-Liberians, partners want swift Gov’t action
By Edwin M. Fayia, III
For several decades in Liberia and dating back to the founding of the nation by forefathers of Liberians, poverty, unemployment and bad policies had bred lawlessness, hooliganism and instability throughout the country.
Indigenous and Americo-Liberians have for decades steer the governance processes of the nation without practically taking concrete steps to tackle cardinal issues of poverty, unemployment and bad policies.
Also on top of the above menace, poor education, mass illiteracy and socioeconomic exclusion have taken center stage in the Liberian society as leaders of the nation had treated the critical issue of poverty as a lip service.
The most glaring causes of Liberia’s under development are attributed by well visionary analysts as massive corruption, bad governance, nepotism and ineptitude by some of the nation heartless leaders.
Those so-called leaders, some of them now in their graves, opted to build fortunes such mansions abroad. They did most of financial saving in foreign banks and such funds can no longer be accessed by the current generation of Liberians.
Such a grave reluctance to the above menace in the Liberian society has over years resulted to chaos, resentment and instability thus destroying almost all the vital infrastructures that should have placed Liberia among the best developed nations on the African continent.
It can candidly be recalled that in the 1950s, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Liberia was on par with one of the World most developed nations of Singapore, who leaders were able to muster the courage and fortitude to invest their resources into the socioeconomic development of the country.
Hence, current and past generation of the Liberians continue to shift blames on one another for the under development and substantial progress in the areas of agriculture, communications and transportation.
Regrettably, another critical area that successive Liberian governments miserably failed to confront and develop is the nation road network and for year in and year out, roads in the urban and rural areas in very deplorable state hindering the movement of goods and services throughout the country.
Such miserable failure continues to drive rural residents who are mainly peasant or subsistence farmers, who harvest produce continues to rot on Liberia deplorable highways owing to lack of regular maintenance.
As a result of such hardships been encountered by the hardworking farmers, poverty one of Liberians greatest menaces and nightmares have deprived them of the needed resources that could help to foot the bills of their children and extended families education.
Significant numbers of development partners in the United Nations system and European Union arena have developed countless strategies aimed at assisting Liberia as a developing country to lift their poverty stricken country men and women from the menace of poverty.
Such beautiful crafted strategies by the development partners have only left in the dust bin or in computers as documents intended for mere decorations while Liberians in several parts of the country continue to endure endless hardships at the hands of poverty, neglect and deprivation.
In order to practically reduce poverty in Liberia, Liberian governments and development partners must first and foremost identify the root causes and agents that are behind the scenes riding in the gravy trains of the evil forces of corruption, nepotism, bad governance and non-achievable policies in the Liberian society.
Another practical remedy of the shock waves of lawlessness and hooliganism is the practical and legal enforcement of all laws. Upholding the organic laws in the Liberian constitution without favor or fear is a must.
Liberians believing that they are above the law and going about committing crimes such organized violence and hate messages should be dealt with in the confines of laws and should not go Scot-free in the country.