As a result, Forbes Magazine ranked Liberia as the 13th saddest place to live on earth in 2013[1]. In 2013, Transparency International ranked Liberia as the “most corrupt country[2] in the world”[3]. A Global Financial report, citing UNDP statistics said Liberia was the fourth poorest country in the world in 2013; and the bottom 5th on the UNDP Human Development Index. According to another report by “Galding”, Liberia is one of the worst places on earth,[4]Hence, President Sirleaf and her inner-circle members of corrupt officials and the Liberian legislators are the Bad Samaritans. Many officials in the current government, who were once vocal critics of Liberia’s ills including but not limited to the following, are now champions of nepotism and grand corruption that sucks the country’s wealth like some demonic suction-tube. What a tragedy for a country recovering from war caused by the same vices being repeated by its leaders. The French political philosopher Joseph de Maistre said, “every nation has the government it deserves.” And, the prolific political writer, Kevin Philips said, the women and men who serve as presidents and lawmakers “express the ideal and the values, the frailties and the flaws, of the voters who send them there.” Furthermore, the Holy Bible is right: Liberians shall reap what they sow. The civil war, which killed over quarter of a million people, displaced more than half of the population and destroyed billion of dollars worth of properties, occurred because of similar harmful and destructive leadership practices. It is irrefutable evidence that socio-economic grievances, caused by uncontrolled greed of officials, resulted to and fueled the Liberian conflict. As if Liberian leaders have not learned from history, they continue on the same tragic path of greed and daylight robbery of the country’s wealth, couched in the fineness of inflated budgetary allocations for themselves, rigged concession agreements, and auction-sale of the country’s natural resources. The latest of the self-seeking leadership in Liberia is the most recent Retirement and Pension Bill, which seeks substantial financial benefits for government officials, without corresponding benefits for ordinary citizens. This foolhardy and imprudent behavior sometimes beats my imagination. Despite their education from Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, London School of Economics and the University of Liberia, some Liberian officials are just unwise and act irresponsibly -always engaged in conduct that leaves their citizens robbed, beaten and abandoned on life’s highway.frontpageafricaonline/index.php/op-ed/commentaries-features/2433-liberia-ruling-elites-greed-and-the-auction-sale-of-liberia-s-wealth
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 00:30:11 +0000
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