalist
PHOTO: The Author
On this Palm Sunday, I wish to appeal to the emotions of all who supported the campaign that rescued a rapidly declining Liberia and ushered in the new Joseph Boakai-led administration.
I know there are still issues. There are early feelings of disappointment for lack of job placements since the inauguration of the government two months ago. Many people are already showing signs of disenchantment because they have not been considered for positions. I stand in your shoes and feel your pains. I empathize with you sincerely.
You have every reason to expect from the government, because campaigning to remove a regime that had deployed state resources so massively, ruthlessly and uncontrollably in a frantic bid to remain in power by all means was a herculean task. And those who watched you campaign expect you should be accommodated in the early stages of the change. This is understandable.
I equally understand the frustration of diaspora Liberians who put their resources into making sure the Rescue Mission was successful. Some of you have recently visited Liberia without an opportunity to sit and discuss with the President; some of you have not got the jobs you had been promised or anticipated getting when you put your weight behind the Rescue Mission.
But please, this is my humble advice: Whatever the situation is with you, it should never reach a point of regretting ever joining an effort to help return administrative decency, accountability and national dignity to our once prestigious nation that had gone so bad so fast.
You did not do the wrong thing by joining and supporting the crusade to rebrand Liberia. You saw the country we had become and simply acted to savage what was left of it.
When you see the social challenges we are still faced with, when you hear about the financial malpractices and administrative disorderliness that are being uncovered, when you see the challenge of just getting rid of dirt from the streets of Monrovia after the elections, you will understand that allowing our country to go beyond the point it had reached before this national intervention happened would have spelled doom for us.
I can’t speak for the office of the President; but I think Joseph Boakai is faced with a challenge. He wants to try to accommodate parties and individuals that joined him to ensure the country was liberated; at the same time he’s careful so that the country’s entire annual budget is not spent on just paying salaries if everybody was given a job.
God willing, jobs will come when the security, business and investment climate has been created for foreign companies and overseas-based Liberians and even those living in country to see reason and feel comfortable and safe to do genuine business in Liberia. I am very hopeful.
So let’s expect more from our government; but let us not have any regrets helping to remove a national nightmare that was intent on staying longer.