Deputy House Speaker Thomas Fallah’s recent public appeal for fellow Lofa kinsmen to rally behind President Joseph Boakai is not merely poor politics. It is dangerous politics.
By framing his support in tribal terms — “Your own is your own” Fallah traffics in the very forces that ripped Liberia apart in the past and that must be rejected if this country is to move beyond poverty, division and the memories of conflict.
Tribal or sectional appeals may produce short-term mobilization in pockets of Lofa, but their long-term effect is corrosive.
Liberia’s civil wars were driven in part by leaders who exploited ethnic and regional loyalties to recruit fighters and legitimize exclusion.
That history should make every responsible leader wary of language that bins citizens by origin rather than treats them as equal participants in a single national project.
The Kissi, like many groups in Liberia, have every right to political participation and pride in their heritage. They are however, a modestly sized minority concentrated in the north. Using a shared mother tongue or birthplace as the basis for a national campaign turns legitimate local identity into a weapon.
Politics built on kinship rather than policy deepens mistrust, foments resentment in other communities, and distracts from the urgent task at hand: lifting Liberians out of poverty.
Elections should be contests of ideas, plans and performance, not parades of tribal loyalty. Voters deserve debates about jobs, health care, education, roads and security — concrete promises with clear timelines and accountable delivery mechanisms.
The presidency and the legislature should be judged on who can deliver sustainable jobs for youth, reliable electricity, functioning clinics, and transparent stewardship of public resources.
Religious leaders, civil society, traditional authorities and every well-meaning Liberian must speak out. Silence in the face of tribal appeals is complicity.
This evil child in the form and shape of Representative Fallah’s tribal bigotry must be petered out to avoid festering of the contagiously harmful virus it carries.
Condemnation should be clear and unified: politics that pits community against community endangers lives, undermines development and violates the values of our shared nationhood.
Liberia will prosper through unity and cohesion. Prosperity requires trust across regions and ethnicities so investors, business owners and ordinary citizens can plan for the future.
Politicians who thrive on division and chaos must not be rewarded. They should be held accountable at the ballot box and by public pressure.
Thomas Fallah’s tribal theatrics should be a wake-up call: Liberia must choose unity, policy and accountability over cheap appeals to origin. The future of the nation and the wellbeing of its people depend on that choice. Our own is Liberia and Liberia’s own is us!
