All Liberians Need Power and Better Roads Not Just Monrovians

A few weeks ago, some Liberians, particularly President George Weah supporters, were on Facebook jubilating because the Liberian government had restored power to the nation’s capital, Monrovia, after about 31 years of total or partial darkness.

 In my 30 minutes video on Facebook, discussing Monrovia’s electrification I also touched on several other topics, including the River Gee Library Project.  I suggested that the River Gee County Association in the Americas (RIGCAA) leadership use the little resources to purchase television, radio, and newspaper ads to highlight issues the county faces instead of solving those issues or problems by themselves. Additionally, I called on the Liberian government to honor ECOWAS verdict in the former Supreme Court of Liberia Associate Chief Justice Cllr. Kabineh Janneh’s case.

Although others criticized Mr. Weah for not completing this project quickly, restoring electricity to Monrovia is a step in the right direction. Therefore, I am urging my fellow Liberians who argued that Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sieleaf started this project and don’t want to commend Mr. Weah; they should because the president has done a great job completing what Mrs. Sirleaf had started.

Liberians a right to be euphoric about getting power back to Monrovia, equally so, they should know that “Monrovia is not Liberia.”

Monrovia isn’t Liberia. The same facilities that Monrovians enjoy must be extended to citizens in other parts of the country, including my home county, River Gee, in Southeastern Liberia.

On multiple occasions, Mr. Charles Taylor, whose ex-wife, Mrs. Jewel Taylor, Mr. Weah’s Vice President, told Liberians that “Monrovia is not Liberia”. Mr. Taylor was Liberia President from 1997 to 2003. Mr. Taylor stepped down when rebel forces from the LURD and MODEL encircled Monrovia. Fearing that Liberia would again witness a bloodbath if Taylor doesn’t leave office, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and other Western countries,  pressured Taylor to stand down and seek refuge in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

While Monrovians are now enjoying electricity, 100 percent of River Gee County residents do not have access to power or running water. But when some of us raised these concerns and stress that is unacceptable for our people to continue to be left out of the distribution of the national pie, Mr. Weah’s supporters described me as “Weah’s Hater.”

Monrovia’s electricity problem started years before Mr. Weah came to power. During President Samuel Doe’s administration from 1980 to 1990, Monrovia had power. However, the government ration power. Rolling power is where one side of the city received power today and another area will receive power the next day because of the lack of capacity. Moreover, rural dwellers didn’t even receive power for weeks, sometimes for months. By stressing that Monrovia is not Liberia, is asking the government to work harder to take these services to our people in River Gee and other places.

To develop Liberia expeditiously, the government must take a bottom-up approach. By this, people in Webbo, Glaro, or Tienpo all in River Gee County should drive on paved roads as someone talked about in the Johnsonville area around Monrovia. Children from River Gee or Grand Kru County area should attend the University of Liberia in their home counties without leaving their families to go to Monrovia.

Let me first thank my brother Mr. Adolphus Conway and my friend Alphonso Jacobs for watching my video. In their separate comments, these two gentlemen indicated that President Weah was doing things Mrs. Sieleaf’s administration didn’t. Mr. A. Conway is right. However, as indicated earlier, these problems didn’t start with Weah; neither did the solutions to address them. Monrovia’s re-electrification and rebuilding of roads began in 2006 shortly after Ellen became President and continue in this administration. Opposition politician: Mr. Alexander Cummings, in his rebuttal to Mr. Weah’s State of the Union Address, said that most of the ongoing road projects started under Ellen, and this administration has not gotten any additional funding for the road projects. Therefore, the argument that previous governments didn’t do what Weah has done is far from true.

Additionally, Ellen and the international community demobilized and restructure the military and the security sectors. She restored civil authority across the country and put students back in the classrooms. Moreover, although it was controversial, Mrs. Ellen cleaned the government payroll of ghost names, regularized civil servants’ salaries, and worked with the international community to forgive Liberia’s debts. Most importantly, unlike Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Alpha Conteh of Guinea, and Allansan Ouattara of the Ivory Coast, Mrs. Sieleaf conducted a free, fair election and gracefully stepped aside after her constitutionally two-term where over. Liberia’s first female President pave the way for her successor to hit the ground running.

Most of my discussion focused on River Gee County, and when my friend Mr. Jacobs, who has recently visited Liberia, informed me “a lot of good things are happening in River Gee”, I was delighted. Though I haven’t spoken with Mr. Jacobs, I agree that good things are happening in the county. However, I don’t still believe that among those good things that are happening in River Gee County include public power, running water, good roads connecting our 10 or 11 administrative districts, or a University of Liberia Fish Town Campus. If those good things that are happening in River Gee County include these things I just enumerated, then I will be elated.

Reechoing Mr. Taylor that Monrovia isn’t Liberia,” I am, like Taylor, suggesting that the government must decentralize its development priorities. Liberians in Gbapulo or River Cess need to have electricity just like those in Monrovia. Moreover, I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with reminding the government to provide rural dwellers with equal access to power, running water, among other things. Decentralization is not restricted to electricity but also roads, education, and healthcare, to mention a few.

Again, I want to emphasize that over the past years, because our governments hadn’t decentralized development, most Liberians left their counties of birth to travel to Monrovia to access something that resembles good roads and have access to power better educational facilities. People are moving because the government fails to develop the counties, and their relocation further undermines the country’s agriculture sectors. The agricultural sector is the backbone of our economy and needs people to survive. But as these residents leave our counties because of the lack of essential services, the counties become depopulated.

Liberia’s agricultural sector is subsistence in nature; therefore, children whose parents are farmers have to work with their parents to maintain their farms. However, because those children can’t get better schools or other essential facilitates, they leave their parents, therefore taking away that helping hand the parent needed to take care of their farms.

I am not suggesting that the government restrict its citizens from relocating to wherever they want. Still, if the same facilitates and opportunities in Monrovia are in the counties, we can reverse the trend. Citizens might even leave Monrovia and reside in any of our 15 counties.

The government should establish the University of Liberia (UL) Fishtown Campus, or Vojamin Campus in Lofa, or Barclayville Campus in Grand Kru. This way we will not just develop our county but our country.

To decentralize development, the government must hire qualified people who are results-oriented and are able to get the job done at local government levels. I am not confident that current River Gee Superintendent Philip Q. Nyenuh is the person that can help our county move in that direction. Mr. Nyenuh served as superintendent for River Gee during Mrs. Sieleaf’s administration, and the River Gee people were highly disappointed in his performance. If the Weah government is sincere in changing Liberia for the betterment of all its citizens. In that case, River Gee will need somebody different, not a person with a partisan label, but one who will bring a new perspective on development priorities, roll up his sleeves, to develop the county.

Liberia is not Monrovia. Therefore, citizens outside Monrovia have limited reasons for jubilating because power is restored to Monrovia. I am not discounting the importance of Monrovia electrification but reminding Liberians that other counties also need those same services. Mr. Weah’s government must work harder in ensuring the national resources benefit every Liberian as not providing those opportunities will send a wrong message that “Monrovia is Liberia”.