Dear Ambassador MCcathy:
I acknowledged your work done in Liberia over the years and I am grateful for your services rendered.
I am writing in reference to your recent press release of April 24, 2023, concerning the completion of your three weeks county tours in Liberia.
In your recent statement, you addressed multiple issues of bad governance and malpractices in certain sectors in those counties. I am elated that you visited some of the hard-to-reach areas in Liberia and thanks for the face-to-face interactions with our people and the practical experience.
Mr. Ambassador, whilst I agree with you on some issues raised in your statement that has to do with lack of accountability, misappropriations of public funds, donor funds, bad governance, and other acts that undermines our development as a nation, I feel frustrated by those revelations and you are conspicuously frustrated as well and any conscious-minded person would feel frustrated.
However, I am of the opinion that the frustration took complete control of you to the extent you tried to correct the wrong or bad by deliberately mixing the bad fruits with the good fruits and presenting it to us as a lemonade.
Imagine how excruciating and painful it is for you to have a blanket statement over the entire legislature. Your judgment is not only unfair but highly misleading in some areas. You have confused the citizens more than alerted them.
To have mentioned that lack of alarm being raised indicates a syndicate involving players at the legislature, To have even mentioned that 30 senators and 73 lawmakers spent 65m feathering their own nests proves the agony and bitterness really took hold of you.
Let me state unequivocally herein, the budget we passed is never 65m, next the 40m+ that is passed is not for 30 Senators and 73 Representative, rather it’s for the over four thousand workers in central administration and all the legislative staffers for each member.
Also, monies received legally for operations can’t be cruelty when your very country has monies allotted to congressmen and congresswomen for operations, except in your country your citizens want policies and laws and in our country, the citizens want legislative impact projects. Your failure to analyze those legislative engagements funds, four thousand plus central administration staff as well as individual members staffers led to your blanket categorization of the legislature.
Don’t get it twisted there are totally bad and corrupt people in the legislature and equally so there are members who do not support corruption, misappropriation of public funds, and poor implementation of legislative allotments. The legislature is a democratic institution, not every budget that is passed meets the approval of all members and by that, you should know that there are gallant men and women therein.
Before you came to Liberia, we advocated strongly, especially the like-minded lawmakers. Your blanket statement did not only hurt or weaken us, it was intended to frustrate our efforts and destroy our public image in the eyes of our constituents with all the sacrifices
Even in the Western Bible, there was the blood of the lamb on the doorpost to separate the good people from the bad prop before the pestilence could manifest in the darkness- when I see the blood I will pass over you.
In your case, however, you have destroyed those who raised these alarms in the legislature, decried corruption and malpractices, and looked up to you for help when those alarms were raised
I am still processing this rancor and outburst….to be continued in part 2
Respectfully Yours,
Rustonlyn Suacoco Dennis
