Liberia Needs Harvard Economics, Not Harvard ‘Ellenomics’

This is where the rubber meets the road. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf needs to put her Harvard University “economics” degree to use. This is the kind of stuff Harvard graduates are put to the test on. It has certainly worked for some Harvard graduates around the world.

But Harvard has two groups of students: the true Harvard University graduates and the ones recruited into “soft” programs like the one Ellen did in “Administration” that was converted into the prestigious Harvard economics degree.

And this is why we are getting “Ellenomics” and not the real deal of the globally acclaimed Harvard University economics. There is a big, big difference. And we Liberians are now suffering from the Harvard-deficit effect imposed on Liberians.

When you look at some of Ellen’s half-baked Finance Ministers, excluding Dr. Antoinette Sayeh, the rest of Augustine Nganfuan, Amara Konneh and now this Boima Kamara guy’ who all doesn’t seem to understand true economics, finance and the intricate global new market forces of finance, banking and an internet-economy-driven international financial system, then all you have is talking heads.

Ask this Finance Minister to deliver a paper on the global financial system an the roles of governments, and his colleagues will laugh at him. What schools did Nganfuan, Konneh and Kamara graduate from and what were their majors and work experiences with well-known financial institutions?

So this is what Liberia has been reduced to and why no one today in government can justify a dual currency system in Liberia. Please name other countries in the world that have dual currency financial systems like Liberia.

Then there is Milton Weeks at the Central Bank, like his predecessor Mills Jones, these guys have no clue. We would have been better off to have United Nations, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund experts run our system than these on-the-job-trainees who are messing up our economy. This is why Ellen ran the GMAP experts out of Liberia so corruption and incompetence can thrive.

The Liberian dollar is worthless outside Liberia, the only country in that category because of the voodoo economics being practiced in Liberia. All we hear are excuses galore that the prices of rubber and iron ore have taken nose dive.

That is why you diversify or prioritize into other areas: agriculture, manufacturing (but then you will need electricity and water to run factories), wood finished products, textiles, etc. But also you need good all weather roads to transport goods for consumption and export.

Thus, President Sirleaf can’t wait to get the hell out of Liberia after she leaves office in January 2018. Not sure of what may happen during the elections, she begged the United Nations peacekeepers to remain in Liberia till March 2018, less than two months after turning power over, enough time for her to pack up and sail into retirement and leave the mess she has created with us to figure out.

“Liberia is not a poor country but a country run poorly,” Ellen said of her predecessors William Tubman, William Tolbert, Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor. Well, now we see how good she has been running Liberia during her 12 years of failed leadership. No electricity, no drinking water, no paved roads, broken healthcare system and unemployment steady at 85 percent since she took office in January 2006, Goodbye Ma Ellen and thank you for fooling us.

Jerry Wehtee Wion,
Journalist and Political Commentator
Washington, DC, USA