Dear Mr Editor,
Happy Sunday to Liberians in the diaspora and back home. I have a serious issue to raise with you all regarding the address system, or lack thereof in Liberia. As a result of that deficiency how is NEC able to confirm that say Leo Mulbah has lived in Liberia for the one year required for Legislative aspirants?
Liberia has no address system; and utilities such as LEC power bills, Water & Sewer Bills, as well DSTV bills are not tied to a physical address, with numbered homes and documented streets. In addition there are no assigned physical addresses set up by local municipalities or the postal affairs Ministry.
Yet there is no regular mail delivery system to homes; therefore how is NEC able to confirm whether an individual lives at a particular address, or that he/she has met domicile and residency conditions?
Voinjama District, Lofa County or Monrovia, Montserrado County is not an address.
It is therefore imperative; that the Land Commission, Surveyors office, Postal Affairs, the Municipal government’s department of permits, LEC, LWSC and NEC get together to design an effective numbering and street naming system, and an effective address system that will be used by all businesses, individuals and corporations for effective mail delivery nationally and internationally.
I see Alexander Cummings and other big pocket individuals challenging the Code of Conduct, Residency Claiuse and citizenship requirements based on ambiguity in our laws and constitution as well as the lack of proper systems in our governance.
I pray that all goes well, but by the mere fact that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf waited till the last minute to appoint an Ombudsman, the ANC and others plan to use that as a loophole to say “the law doesn’t apply because there was no one in place to adjudicate it”.
Madam Sirleaf was this plan to leave the nation in chaos or was it a plan to ensure that all of your friends and associates would be allowed to run?
Good luck and God bless Liberia during and after October 2017!
Bartum N. Kulah MD, MBA,
[email protected]