– with emphasis on the Boakai’s Adm.
Setting the Record Straight – Liberia Is Not Repeating History.
Former Minister George K. Werner raises an important national conversation around “Growth Without Development,” a phrase rooted deeply in Liberia’s economic history. However, in doing so, he presents a narrative that overlooks context, distorts present realities, and fails to acknowledge the decisive break the current administration has made from the very governance patterns that once limited Liberia’s progress. Mr. Werner is no stranger to Liberia’s political evolution. He served at the highest levels of government during the Unity Party’s first era, a period that laid important foundations but also faced its share of criticisms. It is worth noting that the very party he now critiques is the same one that brought him to national prominence under ex-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. His renewed concern about structural problems, appearing only after he was not offered a position in the current government, invites the public to distinguish personal grievance from national analysis.
Mr. Werner correctly identifies Liberia’s long-standing paradox of strong macroeconomic indicators that do not always translate into improved living conditions. Yet he ignores the fact that this is precisely the gap the Boakai administration was elected to close. Passing 12 out of 22 MCC indicators is not a cosmetic achievement; it reflects deliberate reforms in fiscal controls, transparency, and governance after years of decline. Liberia’s first passing of the Fiscal Policy indicator since 2007 is the result of restored discipline in public financial management, renewed confidence from development partners, and a return to rule-based budgeting. To dismiss these improvements as “growth without development” is to overlook the foundational work needed for long-term transformation.
Mr. Werner also highlights the reliance on a one-time US$200 million signature bonus and the troubling discovery of unsupported domestic debt claims. But these issues did not originate with the Boakai administration. They are the product of years of inconsistent fiscal management, unresolved liabilities, and opaque borrowing arrangements inherited from previous governments. The current administration did not create these problems; it is the one confronting and cleaning them up with transparency. Reforming a national budget is a process, not an overnight act, and this government has chosen openness over political convenience by exposing problems that earlier administrations left hidden.
The human stories Mr. Werner cites — Sona walking long distances for water, Wleemongar teaching with inadequate supplies, and Dehkonti struggling through bad roads — do not undermine the Boakai administration. Rather, they affirm the urgency of its Rescue Agenda. Since January 2024, the government has focused on rehabilitating feeder roads, improving rural water systems, cleaning the payroll in education and health, implementing targeted reforms in schools, and prioritizing community-centered development over cosmetic projects in the capital. Real development takes time, but the direction the country is moving in has clearly changed.
It is also inaccurate to compare today’s Liberia to the Tubman era of the 1950s and 1960s. That period lacked decentralization, citizen oversight, development planning, constitutional accountability, and inclusive governance. Today, Liberia’s economic gains are being directed into human capital, infrastructure, and governance improvements, not the enrichment of foreign investors or political elites. This marks a significant departure from the old pattern of “growth without development.”
Constructive criticism is welcome in any democracy, but selective memory does not strengthen national discourse. Many of the issues Mr. Werner highlights — poor learning outcomes, untrained teachers, payroll irregularities — existed during his own leadership at the Ministry of Education and were challenges that persisted throughout the country’s previous governance cycles. The Boakai administration is not denying these problems; it is addressing them with humility, transparency, and a renewed commitment to service delivery.
Liberia’s path forward requires honesty rather than nostalgia or bitterness. The Rescue Mission does not claim to be perfect, but it does claim dedication, and that dedication matters. The Unity Party-led government is working to translate fiscal improvements into clean water systems in Bomi, reliable salaries for teachers in Buchanan, safer roads for market women in Greenville, and real development for all Liberians. This is the mandate Liberians voted for, and it is being pursued with sincerity.
Former Minister George K. Warner, kindly take my moral lesson with deep consciousness.
A key lesson is that every public servant must own both the achievements and the shortcomings of the eras they helped shape. It is easy to critique a system from the outside, but more honourable to recognize one’s role within its history. Honest reflection and accountability create space for constructive dialogue, while selective memory weakens credibility.
In furtherance, my reflections today must remind you that true leadership requires consistency, humility, and accountability. Criticism carries meaning only when guided by sincerity and the national interest, not personal dissatisfaction. resentment or displeasure. By acknowledging one’s own role in past challenges and recognizing progress even when not personally involved, a public servant strengthens national dialogue and places Liberia’s advancement above individual ambition.
Liberia is not repeating its past; it is correcting it. Calling today’s progress “growth without development” overlooks the hard truths the government has faced, the reforms it has begun, and the steady direction of its leadership. President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. and the Unity Party-led administration are committed not to repeating history but to rewriting it with the Liberian people at the center of national progress.
Sincerely spoken.
