Now that I am back, I have to comment on something that I have noticed a lot in various articles in our press during the past few years. Various Liberian journalists in their professional roles, tend to refer to the job as the managing director of the Liberian Petroleum Refining Company, as being lucrative. There are other instances where I have seen this too.
Some how, this stance, when reporting objectively does not make sense to me. What is lucrative about the job? Are they insinuating their own personal envy over whoever was appointed to this post? Are they suggesting that whoever is doing the job should indulge in lining their pockets, because that is what was done in the past?
I am not sure. What is your take on this?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Eh my people
So much has transpired since I wrote last. A lot of good things have gone down, and many scandals have surfaced. As time passes by these things will gradually be resolved. This is normal in any emerging society.
However, one thing has caught my attention recently. This incident is so annoyingly typical of Liberian society, that it is one of the causes of the war in the first place. The Senate suspended its leader and he was recently reinstated by the Supreme Court of Liberia. But in a very Liberian manner, the acting leader of the Senate is now refusing to honor the ruling of the highest court in the land. This above-the-law mentality is really evidence of the level of ignorance in our society today.
I really could not give a flying f..k over who leads the Senate. Abide by the law and get on with your work, or step the f..k down so that someone with a brain and who cares for his country can step up and do the work instead.
Can you imagine that we are stuck with these selfish parasites for NINE YEARS!!!
However, one thing has caught my attention recently. This incident is so annoyingly typical of Liberian society, that it is one of the causes of the war in the first place. The Senate suspended its leader and he was recently reinstated by the Supreme Court of Liberia. But in a very Liberian manner, the acting leader of the Senate is now refusing to honor the ruling of the highest court in the land. This above-the-law mentality is really evidence of the level of ignorance in our society today.
I really could not give a flying f..k over who leads the Senate. Abide by the law and get on with your work, or step the f..k down so that someone with a brain and who cares for his country can step up and do the work instead.
Can you imagine that we are stuck with these selfish parasites for NINE YEARS!!!
Monday, June 02, 2008
Why can´t we ever do something correctly?
In true football spirit, Liberians love their game. When there is a game on, everyone rushes to go and see it onsite. Like anywhere else in the world, football gives a temporary release from everyday life.
Unfortunately, in the case of the friendly game between Liberia and Gambia at the national stadium, tragedy broke out leaving 8-10 people dead and unknown numbers injured. Why did this happen?
Someone forged tickets and sold these to an unsuspecting public. According to sources on site, these false tickets allowed the stadium to be overpacked already a few hours before the game. Stuffing in 40000 individuals in a stadium made for 33000 is a very shortsighted thing to do, but not in Liberia. It is commonplace in everything that we do.
Whoever is responsible should be prosecuted, both the forgers and the official in charge of the event.
May the souls of those who died rest in peace, and it is up to the rest of us to make sure that it never ever happens again.
Unfortunately, in the case of the friendly game between Liberia and Gambia at the national stadium, tragedy broke out leaving 8-10 people dead and unknown numbers injured. Why did this happen?
Someone forged tickets and sold these to an unsuspecting public. According to sources on site, these false tickets allowed the stadium to be overpacked already a few hours before the game. Stuffing in 40000 individuals in a stadium made for 33000 is a very shortsighted thing to do, but not in Liberia. It is commonplace in everything that we do.
Whoever is responsible should be prosecuted, both the forgers and the official in charge of the event.
May the souls of those who died rest in peace, and it is up to the rest of us to make sure that it never ever happens again.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Come rainy season, come mud
I do not know if anybody caught a recent news posting of a truck arrested in or near Ganta the other day. It, or rather its occupants, were accused of trying to smuggle rice to Guinea. All in all this was a straightforward story, but what hit me as amazing was the fact that the truck had a load of 700 bags of rice or roughly about USD 20000 worth.
So what, you would say. Well here is the issue.
That is 35 metric tonnes of rice plus the weight of the truck, say another 5 to 8 tonnes. Now, mind you, I have not seen the truck, but that is a hell of a lot of weight coming down on each tire. Put this on a newly grated, renovated gravel road, and those tires will make pretty deep ruts/tracks especially if there is moisture in the road. Very quickly, with the next rain, water will set in those tracks, causing the road to quickly start to muddle up, especially if more and similar loads pass the same way.
When trucks are manufactured, the producer always has to give the maximum payload for that particular vehicle. In most countries, this is also regulated by the maximum amount of tire/axel pressure that is generally allowed in traffic. Generally speaking, a 35 tonne load should have at least 5 or 6 axels of four tires. But in some places, even this is not enough for that kind of weight. The most common truck here usually has 3 axels to distribute the weight.
What I am getting at is that we need to start, if not already availiable, in the interest of our infrastructure, making viable traffic regulations and enforcing these rigourously. In cases like these, the truck owner is usually risking the longevity of his vehicle but that is not the point.
The point is that every rainy season, truckdrivers with grossly overloaded trucks damage our already thinstretched infrastructure. It must be frustrating for anyone repairing the road, and even more so for the general public using the road. I am not even going to get going about what this overloading does to the already worn bridges along the way.
So, this is a challenge to those responsible for maintaining our roads. Find a way to curb these ignorant practices by profit hungry demolishers.
The road you save may be your own.
So what, you would say. Well here is the issue.
That is 35 metric tonnes of rice plus the weight of the truck, say another 5 to 8 tonnes. Now, mind you, I have not seen the truck, but that is a hell of a lot of weight coming down on each tire. Put this on a newly grated, renovated gravel road, and those tires will make pretty deep ruts/tracks especially if there is moisture in the road. Very quickly, with the next rain, water will set in those tracks, causing the road to quickly start to muddle up, especially if more and similar loads pass the same way.
When trucks are manufactured, the producer always has to give the maximum payload for that particular vehicle. In most countries, this is also regulated by the maximum amount of tire/axel pressure that is generally allowed in traffic. Generally speaking, a 35 tonne load should have at least 5 or 6 axels of four tires. But in some places, even this is not enough for that kind of weight. The most common truck here usually has 3 axels to distribute the weight.
What I am getting at is that we need to start, if not already availiable, in the interest of our infrastructure, making viable traffic regulations and enforcing these rigourously. In cases like these, the truck owner is usually risking the longevity of his vehicle but that is not the point.
The point is that every rainy season, truckdrivers with grossly overloaded trucks damage our already thinstretched infrastructure. It must be frustrating for anyone repairing the road, and even more so for the general public using the road. I am not even going to get going about what this overloading does to the already worn bridges along the way.
So, this is a challenge to those responsible for maintaining our roads. Find a way to curb these ignorant practices by profit hungry demolishers.
The road you save may be your own.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Halleluja
Today I have sent for a gallon of the best palm wine in Grand Bassa. It is time to celebrate. Our port authority has recently dismissed two officials and a host of others allegedly involved in the auction of some "abandoned" containers. The good news is that the new deputy manager for administration at the port is going to be no other than Mrs. Mary Broh, who recently turned the Passport office from ridiculous to fabulous.
Mrs. Broh, we are looking forward to your work.
Mrs. Broh, we are looking forward to your work.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Reiteration
Grow your own food, don´t import it.
Produce your own products, don´t import them.
Export finished goods, not raw materials.
Utlilise local products, and promote local entrepreneurs.
If you look through my postings, you will find that this message has been repeated in various forms because I see this as one of the major challenges facing our country. Hopefully the rising price of rice will cause incentives for local farmers to start producing the sought after product.
With the known price of rice, it is easy for anyone to calculate their income from farming. Say for the sake of the calculation that an acre of rice yeilds about 5 tons of produce. This is about 100 bags of rice, a bit on the low side but any farmer can calculate that he should be able to produce revenue of USD 2500.00 from every acre in production.
Do not forget that we are just talking revenue here, costs have to be taken into consideration too, but just imagine the possibilty.
Wake up now.
Produce your own products, don´t import them.
Export finished goods, not raw materials.
Utlilise local products, and promote local entrepreneurs.
If you look through my postings, you will find that this message has been repeated in various forms because I see this as one of the major challenges facing our country. Hopefully the rising price of rice will cause incentives for local farmers to start producing the sought after product.
With the known price of rice, it is easy for anyone to calculate their income from farming. Say for the sake of the calculation that an acre of rice yeilds about 5 tons of produce. This is about 100 bags of rice, a bit on the low side but any farmer can calculate that he should be able to produce revenue of USD 2500.00 from every acre in production.
Do not forget that we are just talking revenue here, costs have to be taken into consideration too, but just imagine the possibilty.
Wake up now.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Them belly full, but we hungry
A pot has cooked but the yeild´s not enough. A hungry man is an angry man....
All over the world, higher prices of commodities are causing widespread unrest. People are rioting in Haiti, the Philipines, Burkina Faso and the list goes on. People are incorrectly/unfairly blaming their governments for the increase in goods that they depend on for day to day living. They want their government to do something about their woes yesterday already.
In our little country, we insist on importing a majority of the goods that we consume. Currently, the gas has to be imported because we cannot produce it. The price of oil currently fluctuates around a couple of dollars above 100 dollars per barrel. It used to be around 30 dollars a couple of odd years ago.
We have a tendency as a people to demand that our government should intervene in cases like this and set price ceilings. We have supposedly educated journalists, screaming on their front pages that the government must do something about this and go in and reduce the price of, for example, rice.
Let me inform you of some facts:
1. Price control is a thing of the past, unless you have a budget to subsidize the importer (which we don´t have).
2. You could impose price ceilings, with the effect that whoever is in the business of importing the commodity would be selling at a loss and refrain from importing it, causing a shortage. This shortage would cause the price of the goods to increase further as the basic laws of supply and demand. Demand is greater than supply of the goods causing momentary price hikes. No sensible person is in business to lose money.(Check out the empty shelves in Zimbabwe)
3. In "normal economies", when the price of goods increase as they have, producers of the said commodity usually jump at the opportunity to produce as much of it as possible and maximize their profit while doing so. This usually increases the supply of the good in question, and over time reduces the price of the good.
4. Liberia is not a normal economy. Everyone prefers to sit in the overcrowded capital and complain and play politics, instead of going and producing what is needed in terms of food. Unfortunately, this attitude is a remenance of the society created by returning settlers during the 1800s, always depending upon the outside world to supply supply the goods.
5. We have enough fertile land in this country. Our president has shown us what modern agricultural technology can yield in the terms of rice production just outside her yard. Is it her job to start rice farms to feed us now?
My people, the incentives are there. Plant your seed, and you will reap the harvest. Either that or you will have to eat cassava and edoe for the rest of you life. Sit down there and let foreigners come here and do it for you, and even more money will flow our of our country.
All over the world, higher prices of commodities are causing widespread unrest. People are rioting in Haiti, the Philipines, Burkina Faso and the list goes on. People are incorrectly/unfairly blaming their governments for the increase in goods that they depend on for day to day living. They want their government to do something about their woes yesterday already.
In our little country, we insist on importing a majority of the goods that we consume. Currently, the gas has to be imported because we cannot produce it. The price of oil currently fluctuates around a couple of dollars above 100 dollars per barrel. It used to be around 30 dollars a couple of odd years ago.
We have a tendency as a people to demand that our government should intervene in cases like this and set price ceilings. We have supposedly educated journalists, screaming on their front pages that the government must do something about this and go in and reduce the price of, for example, rice.
Let me inform you of some facts:
1. Price control is a thing of the past, unless you have a budget to subsidize the importer (which we don´t have).
2. You could impose price ceilings, with the effect that whoever is in the business of importing the commodity would be selling at a loss and refrain from importing it, causing a shortage. This shortage would cause the price of the goods to increase further as the basic laws of supply and demand. Demand is greater than supply of the goods causing momentary price hikes. No sensible person is in business to lose money.(Check out the empty shelves in Zimbabwe)
3. In "normal economies", when the price of goods increase as they have, producers of the said commodity usually jump at the opportunity to produce as much of it as possible and maximize their profit while doing so. This usually increases the supply of the good in question, and over time reduces the price of the good.
4. Liberia is not a normal economy. Everyone prefers to sit in the overcrowded capital and complain and play politics, instead of going and producing what is needed in terms of food. Unfortunately, this attitude is a remenance of the society created by returning settlers during the 1800s, always depending upon the outside world to supply supply the goods.
5. We have enough fertile land in this country. Our president has shown us what modern agricultural technology can yield in the terms of rice production just outside her yard. Is it her job to start rice farms to feed us now?
My people, the incentives are there. Plant your seed, and you will reap the harvest. Either that or you will have to eat cassava and edoe for the rest of you life. Sit down there and let foreigners come here and do it for you, and even more money will flow our of our country.
Monday, March 10, 2008
All the wrong ideas
Objection, your honour.
Read the following quotes made by the senator of Maryland county in the year 2008:
“The aim of joining an association or any political party is to reap the benefit at the end of the day and not to suffer for others who did not contribute anything towards the success to enjoy it.”
“Our partisans are really suffering; it is now time that we give them jobs so that they would be able to support their families. If we don’t put our feet on the ground to ensure that our people get job, the party stands to lose the next election,” the Maryland County Senator warned.
Can you believe this? This is the kind of backward thinking that undermines democracy anywhere in the world today.
If the gentleman went vote-fishing on electionday with promising people jobs if they voted for him, then your man has a very deranged idea about what democracy is.
Read the following quotes made by the senator of Maryland county in the year 2008:
“The aim of joining an association or any political party is to reap the benefit at the end of the day and not to suffer for others who did not contribute anything towards the success to enjoy it.”
“Our partisans are really suffering; it is now time that we give them jobs so that they would be able to support their families. If we don’t put our feet on the ground to ensure that our people get job, the party stands to lose the next election,” the Maryland County Senator warned.
Can you believe this? This is the kind of backward thinking that undermines democracy anywhere in the world today.
If the gentleman went vote-fishing on electionday with promising people jobs if they voted for him, then your man has a very deranged idea about what democracy is.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Poopoo and all get power
It is time for these zealots to step aside. When I was growing up, there was a saying "Poopoo and all get power". This saying has during all my years never been more appropriate to use about a bunch of imbeciles than now.
What kind of a country is going to move forward if a bunch of idiots is going to undermine every step that is taken.
Shame on you lawmakers, start moving forward instead of backsliding into the seventies and eighties. You people are not doing the job that you were elected to do, so either you step down and let someone else take your place who is willing to do the job or you step up and move forward.
For me it is a four hour drive to "show cause" in front of them, I am waiting for their summons.
Eotb.
Sumo
What kind of a country is going to move forward if a bunch of idiots is going to undermine every step that is taken.
Shame on you lawmakers, start moving forward instead of backsliding into the seventies and eighties. You people are not doing the job that you were elected to do, so either you step down and let someone else take your place who is willing to do the job or you step up and move forward.
For me it is a four hour drive to "show cause" in front of them, I am waiting for their summons.
Eotb.
Sumo
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
I have given up all hope
A few weeks ago, I visited our sandbox otherwise known as our legislature. Just having been renovated, the place looked sharp, outside and inside. It is a pity though that the majesty of the building does not reflect its inhabitants.
If it is not one thing, it is the other. Bla, bla, bla. Is this democracy at work? Then I am not sure that it is democracy that we need.
It just goes on and on;
•Fighting between the houses that each has to have its own generator
•Failure to provide funding for fuel
•Corruption charges left and right
•Commitees making faulty reports
•Squabble over spending on buses
•Fraudulous contempt charges against challangers
•Tug of wars over furniture
If you ask me, it is time to do away with this nonsense. Put your selfish ways to one side for once and put your heads together so that we finally can move forward. FOR GOODNESS SAKE. At least, start making some policies/laws for your country.
If it is not one thing, it is the other. Bla, bla, bla. Is this democracy at work? Then I am not sure that it is democracy that we need.
It just goes on and on;
•Fighting between the houses that each has to have its own generator
•Failure to provide funding for fuel
•Corruption charges left and right
•Commitees making faulty reports
•Squabble over spending on buses
•Fraudulous contempt charges against challangers
•Tug of wars over furniture
If you ask me, it is time to do away with this nonsense. Put your selfish ways to one side for once and put your heads together so that we finally can move forward. FOR GOODNESS SAKE. At least, start making some policies/laws for your country.
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