Monrovia – Businessman and political advocate Simeon Freeman has criticized the Liberian authorities’s fiscal priorities, describing public spending as extreme and unethical.
By Edwin G. Genoway, Jr [email protected]
Delivering the keynote handle on the first convocation of Religion College Faculty, Freeman used the event to name for pressing governance and financial reforms.
The occasion marked the commencement of the college’s top quality of fifty affiliate diploma recipients in disciplines together with Schooling, Accounting, Human Useful resource Administration, Laptop Science, Public Well being, and Public Administration.
Whereas congratulating the graduates, Freeman shifted focus to nationwide points, highlighting what he described as Liberia’s rising financial inequality and an absence of accountability amongst public officers.
“One lawmaker incomes $15,000 a month receives $180,000 a 12 months, whereas individuals of their districts endure with out healthcare, electrical energy, or paved roads,” he stated. “The place is the accountability? The place is the event?”
Freeman proposed a discount in lawmakers’ salaries and allowances and known as for the shortening of time period limits throughout all elected workplaces — from the presidency to legislative seats — to 4 years. He additionally criticized establishments just like the Nationwide Elections Fee (NEC), saying they continue to be closely funded even throughout off-election years with out delivering measurable impression.
“We now have a system that rewards inactivity,” he added. Freeman expressed concern about Liberia’s overdependence on international labor and imports, notably rice, and blamed successive governments for failing to spend money on schooling and rural growth. He urged policymakers to deal with aligning increased schooling with market wants.
“Our universities are producing graduates who usually are not aligned with labor market calls for,” he stated. “Schooling should communicate the language of know-how, innovation, and entrepreneurship.”
He emphasised that sending college students overseas with out constructing inside tutorial infrastructure undermines nationwide capability, and stated a lot of these college students don’t return to contribute to nationwide growth.
On the problem of centralized growth, Freeman pointed to the overconcentration of assets and planning in Monrovia, the place practically a 3rd of the nation’s inhabitants resides.
“We can’t develop as a nation if growth stays within the capital,” he acknowledged. “We now have rivers, land, and expertise. Why are we nonetheless importing rice and struggling for electrical energy?”
Freeman additionally addressed the deterioration of communication requirements in public media, lamenting what he described because the erosion of formal English in broadcasting.
“There was a time when ELBC was the one radio station, they usually spoke correct English. As we speak, even newscasters are studying in simplified Liberian English,” he stated.
He additional spoke out in opposition to voter manipulation, tribalism, and the rising disengagement of younger individuals from nationwide politics, urging them to make political selections based mostly on competence moderately than ethnicity or private relationships.
“If somebody can’t handle $10,000 privately, how can they handle $2 million for a nation?” Freeman requested.
Referencing Senegal’s current election of a younger president, Freeman challenged Liberian youth to lift their political requirements and vote responsibly.
Freeman inspired the graduates to be brokers of change and to make use of their schooling and civic duties to remodel the nation.
“The long run will not be distant—it begins with you,” he stated. “Your vote is your voice. Your vote is your energy. And with it, you possibly can change Liberia.”
The convocation ceremony additionally acknowledged excellent contributions from members of the college’s administration, together with Vice President for Administration and Finance, Mrs. Agnes Weeks-Garley, who was honored for her management and dedication to the establishment.
Religion College Faculty is a newly established establishment aiming to supply sensible and community-focused schooling, with aspirations to develop tutorial choices within the coming years.
