MONROVIA – Signs are becoming increasingly clear that the Liberian electorate was deceived into believing that Joseph Boakai’s long public service experience and apparent meekness would remedy the country’s intractable challenges: disunity, division, corruption, and autocracy.
Barely seven months in power, and right under the watchful eyes of the “veteran public servant and elderly statesman,” Liberia is galloping down the slope into the valley of chaos, instability, worsening economic hardship, political polarization, and despair.
Many now wonder, and seem disappointed, over the performance of Boakai’s administration, raising several critical questions about the direction in which the nation and its people are headed, whom the Unity Party and its “experienced” standard-bearers professed to rescue.
From targeting government workers of the erstwhile Coalition for Democratic Change administration for purging, including those legally insulated, such as tenured officials and civil servants, to deliberate violations of public procurement laws in the “yellow-machinesgate saga” and the US$22 million “roadsgate affair,” the weaponization of state security forces against the opposition has led citizens to describe President Boakai as a confused and ineffective leader.
This is unfortunate because his supporters have often highlighted his 42 years of public service, yet this experience doesn’t seem to translate into effective governance. The notion of a “rescue train” for Liberia appears misguided, especially when the administration is viewed as failing to address pressing issues such as hunger, unemployment, and civil servant dismissals. Instead of providing solutions, the government seems to exacerbate existing problems and incite conflict with the opposition.
According to some pundits, Mr. Boakai, at 82, was expected to leverage his vast experience, eminence, and elder status to heal a divided nation, to be a leader for all Liberians, and to uphold high standards of good governance devoid of partisanship and favoritism. Instead, he appears to be struggling with the complexities of leadership, unable to find a way forward.
The accusation that he is disconnected from the realities of his own government is evident in the troubling lack of cohesion and clarity within his administration. Nothing—absolutely nothing—seems to be working after the last seven months. The economy is in shambles; there is no evidence that the government is undertaking any infrastructure development; government workers hardly receive their pay; nothing transformative is being done or felt, and the nation continues to drift into free fall.
All that the public sees and hears is chaos: the government unleashing vendettas against political foes with physical and economic harassment, the sacking of poor civil servants, inundating public bureaucracy with cronies and lackeys, while community roads and major highways become impassable, and citizens forage through dumpsites.
In other words, Liberia is virtually at a standstill, if not retrogressing, to the extent that even those who promoted and elected Mr. Boakai are publicly expressing their regret and remorse for doing so.
This has sparked the pressing question of whether this octogenarian is the one in charge of state affairs or whether party zealots and a cabal of cunning individuals have subtly seized power from “Uncle Joe,” leaving him and his staunch supporters unsettled and directionless.
That is why many local leaders have yet to be appointed and paid their salaries. That’s why the country is without a proper Finance Minister or Executive Governor while fiscal and monetary regimes are in disarray. That’s why the haphazardly coined ARREST agenda lacks a successor and there is no clear national policy direction. That’s why appointments are repeatedly made, withdrawn, and redone. That’s why potholes litter our streets, and there is no concern. That’s why Monrovia and the countryside are in disarray, and citizens are scurrying in fear and uncertainty.
Thus, citizens keep asking: Has Uncle Joe failed in just six months?
Liberia is weeping. Street battles are becoming commonplace. Government security is chasing opposition figures and raiding opposition party headquarters. The KUSH drugs propagated during the elections are spreading rampantly, leaving colossal numbers of youth groggy with it. Unsuspecting citizens are quarreling and fighting over political disagreements, and there is no government to call for peace, reconciliation, and unity.
Hostilities and polarization are rampant; the political environment is toxic, and things are fast falling apart. Worse of all, Boakai’s government seems to be deepening divisions, potentially leading the nation toward mass poverty, bloody crises, and tribal division.
Under Boakai, many are saying, “Liberia is in free fall”—just within a few months. It feels like a country without a caring and forward-looking leader or government.
That is truly sad.
