21/04/2026
A Must Read Article: ⬇️
“The Human Cost of Power Outages in Liberia”
By: Hon Zaia Raymond Flumo - (A Youth Development Worker, Human Rights Defender and Health Care Professional & Consultant)
Power outages in Liberia have moved far beyond inconvenience and now disrupt the core of daily life for thousands of legal subscribers of the Liberia Electricity Corporation. For households that pay bills in good faith, the constant blackouts break routines that modern living depends on.
Small businesses lose inventory when freezers shut down, tailors miss delivery dates because machines sit idle, and students cannot complete assignments once the sun sets. Goods and services slow or stop entirely. Internet cafes close early, mobile money agents cannot process withdrawals, and clinics struggle to keep vaccines cold. Each outage sends a ripple through the economy, shrinking incomes and raising costs for people who already operate on thin margins.
The impact on livelihoods is direct and severe. Barbers, welders, cold-water sellers, and restaurant owners watch their tools become useless the moment the grid fails. A day without power is a day without pay. Salary earners who work from home lose contracts because they cannot meet deadlines, while market women lose perishable goods they bought on credit.
Subscribers are forced to spend scarce income on fuel for generators or phone charging, paying twice for a service they should receive once. Over time, this cycle traps families in survival mode, making it nearly impossible to save, invest, or plan for the future. The promise of reliable electricity as a driver of economic growth stalls, and the gap between legal payment and actual delivery widens.
It is no longer funny or jovial to explain or express the inhumane treatment we are facing as legal subscribers of LEC and citizens of this nation. We pay bills, buy meters, and follow procedures, yet we are left in the dark for hours and days with little explanation or recourse. Treating paying customers this way erodes trust in public institutions and in the basic social contract that services follow payment. The stress of uncertainty weighs on mental health. Parents leave work not knowing if there will be light to cook, students cannot revise for exams, and families cannot plan something as simple as storing food for tomorrow. Normalizing this level of service failure tells citizens their dignity is negotiable.
Nowhere is the toll more visible than in our homes at night. Kids, parents, and entire families go to bed sweating in unventilated rooms because fans and air conditioners are useless without power. Mosquitoes swarm in the heat, increasing malaria risk, while children toss and turn, unable to rest before school. Electronic gadgets that connect us to education, news, and loved ones stay off for days, cutting households off from information and opportunity. Refrigerators warm, food spoils, and medicines risk damage. When darkness falls early and often, childhood memories form around heat, frustration, and the sound of silence where a fan should hum. Reliable electricity is not a luxury. It is the baseline for health, safety, and a decent standard of living, and its absence is felt most painfully where we should feel most secure: at home.
We call on the Cabinet and National Administration of President Boakai to urgently address this energy crisis that is causing more problems than ever before for our economy as we strive and struggle to make earnings meaningful.
To restore dignity and economic stability, the administration should take five immediate steps:
✅First, publish a clear load-shedding schedule and stick to it so families and businesses can plan.
✅Second, fast-track maintenance and fuel supply for existing LEC plants while accelerating the Mount Coffee rehabilitation and regional power import agreements to boost supply.
✅Third, enforce transparency at LEC by auditing billing against actual service delivery and suspending charges for days without power.
✅Fourth, expand small-scale solar for clinics, schools, and vulnerable households while incentivizing private investment in mini-grids.
✅Fifth, establish a presidential task force with monthly public reporting on megawatts added, outages reduced, and funds spent.
Mr. President, Liberians are not asking for miracles. We are asking for honesty, urgency, and results that match the bills we pay.🙏🏾🤦🏾♂️🥹😫
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