President Weah When Will You Take The “Liberian Gov’t” Out of Private Apartments
Liberia is 170 years old, on July 26, 2018, this year, Liberia will turn 171-years old. This very old Republic doesn’t have a government domicile of its own to superintend its day-today-affairs as a government which amounts to a national disgrace for a very old Republic like Liberia not to have its own official government edifice. The raison d’etre and operations of the Liberia government had been taking place in covertly owned apartments around Monrovia and part adjacent. This attitude on the part of the Liberian Government speaks on how irresponsible Liberia has been conducting itself since 1847, which is also some of the root causes of corruption in Liberia.
When the settlers or the useless freed-slaves arrived in Liberia, which was then an enclaved in 1822, most, of the so-called freed-slaves didn’t have any form of experience about government or the act of managing a nation and its people. Their ideas about government at that time and even now is about a business concept—that is how to accumulate from the government through a plantation style of running a nation, where most if not came and harvest, after which they return to the US to enjoy their harvests, thus leaving the enclaved exploitatively baldheaded. But here was the deal: Majority of the freed-slaves were presumed to be very poor people who choose to stay on the enclave now known as Liberia with the sole intent of venturing into real estate business not to help Liberia grow but to exploit Liberia by renting their real estates to government for huge sum of money each year.
They turn around and loan money from the same Liberian government that rented their properties to build their gigantic duplexes and turned around and rent them out to the same government that gave them the loan to erect their duplexes. For example, the Ministry of Planning, Finance, and even Education not forgetting the Ministry of Transportation just to name a few are the type of real-estate erected by those so-called freed-salves children and their grand and great grandchildren at the expense of the Government of Liberia. Liberia has multiple layers of vibrant corruption.
These corrupt real-estate Liberian vendors overcharged their annual payment and present a huge area to the government for immediate payment. The same government officials will demand their cuts and commissions in these real-estate businesses. Another example is the late Liberian Foreign Minister C. Cecil Dennis’ who rented one of his building to the Liberian government when he was serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs. These are some of the fundamental root causes of why Liberia cannot grow or develop. All successive governments including the Former President Sirleaf, they all supported this style of running the entire government of Liberia from privately owned properties. This habit has been ongoing since July 26, 1847.
Because this business is lucrative and beneficiary, every government that took over the affairs of the nation remained thigh-lipped on this matter because they all obtain their commission and cuts. According to an unimpeachable source closed to these dark deals. The Government of Liberia remit on a yearly basis a total of $691million. The rent for the Ministry of Finance per annual is $13.1M; Ministry of Planning and Economic Affair $15.6M; the rent for the Defense Ministry $18.9M, the rent for the Ministry of Transportation is $21.5M and many more rent payment for privately owned apartments to run the Liberian Government day to day operation-This is pure corruption and it has to stop if H.E. President is serious about fighting corruption and making the government of Liberia more responsible. This is pure lavish at this time when Liberia is in search of funds to run its operations.
This is the time for H.E President Weah to make a difference to reduce government expenditure by using one of the many governments acquired lands around in Montserrado County to erect all ministries and other duplexes that will house the entire operations of government and get it out of the hands of private vendors at least for the first time since 1847. These bills are causing the Liberian government a huge expense and unnecessary expenditure. The Liberian Government can save the total sum of $69.1M (Sixty-Nine Million and One Hundred Thousand). The challenge is now in H.E President Weah’s court to see whether he is going to follow the same corrupt patterns that had been left behind by his predecessors who encouraged this idea either they got their commission or got their cuts at the expense of the Government of Liberia from time to time. Liberians who officials who claimed to be in the interest of Liberia are the very people who are stabling Liberia in the rear-end—How can then Liberia be developed—H.E. President Weah?
