30/11/2023
Greetings
My attention has been drawn to the news circulating the social media concerning the prospect of Liberia under the soon to come UP government. It's unfortunate for highly rated Intelligence Quotient individuals to think in such a dimension.
In these four pages essay, I have pinpointed five reasons why the CDC government failed the Liberians and also outlined two reasons why JNB's balls might fall in the same pocket as Weah's did.
In a later episode I will further discuss several reasons why JNB will succeed as President of Liberia.
Let me first start by congratulating His Excellency President George Weah for those six years.
Below are five reasons why Weah's government failed the expectations of the Liberian Peoples:
Firstly let's look at the tuition free policy that was introduced at the University of Liberia and other Community Colleges around the country. The idea of instituting a free school policy is actually welcoming, mainly within a country that has just experienced a long run of civil unrest. It was encouraging and acknowledged by the Liberia people.
However, the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Education never wished well for the process. Even though it's a good idea for the University of Liberia to be run under a low fee policy it was also necessary for a system to have been implemented in order to avoid those problems that were experienced during those six five and a half years.
The 400LD that was being paid by students for credit hours were used for the smooth running of the university. The bathrooms were well taken care of, the learning environments were very decent, there were flutes in of more Chairs, the NTA buses that were assigned to the university were smoothly running and Professors had no need of going on Strike for Salaries. All these things can lead to a halt when President Weah announced the free tuition program at the University of Liberia. Finances were no longer coming into the Country's account through the university and as a result things had to get out of hand.
Secondly, the government failed to properly think on decisions before announcing them. The payment of the WASSCE fees for all Senior Students and WAEC fees for Government Schools 9th graders led to another failure. Liberia's Exam population never exceeded a total of 65000 students a year (12 and 9th graders). The estimated fees that were paid to WAEC yearly have been estimated at around three millions USD. For me I saw no reason why the government will have to spend 3 millions USD on less than 65000 people each year in the name of financial aid. Dating back from 2007 to 2016 a time when Boakai Kamara and Amara Konneh served as finance ministers the nation's money was spent with accountability. There were various vacation jobs for students, there were programs instituted by the ministry of youth and sports for young Liberians.
However, if the Weah's government needed to add or change the running of things, I think it would have been wise to establish vocational Training Centres around the country for more students to benefit since they wanted to be a help financially. Those vocational centres would have lasted for a very long time, almost 50 years. Remember that the payment of WASSCE fees by the government is not a law.
Another reason why the Weah led government failed the many expectations of the Liberian people was the involvement in too many incomplete projects. At one point you will hear about a ground breaking for road construction in Ganta then within a split of time you will understand that the government is doing a ground breaking of a bridge in Gbarpolu. Due to the too many projects that the government decided to have undertaken there are too many incomplete roads, bridges, buildings and so on. The government never prioritised a single field as a priority. They wanted to touch all aspects and for such reasons it all became a failure.
The mysterious killing of top government officials and the denial of justice in the country is another major reason why Weah and his team failed to meet the expectations of the Liberian people. Like the sudden death of Gifty Larma and Albert Peter the government never prioritised investigation rather the President spoke that they were on love affairs and it led to their death through an accident, sad. Many high profile workers of the Government died mainly during the investigation of the 25 millions USD and the 60 billion LRD cases. Also leading to their unfavorable failure was the dismissal of top government officials who spoke against the awkward governance.
In addition to these is the utilisation of public funds and materials for private use. This is one of the major reasons why Weah's government failed. The likes of Saah H Joseph, Bondo Finda, Thomas P Fallah, Nathaniel McGill and others used the state's resources for their own benefits in order to build their popularities. Saah H Joseph is now a bus commander in Montserrado. His buses run for 50LD around the county while the NTA buses are under bad conditions.
With all those reasons, how will a government that was so loved by the people succeed?
However, let us look at some reasons why JNB's administration might fail as well.
At first let us look at the increasing expectations of the masses: To audit Weah and his team of Cabinet, The implementation of the War and Economics Crimes Court, To recover all what they claimed have been stolen by Weah and his team of Cabinet, Agriculture, Security, Health, Education, Roads and I can't just name all. With all of these expectations on hand I can frankly say that JNB's government stands at 30/100 to fail. They just can't do all these in even 12 years.
Secondly, the tensions from those unreasonable projects that Weah undertook. The Free tuition policy, the Payment of WASSCE fees, and the Harmonization of Salaries. Let me be clear that these are yardsticks that the Opposition led by CDC will use to rajouri the minds of the Liberian people. If JNB and his team of Cabinet don't comprehend decisions before deciding to continue the free tuition fees policy, payment of WASSCE fees and even the harmonization act they are bound to fail. And I rate them at 40/100 to fail in this category.
Read and analyse my points and also give your views as well.
An honest opinion from your favourite writer and poet Allen Saye Gbatu.
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