By: Frank P. Martin
MONROVIA: The political leader of the Movement for Progressive Change (MPC), Simeon Freeman, says bad governance and other associated challenges in Liberia cannot be blamed on the leadership but the citizens who, in the first place, put such leadership in state power.
Freeman noted that there have been several leaders elected to the Liberian Presidency who lacked presidential credentials or competencies to effectively steer the affairs of the country.
According to him, such people were elected by the Liberian people on the basis of “mere popularity”, distribution of bags of rice as well as monetary and other inducements.
This situation, he observed, has effectively handicapped or undermined the growth and vibrancy of Liberia’s democracy and the country’s governance process.
Though he did not name any individual leader, the MPC political leader blamed voters for wrongly taking decisions during electioneering eras.
He maintains that such decisions are made by the citizens without properly cross-examining or evaluating candidates for elected public offices including the presidency, vice presidency, representative and senatorial positions and not based on candidates’ manifestos and characters.
According to the MPC leader, the leadership deficit that Liberia, as a Nation continues to face is systemic and it remains a critical challenge even after nearly two centuries of Independence.
Freeman also differs with views in some quarters of the Nation that “individual leadership or governance’s problem has affected the nation’s growth and development.
Freeman: “Are we looking at these challenges critically? When you say I support this person—you support this person? Is it because you come from the same county or because you just like that person?”
“This should not be the case in our body politics if we’re to change the issues affecting us and our country over the past years that make our country and our conditions still the same”, he told scores of citizens over the weekend in the Township of Gardnerville, outside Monrovia.
He made the statements at an induction ceremony of an intellectual group, styled: “Foundation for Better Liberia (FOBEL).
Freeman said when tribal or geo-politics, nepotism, and voters’ trucking are not seen as a nightmare by voters during electoral processes, the country will change leaders several times and the situation in the country will remain the same.
“You left your community, district to go vote in next man’s district because somebody who’s running gave you little things or because that person is your brother. You forgot to know that you have left your district susceptible for someone that is not your choice to make decisions for you in the next six year. When things are not okay in the country, you say, you are the most abandoned district in Liberia,” he said.
The vocal opposition leader underscored the need for politicians across the nation, especially those vying for the Liberian presidency to be issues- driven when sharing platforms to the citizens, void of personal attacks, simply because, no single individual or groups has been able to address the nation’s age-old problems.
“Let this election be about Liberia. When this election is about Liberia, and you use that lens to evaluate the elections, it will be easy for you to make a choice. Those are the things this election is all about,” he stressed.
Freeman further said “Many times those who want to be president, when you give them the platform, George Weah, George Weah; It begins with him and it ends with him. When Ellen was President, it started with her and it ended with her. If all the political leaders you believe in, all he does is to criticize, he is not a man enough because the real problem is systematic, and not personal,” he expressed.
Mr. Freeman, at the same time, indicated that the expansion of the government has significantly affected the tackling of key priority areas of its functionaries, including health, education, road infrastructure, etc.
“Anytime the country’s budget grows, we expand the government with the creation of new counties, ministries, agencies, just to name few; without having the understanding that there are other existent institutions that need revamping so the lives of the ordinary people can be improved,” he expressed.
The MPC leader mentioned as examples, the division of Lofa and Grand Gedeh counties to establish Gbarpolu and River Gee as two separate counties.
He said, such divisions undermines the national budget and has increased suffering on the vast majority of the commoners whose resources have been used to pay additional Lawmakers with thousands of dollars and other mouthwatering benefits at the expense of the poor and the have-nots.
“This is our problem as citizens and country. We divided Lofa and Grand Gedeh to create unnecessary burdens on our people, because the money that supposed to be going to our people in River Gee and Gbarpolu in healthcare, sanitation, education, etc., is being diverted to paying four lawmakers (4) every month,” said Simon Freeman.