Monrovia – Vice President Joseph N. Boakai over the weekend outlined his vision for Liberia, noting how he intends to use agriculture, road inter-connectivity to rebuild the economy.
On resuscitating the economy, Vice President Boakai said Liberia is a rich nation, with the potential to rely on itself and recalled that while he served as Managing Director of the Liberia Produce Marketing Corporation, the agriculture sector had a turnover of over US$50 million in the 1970’s at the time only thirty percent of the rice that the nation consumed was imported into Liberia.
He said seventy percent of the commodity was produced by Liberians for local consumption and that now over two hundred million is spent on the importation of rice, the trend he intends to reverse with he takes the presidency in 2018.
He said the 70 percent was produced when the sector was not even developed.
He said the Ministry of Agriculture which exercises oversight of all food production activities in the country has three primary functions, policy, technology and extension and that these activities or functions have not been executed fully.
According to Vice President Boakai, the lack of roads has made it very difficult to implement development programs of the nation that is nearly 170 years old and something has to be done about this situation, adding you cannot have a country that is not accessible to the people.”
Interconnectivity of the nation has a positive trickle-down effect on education, health, agriculture and other vital sectors of the economy/nation.
Boakai said unless interconnectivity is improved and rural communities are opened up it will be difficult to reach the people and even more difficult to implement development programs and that Liberia’s problem has been centralizing everything in Monrovia; Monrovia is not Liberia the Vice President emphasized we need to open up the country and reach the farmers for example.
With feeder roads the farmers will have access to the markets for their produce and that with access to roads the problems of Liberia will be eased.
He said when citizens have access to the markets they will be in the position to generate money from their activities/ventures.
Vice President Boakai said when citizens are not in the position to pay their taxes, they feel disenfranchise, adding “if people are earning from their produce, they will pay taxes.
He recalled the days when Liberian farmers walked to showrooms and purchase their own vehicles and farm implements, and said with the right approach to food security this can happen again.
Commenting on what he calls “comparative advantage” Vice President Boakai said he sees Liberia as an agricultural country and that communities should be empowered to do what they know best, because ‘ I do not believe in the notion that people are lazy because they do not produce rice.
“There are counties that have fishing communities they should be empowered to supply fish the rest of the country.”
“Cassava producing counties should be given the appropriate technology to process the tuber for local and possible foreign markets, ‘these farmers need the technology ,”he stressed.
On the issue of road connectivity, the Unity Party Standard Bearer said, revenue will come in gradually as a result.
On revenue intake for the Government, Vice President Boakai said if income generating sectors are well regulated, government could raise money to fund the budget.
He indicated that there is a lot of illicit mining going on in the Country, we cannot get there because of lack of roads, therefore the Government cannot account for serious money being made in that sector, there is need to regulate the mining sector if the nation is to benefit from the mineral resources of the country.
He frowned on property owners who abandoned their properties and live in foreign countries with no program to maintain these buildings and the lack of maintenance and the failure to pay real estate taxes is another issue.
Touching the women issues, he emphasized on the need to build skills and capacities of women, and noted that some of the issues that affect our economic growth are also issues that affect women.
We need a large women representation in our development programs, improve areas that mean a lot to them and that social issues confronting women must be addressed.
He said the problems of Liberia span over a century and a half and that he sees lack of inclusiveness as a problem that plagued Liberia in the past, reconciliation is a challenge and further Liberia is a country where a lot of people do not feel connected.
He further spoke about the need to transform the social economic environments.
According to him, markets in Liberia are not only areas of economic activity, but areas that could be termed as social economic places where folks interact on a daily basis.
The children and relatives of market women all found themselves in these markets for one reason or the other and the need to institute adult literacy programs and day care centers is imperative.
Noting further, the Vice President said the traditional leadership of the country must be brought into the decision making process of the Country.
He said the security of the leeward counties and communities is in the hands of the chiefs and elders, you don’t have police everywhere, so their roles as peace keepers must taken into serious consideration, they feel a disconnect the Vice President said.
On the issue of corruption, Vice President Boakai said there must be a holistic approach to the eradication of corruption in Liberia including comprehensive packages for retired Government Staff; there must be a safety net for such retired staff, Vice President Boakai said
Speaking on the issues of education, he said quality education cannot be postponed or compromised.