Dukuly, Tukpah and others are out, but, what’s next?

Sam K Zinnah


The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
August 8, 2006

 

The durability of an institution largely depends on its foundation. The foundation of the Unity party led government will “in this case” be defined as the party’s platform. During the initial interpretation of this platform, Liberians and the world were strongly assured that transparency and accountability will be paramount but from my own observations and good sense of thoughts, those promises are beginning to fly through the windows. Liberian politicians are well know for making huge promises when they want to get the votes of the people but those promises are usually thrown through the windows as soon as they get into power.

Barely seven months into the official seating of the Ellen Sirleaf led government, several high ranking officials has been released of their positions. Some were released for involving in corrupt practices whilst others for ethical reasons. Recently, State and presidential affairs minister Morris Dukuly, National security adviser to the president; Madison Tukpah, Health Dr Benson Bah and Deputy Police director Al Karley were dismissed. Morris Dukuly is now overtly shouldering responsibility for the executive mansion disaster which I believe caused thousands of dollars in damages. My question now is; what’s next? Is he going to walk the streets of Monrovia whilst Liberia hustles for money to repair the damages caused by his carelessness or actions?

In the case of Madison Tukpah, prior to his dismissal from his post, there was already a wide spread allegation that he had purchase $1.1 million dollars worth of homes in Silver sprint and Laurel, Maryland and was planning an $80,000 wedding in Maryland sometime this year. I understand Tukpah was even out of the country “Liberia” during the Independence Day celebration that ended up being disastrous. His duty as a security advisor was to provide adequate security for the president of Liberia but instead he chose to spend more time in Maryland. He failed to perform his duty for which he was paid by the Liberian government. His failure to perform his duty led to the destruction of part of the historic executive mansion. Another question is; now that Tukpah has been dismissed from his national security position, is he going home to play lulu with his family or be sent to court to give reason(s) for his actions?

In the case of Al Karley, “the then deputy police director” he was dismissed for his involvement in a two thousand gallons fuel scandal at the Liberia national Police. He’s now sitting home enjoying the money he got from the deal.

Sanity is a matter of appropriateness of response to a choice between two distinct species, the first, a merely conditioned sense “certainty” and the second, reasons that lies within the domain of those efficient universal principles which exist beyond the direct reach or human sense or imagination. To understand or investigate the establishment and running of a successful government, Liberia “through its government” must begin to practice accountability and transparency in order to curtail the culture of impunity.

Releasing these individuals of their posts without sending them to court is a serious contradiction of the promises made to the Liberian people during the popular campaign that swept the elections results in favor of the Sirleaf led Unity party.

In Liberia, the word “politic” has become another term for dishonesty and corruption. Liberians needs to explore some avenues for implementing punitive, regardless of who’s involved. There is already an ever mounting crisis of public confidence in Liberia’s political leaders because of their past records. The entire world no longer believes what Liberian politicians say because for too long their words never match their deeds. There is nothing in life that can destroy someone’s creditability faster than making false promises. Liberian politicians see government jobs as the easiest way to get rich over night. Much of the problems are rooted in the fact that many Liberians enter government very low or no moral character and have little or no respect for public property.

Since the birth of Liberia, majority of Liberian officials have lived by the three Gs; get, grab & go. These crooks and hustlers fight tirelessly to get into government positions and then grab whatever opportunities and then get out of the country “Liberia”. Some of the reasons most of these crooks succeed in getting into high places in government and snatching away the country’s wealth is because there has been no system by which new and succeeding administrations would be compared by law to pursue perpetrators of public crimes in Liberia. Instead, these crooks and hustlers run away from Liberia and spent some time in foreign countries and later return to Liberia with their stolen riches and use same to elbow their way to public offices and continue their economics lootings. I personally suggest a permanent commission of inquiry to probe into the activities of such people in Liberia so that productive and patriotic Liberians can control the high rate of corruption and save money that could be used to implement development projects that will be beneficiary for the entire Liberian populace.


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