By: Frank P. Martin
MONROVIA: As the Liberia’s Presidential and Legislative elections approach, the country’s foremost economist, Dr. Togba Nah-Tipoteh, said the problems Liberia is faced with are misuse of power, bad governance, wanton corruption and gross human rights violations by successive Liberian governments.
He said such governments neglected and continue to neglect equitable distribution of the nation’s wealth for the benefit of its citizens, leading to poor living conditions of Liberians.
Dr. Tipoteh, a former Planning and Economic Affairs Minister of Liberia, indicated that although the country has abundant natural resources it lacks patriotic leaders who can redeem their fellow compatriots from the dungeon of poverty.
He noted that with bad governing of the country, his party (the Liberian People’s Party) decided to field candidates with clean characters and good leadership acumens in the October 10, 2023 Presidential and Legislative elections to redeem the vast majority of the struggling Liberian masses.
The veteran Liberian politician named Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe as an alternative for the nation’s highest seat (Presidency), given his enviable records as a poor man’s lawyer and as an integrity icon.
Dr. Tipoteh cautioned Liberians not to be confused at the polls as a result of too many candidates, who, according to him, are vying for state power for their personal gains, contrary to the good intent and purposes of the Nation’s Presidency.
The Liberian People’s Party (LPP) former Political Leader cautioned voters across the country to deal with issues of leadership that continue to subject them to poverty.
He also cautions citizens to reject at the polls candidates who do not have good records of promoting the best interests of the people of Liberia.
“We, as LPP, continue to do the calculation wherever we have worked. We don’t take what don’t belong to us. That’s why we always do the math. We don’t take 2 plus 2 to be five but 2 plus 2 is always 4. We remain strong on this because, we know that the lives of the people matter over our personal affairs. Integrity and responsible leadership should be the order of the day,” Dr. Tipoteh warned
He made these assertions at a fundraising dinner held by the Liberian People’s Party in Sinkor over the weekend.
Tipoteh expressed the view that the Liberian people should have themselves to blame for the longstanding and widespread poverty that they continue to undergo because they elect people to public offices who use money to push their personal interests rather than the national interests.
He called on Liberians to correct their mistakes made in the past by voting for candidates who are not for themselves but for the people.
He noticed that there are candidates who are bent on using their government positions to spend the people’s money, taxpayers’ money, for political campaigning while giving the people the wrong impression that the money is the candidates’ own money.
“We have to raise money for Cllr. Gongloe, our President-in-waiting, so that our vision for alleviating poverty in the country can be realized. There are other candidates who are using the country’s money for campaign purposes. We have to battle them politically to ensure that they are removed from power for the country to be free from corruption, so our people can have access to education, health, etc,” Tipoteh added.
The Veteran Liberian politician who was widely referred as the ‘Only Man On the Ground’, during the dark days of the country, urged Liberians to scrutinize candidates by asking them to show their development agendas for the country, and therefore dig deeper into their past records of leadership before giving them the mantle of authority on election day.
“You should not just vote because you want to elect someone into office. We must be able to ask the hard questions: what have you done for which you want us entrust you with state power? What will you do when elected? These are questions we should be asking as citizens of this country, so we cannot elect the same wrong people into power,” Tipoteh expressed.
