...Says Former Regimes Failed the State; Lewis Brown Was One
By: Bill K. Jarkloh
www.theperiscope.com
The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism sharply reacted to criticisms from the opposition that the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Administration has failed, saying that the government to the contrary is succeeding in its mandate given President Sirleaf at the 2005 presidential poll.
Information Minister Cletus Abenego Sieh and his Deputy for Public Affairs Jerelimek Piah told the CEMPID Haitai Club yesterday on Carey Street that it was far-fetched for one to think that the building of roads and other reconstruction works in the country were being undertaken by the world bank, wondering why didn’t the world bank engaged these projects during the past regimes.
They told the gathering that the Ministry was on an outreach that would bring the government to the people, so that the people would have the opportunity to interact with the government directly.
The remarks by officials at the Ministry of Information come in the wake of criticisms by the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance, former Presidential Security Advisor to President Charles Taylor Lewis Brown when he addressed the Polit Bureau Hatai Center in Clara Town last Saturday
In his criticisms, Mr. Brown amongst other things indicated that the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Administration has massively failed the Liberian people by its alleged failure to provide basic social services to the people.
Brown further criticized that the only good that the government has done is to downsize civil servants, imposed hardship on the people by imposing tax system that has evaded the entities by exorbitant taxes leveled on the imported goods of the average Liberian doing business.
Amongst other things, he said due to the failure of the government to provide for its citizenry, may short limbs people and broad based masses of the citizens have become beggars in the streets while the government only cater to its officials.
But the Ministry of information was robust in its reaction to the CEMPID Hatai Center. Answering questions propounded by members of the hatai club, Minister Sieh told the gathering, “Yesterday the criticism was the government is doing nothing; today having seen the trend of development including road building and the modernization campaign amongst other, the criticisms change to otherwise saying it is the World Bank that doing this that doing that.”
According the Information Ministry boss, “You can see and judge for yourself; there are fanatics who see thing black when they are white and white when they are black – but what I can safely tell you is that the government is committed to delivering on its mandate.”
Sieh recalled that when President Sirleaf ascended to the Presidency, she decided to deliver on her campaign promises when she initiated a donor conference at which members of the international community, including America, Sweden, the World bank and other donor countries and organizations made pledges later remitted to the custody of the World Bank fort Liberia, noting that Liberia has been benefiting from the donor funds by identifying projects on which the money is being used.
“The Money is Liberia’s money. It is Liberia through this government that identifies how it should be used. It is Liberia that has decided to build the roads, the hospitals, the schools – these projects are not World Bank neither is the Money World bank money but contributions from donor countries and institutions towards Liberia’s reconstruction,” the Information Minister clarified.
The Information Minister was decisively buttressed by his deputy, Piah. “If they are saying the government is doing nothing, then who is building the 100 bedroom hotel in Ganta? Who is the University City, who is ensuring the re-electrification of the Monrovia and the rest of Liberia? The streets of Monrovia were more of dumpsites – who has been paving the streets to modern ones?
Mr. Piah noted that the money given by donors are donated based on benchmarks, which the Taylor government of which Mr. Brown was an integral part and prominent team-player had failed to meet, given their conduct in the governing process.
“Lewis Brown was part of that arrangement that labeled Liberia a failed state and therefore isolated the country from the comity of nations,” Piah noted, imploring Liberians, “Unless you
Can open your eyes and recognized the efforts by this government of President Sirleaf to redeem the country, I believe that Liberia is certainly in trouble”.
On the issue of corruption being rampant as being alleged in some quarters, Piah indicated that it appears that corruption is rampant than in the past regime because people join the government’s fight against corruption and are talking about it every where. That doesn’t necessarily mean its prevalence.
“Corruption is a public matter people are talking about it every where in the country. This means that everyone is involved in the fight. Like it was with the number of rape cases which were actually four cases when I was at the Gender Ministry, it appeared that there were so hundreds of rape cases because everyone was involving in talking about it – so it is with the case of corruption,” Deputy Minister Piah said.
In the face of the criticisms, the information Ministry bosses noted, the almost US$5 billion debt burden of Liberia from the 1970s, which former regimes could not work towards because of bad governance is being waived and the international community which disengaged from Liberia and isolated the country as a failed state has been converged and reengaged simply because the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf team is responsibly conducting itself as a redemptive regime, chiding at comments recently attributed to the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance, former President Taylor’s advisor security advisor Lewis Brown.
In a concluding statement, Piah said there are many who say things that the Ministry of Information cannot react to, lest they are given relevance as they seek to build political image, adding, “We speak for every Liberian irrespective of partisanship or religion or whatever affiliation, politicians who may want to answer such people may do so at their party level.”
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