Liberia News: Dancing With The Devil

Monrovia-The controversy hovering over government’s hush-hush acquisition of 285 yellow machines from the People’s Republic of China is being equated to President Joseph Boakai’s pronouncement during the peak of the 2023 legislative and presidential elections of dancing with the devil to get his wish come to pass.

Then presidential candidate Boakai said he would go any length working and dancing with ‘the devil’ to become president at all cost, indirectly declaring his unwavering commitment to working with Senator Prince Y. Johnson of Nimba County and others accused of bearing greatest responsibility of war and crimes against humanity for their roles in the country’s destructive and nonsensical civil war.

Campaigning on promises of making the rule of law, accountability and transparency fundamental hallmark of his administration, then candidate Boakai’s leaning towards Johnson and others with questionable human rights abuse characters to support his presidential bid was called into question.

But determined to dethrone the Coalition for Democratic (CDC) he accused of riding the country on auto-pilot, he brazenly told voters and suspecting Liberians that he would not veer an inch in making the devil a friend in order to climb the top of mountain.

Six months in the job, Liberians are reminiscing his statement of dancing with the devil and equating it to his government’s determination to get the controversial machines, no matter the enormity of public outcry and cynical criticism.

“But the President, during the campaign said he would dance with “the devil” to become President, so it is with the yellow machines. The President is prepared to dance with anyone, whether in good or bad faith, to ensure his promises are fulfilled,” Peterson Seongbe remarked during a heated argument.

The argument sourced from the deplorable shape of the stretch of road between the Freeport of Monrovia and Logan Town the government is struggling to make passable, filling deep potholes with crushed rocks that are taking toll of kekehs, vehicles and other moving objects.

While others are hailing the government through the Ministry of Public Works consistent intervention to make the road pliable during the rains, others are belaboring the efforts, drawing parallel between what the past government did and what is being done now by the current administration.

Yellow machines pessimists think the government should now deploy them on the road right away, rather than publicizing same as if the past administration did nothing to address the road situations when they were in power.

“Though I did not vote for George Weah, he tried to work on most of the roads beginning from Monrovia to the leeward counties,” stated Seongbe, who also added that the CDC administration began work to reconstruct “this particular road.”

His views were rebuffed by others who believe former President Weah needed to have done that piece of road since he was named “bad road medicine,” meaning that he had all the medications to road sicknesses.

“This government is just seven months in office, so you don’t expect them to play magic right away to do all the roads. They are working on the roads in the interior. This is why they brought in yellow machines to address the road conditions,” Madam Yattah Siah responded.

But Seongbe and the rest of his backers maintained the government should not wait or delay in improving the road and other deplorable roads because “this is what they promised us.”

“The President said he would dance with the devil to be where he is; now he is there through the help of the devil he befriended. It is the same devil he is trying to dance with relative to the yellow machines. The devil will give you anything you want from him, but be ready for the consequences when he gets ready for payback,” Solomon Hoff added his voice.

He said he is of the belief that the President and his administration want to trek the same path of dancing with the devil by candidate Boakai.

Religious leaders and other telepathists were taken aback by candidate Boakai’s dancing with the devil pronouncement on grounds it had the potential to affect the country and his leadership if elected.

The government remains taciturn on reports of the yellow machines being a resource-swap deal, with Lofa County situated Wologizi as prime focus, as well as a South African business tycoon said to be notorious for dappled deals being connected to them.