The Editor,
The injuries of top government of Liberia officials have captured the attention of local and global media. The fact of the matter is that deaths due to bad roads and bad driving in Liberia account for 5.7 per cent of total deaths (WHO, 2020).
Whether or not top government officials are involved in road deaths, the matter of road deaths must claim our attention. Only Our Creator gives lives. Our responsibility is to save lives. When bad decisions are made in State management, bad outcomes take place. Bad roads come from bad decisions, Therefore, to get good roads, good decisions must be made. It takes persons with good records to make good decisions.
By: Togba-Nah Tipoteh
Taxpayers’ money is used to have the bad roads outcome. Taxpayers’ money is also used to make roads to private locations. Taxpayers’ money is also used to arrange contracts for persons in violation of the Law, as seen the contract for the rehabilitation of the Roberts International Airport (RIA) Highway that has now become a “death trap”.
The movement from bad to good roads will happen when the present raising of awareness about bad roads continues to get people motivated to work together to act through the Rule of Law to get good roads and good drivers. During corruption, the advertisement from the government about stopping drunken-driving and obeying traffic rules are meaningless. Money is used to get drivers’ licenses daily without any form of testing.
What needs to be done to get Good Medicine for Bad Roads is to have people to take action to change the UNFAIR electoral system into the FAIR electoral system. It is only through this change that persons with good records can get elected to bring good decisions that become the good medicine for bad roads. The electoral system is supervised by the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia. NEC is busy violating the Constitution of Liberia by having non-Liberians serve as NEC Commissioners, allowing the illegal busing of voters and allowing the illegal contracting of services, among other illegal transactions. Four years ago, I took NEC to the Supreme Court of Liberia to work with others in correcting the NEC illegalities, but the Court remains unprepared to render any decision on this Case and no national religious, political, civil society or government leader is supporting this Case.
Togba-Nah Tipoteh