— Where Is “Bad Road Medicine”& Others

IPNEWS: Last week the governing Coalition for Democratic Change-CDC, announced it would begin rolling out activities for its “Weah Second Term” blueprint beginning Thursday, October 27, 2022, from Southeast Liberia. The Southeast Region of the country is not only home to President George Weah, but all the other very senior Liberian Government officials, including House Speaker Bhofal Chambers and Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Youh, Maryland County. Like President Weah from Grand Kru County, so are Deputy Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate.

However, and from the look of things, the projected plan of their Weah Second Term bid might just be another nightmare.

After nearly five years into power, President George Weah, referred to in some quarters, especially by his diehard supporters as “Bad Road medicine” has not been able to resolve the annual deplorable nightmare on major roads into the interior, particularly Southeastern Liberia.

Other roads including the Nimba-southeastern corridor, neither the Grand Bassa-Rivercess to Sinoe corridor, the Lofa-northwestern corridor, and the western corridor into Robertsport and Gbarpolu counties, still remain a serious challenge.

Feasibility studies and agreements for most of the major road projects ongoing were initiated and/or signed during the government of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf such as the Gbarnga-Lofa, Ganta-Sanniquellie, Ganta-Tappita-Grand Gedeh, and the Fish Town-Pleebo highways.

Southeastern Liberia is where the force of Liberian political power, at the moment, lies, yet the glittering images of poverty remain.

Statistical evidence from the World Bank, and other sources point to southeastern Liberia as the most impoverished region of Liberia.

The Southeastern region hosts one of Liberia’s biggest areas in terms of geographical landscape, forest– Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee, Sinoe, Grand Gedeh, and Rivercess counties, yet people in those communities are extremely poor and marginalized. The region can sometime be referred to as “welfare counties” because of the extreme poverty of the region as opposed to the vast wealth of some of its sons and daughters.

As stated earlier, the southeastern region currently enjoys the preponderance of political power over all other regions in Liberia, since President Weah and his CDC government took office in January 2018. This has all along been the case since President William Tubman assumed office in 1944, President Tubman, a son of the region who hails from Maryland in Africa formerly, now Maryland in Liberia.

Presently, Southeasterners are heading the Legislative, Judiciary, and Executive branches of the Liberian government.

House Speaker Dr. Bhofal Chambers; Minister of Finance, Samuel Tweah both hail from Maryland County; Senate Pro-Tempore Albert Tugbe Chie and Deputy Speaker are also from Kru County, while the Executive Governor & Chairman of the Board, Central Bank of Liberia, Aloysius Tarlue; and the Minister of Gender, Williametta Piso Saydee-Tarr hails from Grand Gedeh County and President George Weah is from Grand Kru County.

Recently, the Senate confirmed President Weah’s nominee, 67-year-old Associate Justice Sie-A-Nyene Gaypay Yuoh as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia. Chief Justice Yuoh, also hails from Maryland County.

Even with all this, the southeastern region remains the poorest and most abandoned region in terms of development, especially under George Weah’s regime.

Currently, the deplorable road condition, with high transportation costs hitting the roof, continue to make the prices of basic commodities skyrocket thus creating unbearable conditions for ordinary people.

This is only worsening the already punishing economic hardships and increasing the level of the abject poverty of the struggling people, while their top kinsmen in enjoy flashes cars and luxurious life in Monrovia by getting lion’s share of the national cake through huge salaries and allowances.

Living in the southeast and traveling on the bad roads through towns and villages, one gets to come face-to-face with the sufferings of the less privileged Liberians, many of whom are unemployed or unemployable due to lack of the needed education and vocational training.