Liberia at 178: The Betrayal of Trust and the Unfulfilled Promise of Rescue

By Hun-Bu Tulay

Cell #231-777-111-032/886-517-356

Email: ntevoma@gmail.com

“The Problem with us Liberians is us Liberians”

As Liberia approaches its 178th Independence Day on July 26, 2025, we stand at a precipice of reflection. The bitter truth laid bare over nearly two centuries is this: our political elite have been the architects of our nation’s stagnation. Corrupted by power, blinded by greed, and shielded by impunity, they have transformed governance into a vehicle for personal enrichment leaving the people to drown in the wake of their excess.

The Scars of Elite Betrayal 

The evidence of their failure is etched into every facet of Liberian life:

A gutted education system, where children learn in crumbling classrooms without books, labs, or hope.

A healthcare collapse, where hospitals lack drugs, equipment, and power forcing citizens to die of preventable diseases.

Infrastructure in ruins, with darkness as the norm, roads swallowed by neglect, and clean water a luxury for millions.

For generations, Liberians endured leaders who treated the nation as a private estate. It was this profound despair that fuelled hope in President Boakai’s rallying cry: “RESCUE”. The people believed. They dared to dream of leaders who would prioritize nation over nepotism, service over self-dealing.

Seventeen months later, that dream hangs by a thread for many Liberians.

The Million-Dollar Question: Where is the Rescue?

-Corruption: Have the webs of kickbacks, inflated contracts, and state capture been dismantled? Or do the same cartels still control our treasury?

– Public Services: Are schools being rebuilt, or do children still kneel on dirt floors? Are hospitals saving lives, or are they still morgues of neglect?

– Infrastructure: Has Monrovia seen light? Do villages have water? Or do generators still dictate commerce and survival?  Sunday, July 20, 2025, we were in Caldwell. The Caldwell Road, where over 100,000 Liberians live and commute daily is one of the more deplorable in country, especially the section between Caldwell bridge and Kaba turn in.

– The Future: Where are the jobs for our youth? Why does despair still eclipse opportunity?

The people demand answers not speeches, not excuses because they walked in pupu water and stood in the rain and sun to vote for you because they wanted a better future for their children and great grand children.

The President’s Legacy: Between Rescue and Ruin 

President Boakai now navigates the most defining period of his presidency. History will judge him not by intentions, but by tangible change. Yet recent events suggest a chilling disconnect between the promise of “rescue” and the reality of recycled dysfunction.

‘The Ghost of Fernanda Po: A Warning Ignored? 

The scandal unfolding at the Ministry of Transport mirrors Liberia’s darkest history. As revealed by the Spoon Talk Show (July 22, 2025), allegations of backroom deals and the brazen declaration that a controversial contract is” cast in stone” evoke the Fernanda Po scandal of the 1920s. Then, as now, elites sold national dignity for private gain forcing a disgraced President King to resign.

Is history repeating itself? When officials operate with such contempt for transparency, they mock the very notion of “rescue.”

The Crisis of Confidence in Justice 

The Ministry of Justice tasked with upholding the rule of law now faces a crisis of credibility. Its role in the House of Representatives debacle and its alleged coercion of Transport Ministry officials suggest a disturbing pattern: the law twisted to serve power, not people. If the guardian of justice becomes a tool of oppression, what hope remains?

The Weight of Complicity: A Warning to the President

Presidents fall not only by their own failings, but by the treachery of those they empower. President Boakai must confront a hard truth: appointing compromised officials betrays his mandate. Ministers who hide deals, judges who bend rulings, and legislators who loot budgets are not allies they are liabilities.

Mr. President, you alone wield the axe. Use it.

The Fiscal Madness: Looting the Future

Liberia’s greatest heist is not in dark alleys it unfolds in broad daylight, within our national budgets:

– Post-war Plunder (2006–2025: Over $12 billion in public funds allocated. Yet 75% or more vanished into elite pockets (salaries, benefits, luxury vehicles, and “consultancy fees.)”

– Debt Disgrace:

– Pre-Sirleaf: $4.6 billion debt (158 years).

– Sirleaf: Cleared debts but borrowed $880 million.

– Weah: $1.5 billion in 6 years ($250M/year).

– Boakai*: $220 million in 17 months faster than any predecessor.

– Budgetary Betrayal: 95% or more is to spend to fuels bureaucratic bloat; just 5% reaches development. This is not governance it is organized theft.

The Education and Healthcare Charade 

We build new schools and clinics while existing ones rot this is has been the situation in Liberia over the past 178 years:

– Jackson F. Doe Hospital survives on less then USD$3 million/year barely enough for bandages.

– Community colleges starve on less then USD$2 million each.

– The Tubman High Schools of the 1970s once elite school in the country, where students were given textbooks for free and provided vocation education and students had locker each now lacks windows, chairs, and dignity.

Why build monuments to progress when we sabotage their purpose?  The multilateral high schools in the counties are now in ruins.

The Race Car on the Track: A Metaphor Betrayed 

You vowed, Mr. President: If you want to see if a race car runs, place it on the track. Seventeen months later, Liberians see no race car only the same broken wheels of greed. Legislators award themselves salaries dwarfing those of Nigeria, Ghana, even the U.S. while hospitals and schools lack basic materials to serve the children of the masses. Doctors prescribed drugs for patients to purchase because the hospitals do not have drugs but the elite travel aboard for treatment leaving the masses to die. Teachers beg for chalk, students in many public schools sit on the floor.

You were elected to rescue Liberia not to preside over its auction.

The Ultimatum: Deliver or Be Damne

2029 looms. Your legacy teeters between redemption and infamy. To seize this moment:

1. Purge the Cartels: Remove every official implicated in corruption starting with Transport and Justice.
2. Slash Elite Privilege: Cap salaries; redirect funds to schools, hospitals, and roads.
3. Prosecute the Looters: Recover stolen billions; jail the untouchables.
4. Budget for the People: 40% minimum for development audited, transparent, enforced. Any budget less then 40% for development should be veto by you.

Liberians did not vote for ministers or judges. They voted for YOU. If your appointees betray the people, they betray you, and you would have betrayed them.

Conclusion: The Last Chance

On our 178th birthday, we stand at a crossroads:

– One path leads to rescue where leaders fear the people, not the other way around.

– The other sinks us deeper into the swamp of elite impunity.

Mr. President, the clock strikes midnight. Deliver the rescue you promised or become another footnote in Liberia’s tragedy of squandered hopes. The world is watching. History is recording. The people are waiting.

A Radical Proposal: Cancel the Pageantry, Fund Survival

As millions of Liberians face hunger and collapsing hospitals, the government plans to spend scarce public funds on 178th Independence Day celebrations. This is not rescue it is betrayal.

The African Blueprint: Leadership Over Luxury

“Why dance on graves when we can heal the living?”
– Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of Tanzania

In 2024, President Hassan cancelled Tanzania’s 61st Independence celebrations and redirected USD445,000 to upgrade Muhimbili Referral Hospital. Her logic was revolutionary in its simplicity:

“Celebrations fill the bellies of elites. Hospitals save the people.”

Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera echoed this moral clarity, slashing state ceremonies to fund healthcare. These leaders grasped a fundamental truth: patriotism isn’t spectacle it is service.

Liberia’s Shameful Contrast

While Tubmanburg Hospital and the Emirate Referral Hospital lack antibiotics and JFK Hospital operates without power, our government prepares for fireworks and banquets. The math of injustice:

• $500,000+ for a single day’s celebration
  = 6 months of electricity for 3 county hospitals
  = 100,000 malaria treatments
  = 5 years of textbooks for 20,000 students

Mr. President, is this your “Rescue

Demand 1: Cancel July 26 Celebrations Redirect Funds to Health Emergencies

1. Immediate Action:
   • Halt all Independence Day spending.
   • Audit allocated funds, channel every dollar to:
     • Emergency equipment for Redemption, JFK, and Jackson Doe Hospitals.
     • Malaria/Cholera rapid-response kits for rural clinics.
2. Symbolic Leadership:
   • Spend the day visiting hospitals not reviewing parades.
   • Announce: We celebrate independence by liberating our people from suffering.

Let history record: On our 178th birthday, we chose oxygen tanks over orchestra tents.

Demand 2: Launch National Service Now—Attack Youth Unemployment

Eight months ago, we proposed a Liberian National Service Corps (LNSC). Today, 68% of graduates roam jobless streets. The solution exists if government acts.

The LNSC Framework:

Funding: Redirect 50% of savings from cancelled celebrations + luxury vehicle budgets.
Accountability: Public dashboard tracking projects/jobs created.

Why This Works:

• Tanzania Proof: Hassan’s “Build the Nation” youth corps reduced unemployment by 11% in 2 years.
• Dual Win: Graduates gain skills; communities gain teachers/nurses/engineers.

“Unemployed graduates are tinder for revolution. Employed graduates are architects of rescue.”

The Stakes: Rescue or Farce?

President Boakai faces a defining choice:

• OPTION A: Preside over another elite carnival while hospitals decay. Legacy = “King’s Heir.”
• OPTION B: Cancel celebrations, launch LNSC, declare health emergency. Legacy = “Rescuer.”

The people’s patience has expired. When Tanzania (61 years young) prioritizes its citizens over ceremonies, how can Liberia (178 years old) justify failure?A Call to Conscience

“Mr. President, you stood at Tubman’s grave promising ‘rescue.’
Now stand at JFK Hospital’s broken gates and explain why a birthday party matters more than babies dying without incubators.
The world praised Samia and Chakwera for their courage.
History waits to praise you.” You and your invited guests can do this together.

Act by July 26 or concede the “Rescue” was a lie.