Editorial: Trust, Betrayal and Confidence

It has become well known here in Liberia of  what most of our brothers and sisters  who either lobbied for jobs  or were invited by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to help in the process of rebuilding are all individuals in the business of making mockery of the people  here by publicly boasting to be “making scarifies.”

Most of these high profiled officials of government, including the Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, Eugene Shannon, Chairman of the National Investment Commission, Richard Tolbert, Managing Director of the National Port Authority, Matilda Parker, Deputy Planning Minister Sebastian Muah and their likes continue to say to Liberians here that because “they love Liberia more than others, that’s why they left their ‘good, excellent or well-to-do jobs’ to render such sacrificial services.”

Whether or not these officials are to blame for these unwholesome public utterances, we do belief that such could be the result of their personal contacts with the President or those of their closest relatives and friends of the President.

Granted the latter holds, these individuals must be the ones to exercise the highest degree of care and love in terms of buttressing the President’s efforts in achieving the goals and objectives of her administration, especially the much publicized Poverty Reduction Strategy or PRS.

To the contrary, the attitudes of these officials are contributing factors responsible for most of the ‘short-circuits’ suffered by the current administration for the past few years.

The lies and deceits which characterize their official interactions with the President and her acceptance of such as official family members, only because of the fabulous impressions given her, continue to impede the government’s domestic policies.

We consider it the most pathological fallacy for any senior official of the present Liberian government  to suggest that what he or she earns as  salary and allowance plus all of the dignifying benefits are less than the bonus or  not even  a ‘drop-in-the-bucket’  of that which he or she earned abroad before coming to Liberia.

We are even wondering as to whether Minister Shannon and Chairman Richard Tolbert  are not aware  of our  knowledge of  their respective roles in  the various mineral development and other concession agreements entered into by the Liberian government, as well as the ‘common law practices’ which characterize the various negotiations.

Why then do they usually jitter, feel threatened, afraid and fall to the feet of Madam President whenever she gets angry, if they were only working as sacrificial lamps?

We are of the strongest conviction that if and only if a recent media report is true that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has asked Minister Eugene Shannon and NIC Chairman Richard Tolbert to  end to their sacrificial services by resigning, we think they need to do so.

Granted such media report is true, Madam President may have realized that the utterances of her officials were very embarrassing to the relationship between her administration and the general public.

When the national budget is very clear about the financial benefits of Minister Shannon, NIC’s Tolbert, Deputy Minister Muah, NPA Managing Director Matilda Parke and their likes, it is difficult to understand why these officials would choose to be a misrepresentation of the dignity and respect bestowed upon them by the Ellen Administration.

We think this is a complete betrayal- a betrayal of the trust and confidence of not only the President and her government, but the people of Liberia.