Liberia news: ‘It’s Time To Hold Power Accountable, Not Mourn A Building’

MONROVIA-Former Deputy Minister Foreign Minister, Elias Shoniyin has shared deep and pensive reflection on unfolding events in Liberia, trumpeting the need for citizens to place emphasis on holding their leaders accountable, rather than mourning a burned building.

Liberians are currently reeling from the disbelief, shock, outrage and anguish occasioned by the huge fire that gutted the Capitol Building, the seat of the National Legislature, on Wednesday.

The Liberia National Police and other security agencies are investigating the cause of the fire incident that left the nation completely shocked, and citizens dismayed.

Former Minister Shoniyin referred to the unfortunate and petrifying conflagration at the Capitol as a symbolic tragedy to which the accompanying public reactions stirred a profound moment of reflection in him.

Writing on social media moments after the fire incident, the former Deputy Foreign Minister took swipe at Liberians for becoming too complacent and too accepting of the broken system, and too reluctant to challenge the status quo.

The fire incident at the Capitol, according to him, has presented clear chance for Liberians to wake up, to ask the hard questions as to how the “Power” the Building represents has been used over the years, whether it has been wielded for their good or squandered as liability.

“The Capitol Building, now a symbol of fire and chaos, houses just 103 individuals yet consumes approximately 10% of Liberia’s annual budget,” he disclosed, and urged Liberians to contrast the assertion with what he called “harrowing realities faced by millions of our citizens.”

Mr. Shoniyin backed his comments with statistical evidence that shows that Liberia has one of the highest rates of out-of-school globally, quoting the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).

According to him, 16% of primary school-age children are not in school, 25% of female youth of secondary school age are out of school, compared to 20% of their male counterparts.

“Overall, 15-20% of children aged 6-14 are missing out on education,” Mr. Shoniyin asserted.

His reflection also painted a grim picture of the decline of the health sector, saying that survival would be a gamble if a serious health emergency was to strike. Lamenting the country’s challenges further, he added “I personally know many whose lives ended prematurely because they couldn’t access a hospital bed or even basic care.”

The former official of government, now a lecturer at Cuttington Graduate School, disclosed that a child born in rural Liberia today will likely grow up in poverty, trapped in a cycle that robs them of joy, opportunity and hope. “This grim pattern of despair is inherited by generation after generation,” he emphasized.

Mr. Shoniyin told Liberians that the fire incident at the Capitol is unprecedented, but it also pales in comparison to the daily crises they have grown disturbingly accustomed to enduring.

He said existing facts and realities of the horrifying nightmares facing the country should alarm citizens and prod them into action, but they have become too complacent, too accepting of the broken system, and too reluctant to challenge the status quo.

Frankly put, the former deputy Foreign Minister said the fire incident did not move him, but instead enraged by the fire of neglect and suffering burning through the society daily.

“It is time for action, not apathy; it is time to hold power accountable, not mourn a building but to demand a nation where our children can learn, our sick can heal, and our people can thrive,” Shoniyin penned.