A Patriot’s Diary
With Ekena Nyankun Juahgbe-Droh Wesley
As though the Liberian senate is as serious as it is pretending to be amid a chain of summons to appear before the August Body. Seemingly, they could sheepishly be appearing to be doing the Liberian people’s business as it were. Is that the case? We are in an election year and 15 seats are up for grasp though. Simply put, all that is happening in the Chambers of the Liberian Senate is grandstanding after all. We aren’t going anywhere, folks.
The senate has severally invited folks, if you like public officials – from the executive Branch for what they often term as grilling. Absolute nonsense! In the end, all we see is sheer inaction. And we are back to square one. Before the senators’ naked eyes, the Inspector General of Police, Patrick Sudue, referred to their colleague and Senator of Montserrado, Darius Dillon as a “threat to President Weah’s life.” They did nothing and Patrick Sudue walked out of the hearing unreprimanded. Doesn’t that amount to a toothless bulldog? There are instances where political appointees would deliberately ignore invitation to appear before the senate for absolutely no justification. What do the folks on Capitol Hill do? They resort to the “Liberian way mentality.”
Officials of the National Elections Commission (NEC) last week appeared before the Senate as requested. The Board of Commissioners of NEC, through its Chair, Madam Davidetta Brown-Lassanah bluntly told the senate: “No Money for Elections process…” With just seven months to the conduct of crucial general and presidential elections in the small West African nation, NEC has let the cat out of the bag.
This categorically points to the cluelessness of the ruling establishment. A regime that ignores its priorities. Simply put, it is because we fail to plan, which amounts to planning to fail, the senate has been forced to be greeted with such disturbing news. How can a government afford to plan to succeed when its priorities are just not right? President Weah doesn’t give a damn but already has millions in the budget for County tour in an election year to dish out money aimed at vote-buying. Meanwhile, the Body responsible to supposedly superintend free and fair elections is financially ill-prepared to execute its mandate.
Apparently, and as always the case, we are looking up to our foreign partners to give generously first, while we baselessly clamor over vague ‘sovereignty’ that has no significance and ignore the fact that we are supposed to be leading the process in order to inspire our development partners to lend a helping hand. If we cannot demonstrate the commitment to fund our own critical elections, it would be foolhardy to place confidence in donor’s support, which cannot be seen as a precursor after all. We must lead for others to follow.
Had the senate not invited the Board of Commissioners of the National Elections Commission, perhaps we would be running into almost three months into crucial without a cent. NEC is a parcel and part of the Executive, where the budget originates from. NEC provides periodic updates to the Executive through the Office of the President. If NEC failed to update the Office of the President, did the President as Chief Executive request one? If both failed miserably, we are back to the continued leadership deficit we have repeatedly heralded.
What manner of leadership have we entrusted with power when NEC has no money in a critical election year, while President Weah lavishly engaged in reckless waste and abuse of public resources on a travel bonanza attending the World Cup in Qatar. On the heels of it all, Weah desperately wants a second term mandate. It can only happen through elections. Ironically, though, the former World’s Best wants the reelection to happen miraculously.
Charity, they say begins at home, folks. We lost our sanity by mindlessly engaging in the abuse of our public purse for personal ego. This is what corruption would continue to do. It would deny the people access to education, healthcare and meaningful public spending. Before we look elsewhere for help, we must cut down on unnecessary travels the President chooses to embark upon, especially, travels that bring no direct or indirect benefits to the people and country.
President Weah’s sincerity to hold free, fair and transparent elections would become tested by securing the money as a national priority for the conduct of the October general and presidential elections. We shouldn’t be debating some kind of no money syndrome when we exercise the kind of leadership that would prioritize our priorities in the most significant order. Find the damn money and conduct the October polls.
