By Sidiki Fofana | Truth In Ink ( A Platform for Thought, Resistance & National Conscience)
Introductory Lead
When the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) was elected in 2017, its supporters declared they would rule for 24 years, not out of vision, but out of entitlement. Six years later, the Unity Party (UP), freshly returned to power, made the same declaration, we are here for 24 years.” What we are witnessing in Liberia is not a clash of ideology, but a revolving door of entitlement.
A different cast, reciting the same tragic script.
Barely had the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) been declared winner of the 2017 presidential elections when its supporters began to boast that the party would rule for “12 years.”
This declaration was not rooted in any strategic vision for national transformation but was instead a reflection of a mindset—one that saw victory as a license for ownership rather than stewardship. The CDC’s psychology of power was less about governance and more about control. It bred mediocrity, entitlement, and a dismissive attitude toward dissent and responsibility.
The CDC quickly forgot not only those who helped it ascend to power but also its constitutional duty to create an enabling environment for national development—including job creation for all citizens, regardless of their political affiliations. Basic responsibilities, such as salary payments, were treated as extraordinary accomplishments.
Meanwhile, anyone who dared to criticize the administration was branded either “belly-driven” or “an enemy of the state.” The president—constitutionally a servant of the people—was elevated by his supporters to the status of a demi-god.
As Frantz Fanon warned, *“The future will have no pity for those men who, possessing the exceptional privilege of being able to speak the words of truth to their oppressors, have taken refuge in an attitude of passivity, of mute indifference, and sometimes of cold complicity.”*¹
In response, the people resisted: first with their voices and eventually with their presence, staging one of the largest and most peaceful civil protests in postwar Liberia. The result was a clear verdict: the CDC had to go. And by 2023, that verdict was realized as voters narrowly ushered in the Unity Party (UP), with over 300,000 new voters joining the electoral roll.
But the change in leadership has proven to be cosmetic. The Unity Party may be a new cast, but it is performing from the same tired script left behind by the CDC. If the UP has claimed any credit at all, it is for completing projects initiated by the CDC: from road works and electrification to continuing the controversial harmonization policy. What it has excelled at most is replicating and creating the same conditions it once marched against.
As Thomas Sankara once put it, “A soldier without any political or ideological training is a potential criminal.” Substitute “soldier” for “politician,” and the statement holds equally true. The governing psychology and philosophy of political leadership in Liberia, both past and present is a replicate of ideology, of moral compass, and of purpose.
And so it’s not surprising that the Unity Party though with a different message at campaign but same mentality at governance. And it, too, has boasted of long-term rule before even delivering short-term results.
Nowhere is this recycled governing philosophy more visible than in the party’s pronouncements and priorities. The UP has ignored the narrowness of its victory and declared, before even assuming office that it would govern for 24 years. The math: Boakai serves 12, followed by his Vice President Koung for another 12. Same script, different cast and this time with an even bolder sense of entitlement.
Worse still is the parade of mediocrity that has followed. The government celebrated the arrival of two used buses as a solution to the nation’s transportation crisis. It inaugurated three police booths as part of a security sector strategy. And most telling of all, the Unity Party led government has failed to create a single new job through innovation, investment, or economic expansion.
Any current employment growth can be traced back to the tenure of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Mittal Steel) or initiatives inherited from the CDC (like the HPX concession, finalized under pressure from abroad).
Instead of job creation, the UP has pursued a purge. Over 6,000 Liberians have been removed from government payroll, many without cause. A few officials have been suspended for alleged corruption, but even that feels familiar.
Under the CDC, names like Charles Sirleaf were paraded as evidence of anti-corruption efforts, only for the drama to fizzle out into mere performance. The UP is following suit.
What we are witnessing is not change, it is continuity in disguise. The actors may have changed, but the psychology of power remains intact a belief that governance is about domination, not service.
All of the conditions that necessitated protest about six years ago still exist today, and in some cases on an industrial scale, thereby justifying the morality, integrity and legality for the July 17 protest.
Kwame Nkrumah warned: “The forces that unite us are intrinsic and greater than the superimposed influences that keep us apart.”
The struggle in Liberia is not between parties, but between the governed and those who have learned to govern poorly, regardless of party label.
And so, Liberia once again finds itself at a crossroads. The people are preparing to speak, not with slogans, bullets or blind loyalty, but with clarity that leadership in a democracy is about responsibility, not ruler ship.
That no party owns the land. That the government, be it CDC or UP, remains answerable to those who gave it the mandate. And that when it fails to remember this, the people will remind it, as they always have.
And on July 17, faced with the threat of bullets, they will rise up to tell President Boakai that his legal mandate is limited to responsibility and not ownership of the land.
In the words of Amílcar Cabral, “Tell no lies. Claim no easy victories.” The Liberian people will no longer be swayed by recycled rhetoric. They are learning to judge leadership not by titles or slogans, but by actions and truth.
The tragedy of Liberia is not that we keep changing leaders, it is that we keep recycling their mindset. Until that changes, the nation remains trapped in a loop of betrayal dressed as transition.
But the people are not fools. They remember. And on July 17, they will remind the ruling elite: the land does not belong to a party. It belongs to the people. And the people are watching.
