We’ve often heard many critics of the Government say, ‘Liberia has a leadership deficit’, literally saying that the democratically elected government of President George Weah is inefficient and lacks the competence or aptitude to stir the affairs of the state.
Liberia’s prime advocate and human rights defender, Atty. Samuel Kofi Woods, reiterated that characterization of the current Government in Worcester, Massachusetts, when he served as keynote speaker at the eighth annual convention of the revived Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA).
Like other critics, Attorney Woods observed that Liberia under the regime of President Weah George has a leadership deficit.
“Our national discourse is dominated by mediocrity and our leaders treat us with disdain and the arrogance of power,” said amidst applause.
Do Woods and others have a point? Or does Liberia under President George Weah actually have a leadership deficit?
While we do not hundred percent agree with the human rights advocate, these are few reasons why we think Woods and others seem to have a point as regard their claims that Liberia has a leadership deficit.
Point one: Amidst mounting public calls asking the President to dismiss or suspend his then Minister of State, Nathaniel McGill and other public officials, on allegations of rampant corruption and gross abuse of public office, the Liberian Leader did not act until Washington made some unpleasant comments against them.
So the question is, why did President Weah have to wait for Washington before acting when as a head of state of a sovereign nation like ours had the power to have acted?
Point two: President Weah failed to alter a word or immediately intervene when a group under the banner of ‘CDC’ COP on Independence Day attacked and brutalized university students, who were exercising their constitutional rights to peaceful assembly until Washington condemned the incident.
Point three: Upon his recent return from the United Nations General Assembly in New York, rather than being meticulous in his approach to reports of the shortage of rice in the country, the Liberian Leader out rightly said the reports mere rumors and street gossips, but eventually, the President again shot himself in the leg, as the issue of rice, the nation’s staple food, has become a serious embarrassment to the government.
To put it bluntly, the Liberian Leader himself has repeatedly continue to set the stage for his critics to think that he does not have to competence to lead and with him sitting at the helm of power, the country has a leadership deficit.
Whether Attorney Woods and others’ characterization of Liberia under the current regime is right or wrong, the President’s actions as the national leader of our sovereign nation must disprove them. Until then, Atty Woods and others might just be right.
