By Kruah Thompson
Monrovia-Liberia: The political leader of the Liberian People’s Party, Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe attributes Liberia’s backwardness to the election of incompetent officials.
He told reporters on Monday, February 13, in Monrovia that Liberia is struggling in actualizing its true meaning due to incompetent people in the Legislature and the Presidency.
He says it is unfortunate that Liberia has not realized its true meaning since its foundation.
The human rights lawyer turned politician further laments that Liberia will only be better if citizens elect officials, who are willing to seek the well-being of Liberia and its citizens.
Cllr. Gongloe vows to drastically reduce the high level of literacy in the country in two years if he’s elected President in October, further promising to give junior high, senior high and college students stipends to conduct a free after-school study for kids in their communities.
The Presidential hopeful, who carries a broom, symbolizing his resolve to sweep corruption in public sector, says he will make college graduates full-time teachers under a program to enable them properly cater to the education needs of students throughout the length and breadth of Liberia.
“I didn’t pay for WAEC 9th and 12th grades during my days in high school, I think it has been a calculated attempt designed by previous and present governments to stop Liberian students from getting the quality of education they need, and it’s a violation of Article 6 of the Liberian constitution which talks about the right to education”, Cllr Gongloe notes.
He says if elected President, he will empower the Armed Forces of Liberia to grow more rice for the country, saying that the AFL since its formation has not been to war and it is important that they fight against the creeping global food insecurity that Liberia is not excluded from.
Cllr Gongloe discloses that a LPP-led government will closely work with the AFL and farmer’s cooperatives to ensure that more rice is grown in Liberia.
He adds that the AFL and every cooperative in Liberia will be given farming equipment and loans to ease their farming and increase rice production throughout the country.
“I will make sure to connect more farm-to-market roads because without roads our farmers and the AFL will find it difficult to have their produces to the market.”
Gongloe, a son of vote-rich Nimba County, notes that previous and present governments have identified the potential of the Liberian military, but have not invested in the AFL to grow more food for the Liberian people besides defending and protecting the territorial borders of Liberia.
He says despite taxpayers’ money being used over the years to pay the AFL, they have not one day defended the country against any act of war from across the border, hence a need to direct their energy to the agriculture sector to make Liberi self-sufficient in food. Editing by Jonathan Browne
