By Samuel P. Jackson

Good morning my fellow Liberians. I want us to have a frank conversation. An honest talk about what I truly feel about Liberia. I don’t like politics. You will say I lie. I love money and a good life more than politics. In America and Southern Africa where I made serious money I don’t get involved in politics at any level. Not even school board. Not city or state.

I didn’t come to Liberia in December of 1978 to bring revolution. I was recruited by the government of Liberia from my position as a senior trade finance specialist at Chase Manhattan to be Deputy Comptroller at the Ministry of Finance under Tolbert. I wanted to be part of the social elite but with a burning desire to build structures to improve the lives of poor Liberians living in abject poverty. I partied with the elite at LIPPS and the Wave. I messed with their women. I was young and handsome with a gorgeous Brooklyn girl from the Wortman Projects along Pennsylvania Ave in East New York. Ask Fred Bass Golokeh and other old guys. Beautiful women love me. I used to import them like flowers on Pan Am from the U.S. and Brazil. Zulu Queen my true love is not the first drop dead beautiful woman I’ve brought to Liberia. Back to what I was saying.

The slum communities you see around Monrovia have been here for generations. Rural Liberia has been destitute for ages. Poor people defecate openly with no place to wash their hands. They drink water from contaminated springs. In 1978 when I came to Liberia the life expectancy was 40 years. Imagine that. In America it was 73.6 years. By just staying in America I would live 43 years more than the average Liberian. I know how to calculate these figure because I am student of economics.

What’s all this about you ask? Simple. I want to let Liberians know who I really am and what I’m about. I’m in the latter stages of my life. I don’t want any misunderstandings about who I really am. I love good time and a great life. Easy street. But I don’t cheat, lie and steal to get there. I work my ass off. So I believe that if we Liberians work hard together we can build a truly great nation. Greater than Singapore, Rwanda and Ghana. By the way we are not very far from Ghana and Rwanda in human development. Ghana in 2022 was .602 in the HDI. Rwanda was .534. Nigeria has a HDI of .548. Liberia at .481. Compare these to Singapore at .942. We are all wretchedly poor countries but the difference between Ghana, Rwanda and us is we are slow walking to development and these other countries are moving fast. Very fast. They are also empowering their citizens while we make foreigners and new Liberians rich and 99 percent of us live in abject poverty.

I wanted to be part of a transformative change movement. Building wealth and prosperity in Liberia but my country is not interested in change and building wealth. Political skullduggery and chicanery are the characteristics that make people wealthy. Our wealthiest are all politically connected or get their wealth by association with powerful political figures. No indigenous wealth unconnected to politics. No rich Liberian merchants or farmers. No rich Liberian real estate investors. No rich industrialists. Rich politicians and their friends who got rich by milking the public coffers.

This is the country I find myself. So I had to quickly learn the game. Be political. I have a very loud mouth that scare politicians. They know I know their games. They fear me. Because I know my stuff. I learned real book. So while my intention generally is to keep them honest by pointing out ills but I don’t get any support or validation from the general public. The people most affected by thieving politicians are paid to attack me. When I speak the truth glaring as a midday sun there will be political charlatans who pay people to attack me to muddle the waters.

Examples. Elenilto Western Cluster. The worst deal in the history of Liberia. PUP scandal. Oranto. 66 out of 68 fraudulent concessions.

I didn’t support Weah for president. But 60 percent of you did. I didn’t support Taylor for president but 80 percent of you did. I didn’t support Boakai but a little more than 50 percent of you did. I know these people, I know their agenda. They don’t give a damn about things I care about but I have to live and coexist so I must make the binary choice to live comfortably to exist in my own country. No choice there. I need agreements signed. Consulting contracts approved. Even international organizations in Liberia wouldn’t hire your services if they believe you’re not part of the political class. This is the reality we all live in.

So I already started to point out serious flaws and deficiencies in the Boakai Administration. Gross incompetence. Self interest. No strategic thrust to propel Liberians out of abject poverty. Bad deals. 285 yellow machines. 300 used buses from Ghana. Rushed efforts to sell our resources. I’m sounding the warnings and getting pilloried in the process.

I know how to kiss ass. Be a sycophant. If I start praising Boakai and cavorting with his officials I’ll be invited to their banquets. I bought some new suits. We can all be ass kissers and sycophantic and have our country be the 8th poorest in the world or take principled positions and elevate our nation. I can be the biggest ass kisser there is. I can be the loudest voice to back the wrongs of society but it doesn’t feel good. I have a conscience in a country where most people killed their consciences. I prefer to be part of a transparent and transformative movement but if I have to kiss ass to coexist in Liberia I have the capacity.
I prefer transformation. The choice is ours to make. Coexist in misery or transform the lives of our people.
I prefer to use my education to improve lives but I also know how to coexist in misery. I will never suffer but my relatives in Soniwehn and Gayetown will. We need to transform Liberia and not continue to coexist in misery. And so it goes.