By: Togba-Nah Tipoteh
Many problems are not being solved because the persons with the knowledge to solve the problems do not know how to communicate with the people. Almost everybody has some sense but they can not solve problems because the persons with the solutions do not know how to communicate the solutions to them. The most fearful thing about this situation is that it leads to poverty generation and violation, both of which are in the Liberian experience. This set of Commentaries repeats many suggestions in different ways, seeking to find ways to communicate with people correctly.
It is most important to communicate well with the people because such motivates the people to take actions through the Rule of Law to change conditions for the better. To change things for the better in this Commentary means to eliminate poverty and its attendant of violence. Due to this lack of the right way to communicate, the people of Liberia say that Liberia is headed in the wrong direction (Afrobarometer, 2022).
On account of the prevailing poverty and violence, it is most important to head Liberia in the right direction. For example, National Legislators have access to LD200,000 a day and their foreign business partners have access to LD300,000,000 a day while nearly all of the people of Liberia have access to at most less than LD300 a day (The Annual Reports of CBL, LISGIS, MFDP, MCI, WB, IMF, ADB and UNDP). Some people continue to say that the foregoing information is “just talk” and does not change any thing.
The evidence shows that the foregoing information is not “just talk” because it is the source of the awareness raising that is working well. For example, nearly all of the National Legislators from the 52nd, 53rd and 54th Legislatures who wanted to be re-elected were not re-elected. Over 75 per cent of the Legislators were voted out of their offices by the voters. This trend is highly likely to continue in the forthcoming elections.
On account of the fact that National Legislators determine the national solutions in Liberia, it is most important to follow their records and use them as the basis for voting. On this basis, voters were encouraged, through awareness raising, to vote in the October 10, 2024 General and Presidential Election and stay home after voting to avoid violence. The voters responded very well to the awareness raising messages, as seen in the world class record breaking 76.86 per cent of he voting age population that voted, thereby minimizing the cheating, minimizing the violence and maximizing voter participation, the Key to Democracy. In the industrialized countries, the voter participation rate is much lower than that of Liberia.. For example, in the United States of America (USA), the voter participation rate over the past four years is 43.5 per cent.
It is only through the awareness raising that voters can take action within the Rule of Law to place Liberia in the right direction. It is only through the transformation of the prevailing unfair electoral system into the enduring fair electoral system that persons with good records can get elected to bring in the system of Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other country.