Renowned scholar and activist Robtel Pailey issued a stark warning to President Joseph Boakai, urging him to address corruption and low morale among the Liberian people within his first six months in office.
Pailey, who was selected as the keynote orator for Liberia’s 176th Independence Day celebrations, minced no words in her critique of the Boakai administration’s performance thus far.
“The Liberian people elected you to ‘rescue’ them. Six months in, expectations are high and morale low, but all is not lost because true change takes time,” Pailey told the gathered crowd, including President Boakai and other government officials.
Pailey acknowledged that Boakai had inherited a “laundry list of priorities to tackle,” but she urged him to focus on a handful of “tangible goals” and work towards achieving results, rather than getting bogged down in “political niceties or partisanship.”
Citing specific missteps by the Boakai administration, such as the “tenured positions debacle” and the appointments of “questionable characters in key positions of trust,” Pailey warned the president that he risked losing the confidence of the Liberian people if he did not course correct.
“I urge you to course correct before you lose the confidence of the Liberian people,” Pailey said. “Assemble a diverse and nationally representative team of competent and committed Liberians with integrity; devise mutually agreeable, time-bound deliverables for them to achieve; and hold them accountable.”
Pailey also criticized the administration’s “ARREST Agenda,” describing it as more of a “multi-sectoral development wish-list” than a “broad-based vision for our future.” She proposed using the phrase “dignity must define us” as the unifying anchor for the national development plan.
Challenging Boakai to “run the executive branch like the well-oiled machine it should be,” Pailey urged the president to schedule regular town hall discussions with citizens and mandate his ministers to do the same, in order to foster greater accessibility and accountability.
“The Liberian people elected an executive they presumed would be accessible and accountable,” Pailey said. “Please, please, please, do not disappoint them.”
