Finance And Development Planning Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan recently assured Liberians that the Boakai Administration is steadily addressing Liberia’s pressing “bread and butter” concerns, while working to ease constraints to long-term economic growth. Ngafuan emphasized that economic management requires constant effort and cannot be rested.
According To Him, two of the government’s major priorities are tackling barriers to growth and creating jobs, particularly through investment in infrastructure and energy.
He Highlighted Ongoing road developments that are helping ease travel and commerce across the country. “People are now leaving from here and reaching Zwedru in seven hours. Before, it used to take two days or even a week, often passing through neighboring countries,” he explained. “Even now, NTA buses are moving to Voinjama and the Southeast during the rainy season, reducing travel costs and saving people money that can go directly toward their ‘bread and butter.’”
The Statement By the Finance Minister has now become a joke because Liberians have been hearing this rhetoric for a very long time while waddling in hunger due to the lack of jobs that could pave the way to improving their economic conditions. While it is true that some improvements have been made on roads easing transportation burdens, citizens do not have the means to purchase goods, least to say funds to transport goods on those rehabilitated roads.
At This Year’s Independence Celebration on July 26, President Joseph Nyumah Boakai alluded to the hardship Liberians are facing and constituted a task force headed by Vice President Jeremiah Koung to review the situation. From time immemorial, governments of Liberia never prioritized the economic welfare of the people but set up committees whose recommendations never saw daylight. For nearly two years since the Boakai government took state power, job creation has been a myth as price control remains a thing of the past.
Across Liberia, Families are struggling to get their children back in school because of the harsh economic conditions; yet the government continues to provide lip service. We think it is time for the ‘bread and butter’ issues to be addressed with priority and not promises all the time. Promises do not feed families, send children to school, or provide basic social services; therefore, the need to address the suffering of Liberians is now and not later.
