Change? We do not seem to be capable.

Recent events have now finalised Robert Sirleaf´s chairmanship at the National Oil Company. Without detailed knowledge and the normal jealous rants based on wild assumptions by every member of our society, be it at home or abroad. With us, we are so ignorant that people voicing private suspicions of others tend to steer our lives. You can see it wherever you go, be it in the Hentay shops or on the beaches. It is so important to some people that sometimes there is no wonder we will never prosper. They spend all their energy expelling loads of hot air when they instead could have been prosperous members of society, running their own businesses. Here is my message to you: Stop projecting your own secret feelings on other people. All you are doing is showing us what you would have done in a similar position. That is probably the reason the likes of you will remain over there, dwelling in hatred and envy. You are all angry at him because he didn´t do what you would have done. That makes him better than you and we can´t have that. No. We have to make sure that those few with genuine integrity come down to our own level of wickedness and greediness. Well, we are all Liberians, and the above described feelings are widespead amongst us. So, purely statically a lot of appointees and other civil servants will harbour these thoughts. And even continue to cross the line of corruption.

There is a reason for everything

So so noise. The situation with corruption is so bad in our country that our president didn´t trust anyone but her son to put the framework of Liberia´s future income into proper working order. The ink didn´t even dry on the paper, before you all were yelling bloody murder for a friendly handshake. When you go look, funny newspaper stories start to surface where this same gentleman is supposed to be worth 10 times our national budget and that he is a faggot. (Nice journalism by the way) Nobody, or let me say somebody, didn´t want this man`s scrutiny on the board of NOCAL for a very special reason. You can call Ellen a lot of things, that is your prerogative but you can never accuse her of being stupid. Ellen knows her people better than you may think. As soon as you hint the chance of money to be made you see all kinds of fly to excrement behavior in our society. Not even the strongest insect repellant can get rid of those flies. The only way is to let one big spider mind the candy. Anyway, none of the biggest noise causers on that side understand any of this, but you will continue to rant as if your lives depend on it. That also is your prerogative. But remember, it is all just hot humid air coming out, signifying nothing.

Power drunk

In the recent standoff between the head of the Liberian National Police and the legislature, you start to see what kind of scum that we voted into power. The mindset of these elected individuals is at the least worrying, at most embarrasing. I guess that every individual has the right to try to boost their own self esteem, but this is crazy. Apparently, the laws that they make do not apply to them. Again, I am much reminded of Orwells "Animal Farm" where in the end the fat pigs, just liberated from wallowing in mud and their own excrement proclaim that "some animals are more equal than others". If you listen to these selfproclaimed divas that strut around all day doing nothing other than making a pile of noise, the term that comes mind is "wannabe". "The Senate on Wednesday summoned the police chief to show cause why he should not be held in contempt". Taste this sentence. The police is trying to do their job, traffic congestion is a problem that affects everyone, but our elected officials feel that traffic regulations do not apply to them. When this is pointed out to them they start acting like the kindergarden brotherhood that they are and choose to waste the Police Chiefs time. Next time, know who you vote for.

Responsible journalism

After month of idleness from my part, it is time to untie my tongue and contribute once again towards trying to make our beautiful country a better place. Let me start by saying that over the years, FrontPage Africa has done a lot to bring issues of interest to the nation to the public debate. They have done so with bravour. This should be the main goal of a newspaper, to bring to light issues concerning all of us. And believe me they are debated. However, during these years, I have always thought that the paper all too often relies on single, unconfirmed reports-rumours-informers, often without contacting the accused party. These often unconfirmed sources of information are then turned into very biased stories, where the editorial staff never checks their information to confirm authenticity. In Liberian english, we call it he say, she say. Someone goes to a journalist, makes an accusation of some sort. The journalist should then be all about trying to confirm this statement. Not in Liberia. Here, we write the story based on that statement, and run with it. It is so bad that based on one daily running an unconfirmed story, all the other local dailies jump on the same unconfirmed, unbalanced story the next day, often repeating it and giving the first daily as the source. All the while, the accused party has not been heard. As a result, 9 time out of 10, the accused party has to call a pressconference to publicly refute the statement and give the correct facts according to them. I do not know about you, but if it ever happened to me, I would want revenge too. But our so-called journalists are so itchy to write their one-sided stories that many times they would not dare to check their facts; maybe they fear that there may not even be a story if they start real investigative work. So they act as if they are dealing with facts, and the unknowing reader is left with what he/she thinks are facts. Today, this type of so-called journalism has turned around and bitten a so-called journalist in the ass. And now they want us to feel sorry for him. If I know my people correctly, the editor will be released eventually. Will he have learned a lesson? I doubt it. It will be repeated.