Liberian People’s Party (LPP) Presidential aspirant, Tiawan Saye Gongloe is calling for the reduction of salaries earned by the Speaker of the House of Representative, the President Pro-tempore of the Senate as well as the entire members of the national Legislature.
He said Speaker Bhofal Chambers and Pro-tempo Albert Chie salaries are too huge for an underdeveloped country like Liberia, while majority of the people continue to live in abject poverty to the extent that begging has become order nowadays everywhere in the country.
Gongloe said Liberia is an underdeveloped country therefore, lawmakers including ranking members should not be earning more than what their counterparts in the United States like the last year, Chambers annual salary was US$245,540, while the United States counterpart and now former speaker, Nancy Polesi earned US$223,500.
He stated among many things that it is shamelessly for Chambers who recently traveled to hometown in PleeboSodoken, Maryland County through the Ivory Coast and upon arrival was seen displaying hundreds of thousands of Liberian dollars to persuade the poor people to receive the money and vote for him, thereby engaging in vote buying, in violation of the Global Magnet sky Act.
Similarly, Gongloe continued that the President Tempore of the Liberian Senate received an annual salary of US$254,250 last year while the Senate Pro Tempore of the United States Senate received US$193,400 during the same period.
“This means that the Speaker in Liberia received US$22,040 more than the speaker of the House in the United States, last year and the President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate received US$60,860 more than the Pro-Tempore of the United States Senate,” he noted.
The LPP’Standerbearer made these takeaway statements yesterday in Monrovia when addressed the media as his National Unification Day Celebration message pointed out that this is scandalous, wicked and a display of gross insensitivity to the suffering of the masses of the Liberian people.
“It does not make any sense for any official of government to make a higher salary than any government official of the United States holding the same position. I call upon the lawmaker of Liberia to reverse this situation immediately and permanently,” Gongloe stated.
Otherwise, he went further that the citizens of the United States may stop their lawmakers from approving aid to Liberia believe that this mindboggling situation remind me (him) of the words of two great Liberian musical group, Levi Zinnaway and Jonathan Koffa.
Zinnaway made the music, “These people are too corrupt” and Koffa made the music, “The people fool us and lie to us.” On October 10, this year, we must not allow them to fool us and lie to us again.
He noted that there can be no unity in a country where a few people enjoy so much and majorities of the people suffer so much daily, with no money to feed them, to send their children to school, and to buy medicine when they get sick.
“We together must change this situation in order to become a truly united and integrated nation. The only way to do that is to register to vote and to vote wisely for a good leader,” Gongloe said.
Fellow compatriot:“We must all remember that the ultimate goal of a national unification policy is to scrupulously cultivate social equity, in order to ensure social harmony and national cohesion.”
But when the ruling elites recklessly neglect and virtually abandon the poor masses, Gongloe advanced further thereby criminally depriving them of some of the basic necessities of life, the very essence of national unification is severely undermined.
In such a situation, he projected national unification policy become meaningless to the people stressing that in spite of the vexing deprivation we saw across the country, despite the hellish condition of our people have been subjected to, over the years, the silver-lining is that the Liberian people remain resolutely resilient and optimistic about the future of their country.
“Our people are very eager and determined to robustly play their part in usher in a new national leadership that will relentlessly exert efforts in transform our country. Liberia has now become an international pariah, a laughing stuff in global circles, because corruption is impeded national development and national unification,” the LPP standard bearer said.
My dear compatriot, he pointed out that amid all the ferocious onslaughts of corruption, the good news is that the Liberian Constitution, in its very first article, has empowered every one of us to decisively work together and get rid of the prevailing hellish situation that is hurting all of us in the best interest of our country.
“As a nation and as a people, we can either radically eradicate, or drastically diminish the prevailing mass poverty across this country by peacefully and democratically changing our current government, so as to ensure our national well-being and happiness,” the former president of the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) said.
Gongloe noted that when elected President of Liberia in the October 10, 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections, administration will leave no stone unturned in eliminating all forms of economic terrorism in the fabric of the Liberian society.
