Leadership failure threatens democracy

The Chief Executive Officer or CEO of Semoh Group of Companies, Moseray Momoh, has said that leadership failure in Liberia poses a serious threat to the country’s democracy, stressing that proper leadership is something that helps to bring growth and development to any democracy.

He said the lack of good leadership ability to handle the affairs of a country brings nothing but total failure and destruction, adding that the leadership problem in Liberia has been attributed to many causes, and success or failure of any organization or institution is a reflection of its leadership performance.

Mr. Momoh made the comments over the weekend when he served as keynote speaker at the induction of student leaders of the Jimmy Jolocom High School in Garnersville, Somalia Drive on the outskirt of Monrovia.

“In our own life, we witness series of political leaderships characterized by more shortcomings than achievements; when we go on to explore, the reason for the persistence of the leadership problem in this country is the acceptance of the supremacy of individual ethnic identity over the nation”, The Liberian entrepreneur noted.

According to him, the sub-optimization of natural interest has been the incurable source of discrimination, favoritism, nepotism, disrespect for individual human dignity and disloyalty to the nation, saying, a nation subjected under ethnic interest or ethnic exploitation by the leaders.

The CEO however told the students populist to reject the acceptance of public position as poverty heal, noting, in are some countries, including Liberia where when a person gets appointed into political or governmental leadership position, would boast that he would never be poor again in his entire life.

“Most of our leaders in top policymaking decision positions in Liberia have schooled themselves in the Leadership philosophy of make it why you are there, and they have turned the administration of the State into the administration of naked acquisitiveness and monumental corruption”, Mr. Momoh explained.

He said the acceptance of leadership ascendancy under knowledge of self inadequacies has made many Leaders in Liberia to become paws on the chess board of powerful and cunning advisers and so-called patrons.

At the same time, the Semoh Group of Companies CEO cautioned students of the Jimmy Jolocum High School to take their education seriously, stressing that education helps to fight poverty and spurs economic growth.

He said education is a prerequisite for tackling poverty, and promoting short and long-term economic growth, and that no country has achieved continued and rapid economic growth without 40 percent of its adult citizens being able to read and write.

As a result of the 14 years of civil war, education in Liberian has been in shamble, primarily due to brain drain and recruitment of school-age children into rebel armies by factional leaders. Lewis S. Teh – Edited Jonathan Browne