Africa-Press – Liberia. Liberia’s newest presidential aspirant, Dr. Telford E. K. Ammons, has vowed to ensure that all Liberians reside in air conditioned “homes and huts” across the country when elected to serve at the highest office in the pending 2023 general and presidential elections.
Liberians are gearing up to elect their new leaders next year in an electioneering process that will be heavily contested as a result of the growing wave of hardship, disenchantments and disappointments in the current Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led government of President George Manneh Weah.
Dr. Ammons, who is the Vision Bearer of the proposed Greater Action Party of Liberia (GAPL) promise, comes in the wake of the unstable supply of electricity to citizens in Monrovia and other parts adjacent during this dry season. Millions of other Liberians residing in the leeward areas do not have access to public electricity supply at all.
Platform
But speaking when he appeared as guest on the OK Morning Rush on OK FM 99.5 in Monrovia on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, Dr. Ammons vowed to ensure that electricity is provided to every household across Liberia.
When this is done, he pointed out that his government will also provide incentives to others to guarantee the installation of air conditions in every “house and hut” across the nation.
“I have come back to be able to bring something that is positive to the Liberian people. I believe that politics in Liberia can be much better than what it is now and I look forward to helping if I can. Electricity has a lot to do in a mining industry. We can bring in manufacturing and all types of processing using electricity so that jobs can be created. But the most important thing I would like my government to do is to make sure that every house and hut in the Republic of Liberia is going to be electrified”.
“The reason for that is because; I will also incentivize air conditions in people’s homes, including huts. Government will incentivize people to get those all over the country. Every inch of the country, I want people to be able to have electricity and be able to live in air conditioned houses and huts. I want people to have electricity and be able to live in air conditioned houses”.
Dr. Ammons stressed that “mosquitoes do not bite cold bodies, but warm bodies”, and as such, when Liberians sleep comfortably in their respective homes as compare to others, they will not go to hospital to be treated for illnesses caused by mosquitoes bite.
He pointed out that when this is done, the cost of medical bills and supplies at various hospitals or medical centers will drastically reduce.
To guarantee the stable supply of electricity, he indicated, that his government intends to move to renewable energy supply
Dr. Ammons further named the improvement of the living conditions of Liberians as the major platform of his proposed party.
He said the proposed GAPL intends to live Liberians from mat to “spring mattresses”
“Our platform is to bring to Liberia a new standard of living so that the Liberian people can be able to live better than where they are now. Liberians have not been living good before; every generation (that comes), there is an expectation. The slogan of William R. Tolbert was to lift people from mat to mattresses; but I want to become to lay people to spring boards and spring mattresses or better than that”.
240,000 Jobs annually
Since the inception of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led government of President George Manneh Weah, the rate of unemployment in Liberia has increased due to the lack of foreign-direct investments.
Some companies have shut down due to a shattered economy and unfavorable geographic location to continue their businesses, while others have downsized hundreds of others in their employed.
Civil society actors and others have persistently blamed the high rate of unemployment in the post-conflict nation to the alleged constant request for kickbacks from foreign investors by public officials, high level of insecurity, disrespect for the rule of law, amongst others.
Liberians continue to experience difficulties in
Dr. Summons observed that the lack of job opportunities in Liberia remain one of the contributing factors for the country’s declining economy.
He pledged that his government will hire about “20,000 people per month or 240,000 people per year” to help boom the economy, adding that, “if we stay on that trajectory, we will be hiring 2.4M in 10 years.
“You cannot boom the economy simply by saying A. B. and C because there are so many different things that need to be done. We have to make sure that certain types of things are in place for the economy. For example, one of the most important things for this economy is the lack of job creation. So what my government will do is to hire about 20,000 people per month”.
“We are going to do jobs. Anyone that works in an Ammons’ government will have to have education-meaning, you will have to go to school. So, we will do it simultaneously. We will decrease the amount of hours you will work for and you will go to school”.
On Corruption
The combat against systemic corruption in Liberia remains a major challenge confronting the post-conflict nation and its citizens.
From rock of ages, no government in Liberia has combat against corruption to the latter as a result of the entrenched culture of impunity and inter-connectivity to the crime committed.
Dr. Ammons observed that the mismanagement of resources cannot be totally eradicated.
He said public funds should not be used to benefit any government official.
He added that the use of public funds “recklessly” will not be condoned under his administration.
Dr. Ammons pointed out that the wealth and resources of the country belong to its citizens, and as such, every government that comes should be “very careful of how they use the resources of the Liberian people so that they can be able to be better off than where they were before”.
He added that regardless of whoever excel to the presidency, should be cognizant of the scarcity of the country resources.
He maintained that despite having abundance of natural resources, national leaders should also be careful of how those resources are utilize for the citizenry and the nation.
Dr. Ammons vowed to put in place multiple “systems” to promote accountability and transparency in his government.
When a loophole in a particular system is closed, he noted, that corruption will be handled a little bit at that particular institution.
He said anti-graft institutions will be strongly supported to guarantee a strong auditing system that will ensure that public officials do not escalate the prices of goods or services, or connive with other service providers to dupe the Liberian people.
He promised to “immediately fire” any public official involved into corruption in his government.
“In every society, there is a level of some type of mismanagement. But the fact of the matter is that, if there is a high level one-the Liberian people money being, mismanaged or abused-those things will be taken into consideration. We cannot take the Liberian people’s money, regardless of whatever government is in power and use it recklessly because; the Liberian people are the owners of their own land. Every amount of good in Liberia belongs to the people of Liberia”.
“There are very ways in which corruption can be caught down. We need to take into consideration that people look at what government is doing and replicate those same type of behavior in other areas. So what we can do is that, we can put into place systems of accountability so that when a system breaks down in one area, we will know what the breakdown is. Corruption is a calculation of a particular system so that people can be able to gain”.
He noted that no public official will be allowed to circumvent the system by taking kickbacks from goods or service providers under a GAPL government.
Agriculture
Dr. Ammons vowed to ensure food security for Liberians by increasing the sources of crops in the agriculture sector.
He said there will be increment in production of pepper, okras and other crops in a bid to ensure that “Liberians have a lot of food to eat”.
“I think that if we produce a lot of crops, the price of food comes down; when the price of food comes down, more people are willing to buy food and live a better lifestyle”.
He expressed the hope that the National Election Commission (NEC) will “quickly” certificate the Greater Action Party of Liberia (GAPL) as a full-fledged political institution.
According to him, the GAPL wants to “prove to the Liberian people that we can do a great job”.
Relying on a gullible society
Liberia remains a society that is suffering from extreme gullibility.
Vast majority of the citizenry of the post-conflict are illiterate and are most often carried away by little or nothing as exchange for their political franchised or right.
As a result of this, politicians, especially presidential, senatorial and representative candidates, ride on the gullibility of the citizenry to make unrealistic promises.
They used those promises to win the minds and blindfold the electorates to cast their ballots for them on Election Day.
After becoming victorious during the elections, those politicians turned their backs on those who stood under the rain and sun to cast their votes for them.
Some of them denied making promises to the electorates, while others only execute a pinch of the barrage of promises that they made to their employers.
The making of “fake or unrealistic promises” to electorates during campaign period remains an age-old problem in Liberia; this has made the citizens, especially eligible voters, to vent out their anger by changing their leaders one after the other every electoral season.
Though the promises made by Dr. Ammons to help lift or better the living conditions of Liberians are welcoming, citizens remain concerned about what means or how long will it takes for his dreams to be actualized since in fact, his name is not one of those household names in the body politics of Liberia.
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