The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
February 11, 2019

President George Forky Klon Jlaleh Gbah Ku GbehTarpeh Manneh Weah

It has been a year since Liberians gathered at the S.K.D sports stadium in their numbers to celebrate the inauguration of ex-soccer legend Dr. George M. Weah as President of the Republic of Liberia, thus ending the twelve years reign of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. They were in high spirit and mounted with over expectations as the clique of the C.D.C hypnotized their leader as the end to the devastating and ravaging conditions of the ordinary masses. Ever since this occasion, Liberians continue to dwell in growing disappointments as the state of the economy languishes in an uncontrollably hacking of the prices of basic commodities, ordinary citizens can barely afford a onetime meal and Liberia tops poorest countries list. This has turned to be the complete opposite for which the elderly, and the youth left their homes and rallied on the streets calling for an end to the U.P hegemony. The euphoria of that historic occasion is yet to quench as the president delivered a one-year stewardship report to the National Legislature and the Republic of Liberia filled with deceits, falsehoods, unrealistic predictions, phantom solutions and with sober scarcity in ideas to divert the ominous state of the Liberian people…

President Weah second State of the Nation Address (SONA) was an insincere piece and a gimmick meant to mock the Liberian people: create false complacency and reinvigorate the Government's efforts to fake it till it gets accepted. There are few major areas President Weah mentioned which I think worth commenting.

Economy
Despite the deteriorating state of the masses of the people and the appalling livelihood of the people in West Point and New Kru Town, the President in his indulged state was brave to dogmatically theorized the economic situations of the country leaving the people in total dismay as to how the government intend to deal with the escalating U.S rate, as to how the mopping up exercise affects the economy, as well as to how the people can be lifted out of poverty. President Weah bragged about a filled mopping exercise that had no sizeable effect on the people's lives and sadly the U.S Rate remains in an ever-increasing state. The propertied 25 million dollars infused in the economy was a failed process and again revealed the Government lack of technocrats, as the proportion of idea deficit ministers and consultants populate on an exponential increase. One major reason for which the continuation of the Unity Party-led regime was never a matter of choice was based on the atrocious economy state of the country, therefore, citizens swapped to the C.D.C for economy refuge, but pathetically, their hopes have been left in lonesome, as the President and his compadres muster their appetites to milk the resources of the country and widen their personal economy empires. The government officials continue to swell from resource surplus while the poor people bag in the cocoon of malnutrition and food absenteeism. So far, under President Weah Government per his one-year rating, Liberians still lived in a dangling economy with a blur future that resuscitation is possible
even within his remaining five years.

Media and Government Relations
This is one of the major embodiments of a palmy democracy, and for any Government and society to flourish through Democratic prepositions the Media and Government must have a cordial relationships. The media must be free from surveillance, censorship, and attack. However, this is the adverse under a President who has once promised to maintain a freedom of the press. This has truly been a rhetoric and the President continues to speak a complete contradiction to the visual realities.

He was probably trying to be rhapsodic about his government intention on free speech. It is clear from the brutal attacks meted against journalists and the pressmen that the Pro-Poor regime has no heaven for contrasting news about the government. While the media seeks to promote a more open, inclusive and informative society, the government has embarked on a spree of weaponizing itself against a partner in progress. This is a complete indication that the government has a set agenda through its propaganda bureau to strike any opposing view in the media. Evidence of this are the enormous tantrums and jibes thrown on Media reporters by top officials of government. Weah has no vision to maintain a free and independent Press because it greatly endangered his quest to reign as a dictator and as a black fascist.

Education and Health.
The most wonderful and wondrous chest beating sector for which the government has thought that it has performed well is integrally the worst of all. The government and Pro-Poor zealots dance around in boast that they have a clear vision for the educational sector. President Weah made mention that the government made available 78,000 pieces of school chairs to government own schools which was a total deceit as the learning environments of Government-owned schools show the opposite of the president assertion. Far around Liberia, thousands of primary students continue to fetch education in structures lacking roofs and sitting on the cold floors. The University of Liberia is a complete example of the messy environment in which students continue to seek education in Liberia.

As per the free tuitions scam, the President bill is yet to be legislated and the government has no sustainability strategy for said initiative. Till now, the Government has not made available the money required to finance this plan and most government tertiary schools have fallen short of paying their instructors’ wages and providing basic assorted materials for the proper instructions. In this same gloomy vain, both primary and secondary school's tuitions continue to progress to an astronomical amount, and many Liberian youth risk missing out on both primary and secondary educations.

Even if giving free tuition was legislated, quality is still a significant component of education. The President didn't explain how the government intend to deal with the prevailing poor quality of learning in the country. As students prepare to sit the next WESSCE, there has been there are no equipment to gain experience in the laboratory. Technical education has become the worst ever in the nation. Mass failure is surely unavoidable again in the West African Examination. Most government hospitals are at an incapacitated risk on quality health delivery services, and some could also close due to insufficient resources to maintain operations. The Liberia people are still lagging behind in term of access to primary health services, but the President still continues to fake the hardcore reality. Citizens still lack their constitutional emoluments to basic and quality education and health services which in turned could contribute to their progressive participation in national transformations.

Accountability and Good Governance
The proselytism of the president speech did very little in their intent to brand the government's inability to accurately and transparently account for the resources of the country. The 25 millions infusion in the economy was a mere scheme and up to now, the government can't give a comprehensive explanation as what rational method was used to infuse said money in the economy. Even in the so-called deteriorated economy condition that President Weah professed to have inherited, the Presidents has been agog with the increase in his personal assets and thwarted the hopes and dreams of Liberians, preferring that Liberians remain fixated in a rotten and dark cage. Just in few months after the inauguration, there was a massive looting bonanza and the government is yet explain the fairytale of the whopping 16 billion Liberian dollars that went missing at both the Freeport of Monrovia and the Robert's International Airport. The President under the pretense of being transparent invited international bodies to aid a comprehensive investigation and he also claimed that he financed an in-house investigation with state's resources too.  The President said we can hope at the end of February that the reports might be out but until then the regime lacks the trust of the Liberian people.

Agricultural
"Our international partners will agree with me that endless national and foreign resources have been and continue to be poured in the agriculture sector yet returns for these investments are almost negligible." At this point, the President just confirmed our accusations that the government lacks the adequate capability to produce a booming agricultural society. Despite the importance of Agriculture in the lives of Liberians, the government budgetary allotment for agriculture amounts to a very little allocation in the sector. Farmers continue to use their ancient subsistent methods, with no access to quality and innovative technology. Agriculture is not a priority for the Weah led regime because if it was so emphasis would have been placed on the sectors through the national budget. With regards to Agriculture, the President had little to say and the speech author pretended to console the thirst of the masses through a skim that government will make available small machines, tools, modern seeds and many more. However, these empty promises are unrealistic and don't have any iota of facts to encourage the masses. The masses would definitely never hope in them.

Most of all President Weah spoke of was characterized by deceit and mockery. The livelihood of people living in slums and ghettos is becoming frustrating daily and within the period under review, the government has only sabotaged these people aspirations. On the other hand, rape has become prevalent in the country: scores of young girls and women have fallen prey to this heinous crime.  But in the wake of these despicable and terrorizing experiences, the government has done little or nothing to put stop to the crime. The More Than Me case is still on the table of the court and since the publication of ProPublica report nothing or very minimum has been done to deliver justice. If the intent of the SONA is to deliver a speech based of real development, President Weah would have had nothing much to report about: the state of our economy is bad, the education and health sector is in a deplorable state, our nascent democracy is at the lowest depths, clampdown on the is growing at an alarming rate, and any dissenting voice is considered enemy of the state. But amidst all these dreadful situations, the constitution still mandates that a State of the Nation Address be delivered, and because of this the President rolled his sleeves and spewed lies and deceit about stealth achievements using 2 hours to say nothing meaningful.