by Togba-Nah Tipoteh
Although the Constitution of Liberia clearly states the Rights that the people of Liberia have Entitlement to, the reality indicates the Bewilderment of the people of Liberia. This Entitlement is stated in the first two sentences of the Constitution of Liberia: All power is inherent to the people. All free governments are instituted by their authority and for their benefit and they have the right to alter and reform the same when their safety and happiness so require.
This Bewilderment is experienced in the prevailing reality: National Legislators have access to at least LD150,000 a day and their foreign friends and partners, in the commercial sector alone, have access to at least LD300,000,000 a day while almost all of the people of Liberia have access to at most less than LD300 a day (Annual Reports of CBL, LISGIS, MFDP, MCI, WB, IMF, ADB and UNDP). The Constitutionality is the Entitlement but the reality is the Bewilderment. The Constitutionality is for the benefit of the people but the reality is that only a few persons benefit.
This reality is scary because is indicates longstanding and widespread poverty that has become the pretext for violence, which, at times, takes on the forms of coup d’etat and civil war, both of which have been experienced by the people of Liberia. The coup d’etat and civil war in Liberia took the lives of at least 300,000 people and injured many more, not forgetting the billions of dollars worth of infrastructural damage and the un-recovery of the economy of Liberia to its pre-war level. It is this experience of the people of Liberia that has led them to conclude that Liberia is headed in the wrong direction and that they prefer Peace to War (Afrobarometer, 2020).
Many people are wondering as to how Liberia can be headed in the wrong direction after nearly 176 years of existence. Liberia is experiencing Bewilderment rather than Entitlement because of the greed, money-driven nature of the powers that be. In the State management of Liberia, the greed of the powers that be drives them to take action that benefits them rather than the people.
To put Liberia in the right direction, the people who love Liberia have to continue to use their knowledge to raise the awareness of the people of Liberia to motivate the people of Liberia to work together within the Rule of Law for the Transformation of the UNFAIR electoral system to the FAIR electoral system. It is only through this Transformation that persons with good records can be elected to bring Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other country.
