After a long stay abroad attending the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, you return to a Liberia that has not stood still. The country you left behind was carrying a number of serious issues, and those issues are still waiting for presidential attention.
Among them are the ongoing cocaine investigation and the increasingly troubling situation along the Sorlumba border, where concerns about Guinea’s activities and the protection of Liberia’s territorial integrity require clear and timely action.
Mr. President, Liberians need answers.
The drug investigation cannot remain an open-ended process without the public seeing meaningful progress. The seriousness of the allegations and the quantities of narcotics involved demand an investigation that is professional, transparent and sufficiently swift to establish who financed, facilitated and benefited from the trafficking networks.
The public does not need premature convictions. It needs results.
Those arrested or identified must receive due process, while anyone found to have participated in the drug trade must face the full weight of the law. Equally important, the investigation must not stop at low-level actors if evidence leads to individuals with influence, money or political connections.
Mr. President, speed up the investigation—but do it lawfully and transparently.
Then there is Sorlumba.
The concerns surrounding Liberia’s border with Guinea cannot be treated as an issue that can simply wait for another diplomatic moment. A government’s first responsibility is to protect the country’s territorial integrity and ensure that citizens living along its borders are not left feeling abandoned.
The Liberian people deserve to know what your government is doing about the situation, what diplomatic or security measures have been taken, and what concrete steps are being considered to protect Liberia’s territorial claims.
Silence creates uncertainty. Clear presidential action creates confidence.
Mr. President, there is another issue that deserves your attention: the composition of your government.
Liberia belongs to all Liberians. Government appointments should therefore reflect competence, regional inclusion and the broad national character of the country. If there are concerns about disproportionate representation from particular counties, regions or political networks, the presidency should examine those concerns objectively.
This is not a call to exclude anyone because of where they come from. It is a call for a government in which Liberians from every part of the country can see themselves represented and in which competence remains the principal consideration.
And finally, Mr. President, as you settle back into the Executive Mansion, perhaps it is time to look around.
You have now been in office for nearly three years.
Are things getting better?
Are Liberians seeing meaningful improvements in their daily lives? Are public institutions becoming stronger? Is corruption being confronted effectively? Are roads, schools, hospitals, electricity and other essential services improving at the pace citizens expected? Is the economy creating enough opportunity for ordinary Liberians?
These are not opposition questions. They are questions that citizens have every right to ask of the government they elected.
The United Nations General Assembly provides presidents with an opportunity to speak to the world. But when the speeches are over, the cameras are gone and the presidential delegation returns home, the real work remains here.
It is here—in Monrovia, in Sorlumba, in rural Liberia and in communities across the country—that government performance is ultimately measured.
So, Mr. President, welcome home.
The international stage has had your attention. Now Liberia needs it.
The drug investigation needs movement.
The Sorlumba border situation needs presidential attention.
Government appointments need continual scrutiny for national inclusion and competence.
And after nearly three years in office, the administration needs to look honestly at its record and ask the most important question of all:
Are Liberians better off today than they were when this government took office?
The answer should not come from political loyalists or government critics.
It should come from the lived experience of the Liberian people.
