By S. Siapha Mulbah
The Standard Bearer of the Liberian People’s Party, Tiawan Saye Gongloe, has attributed the struggles of Liberia to the high rate of hunger faced by majority of the country’s population, as he promised to remedy the situation when elected as president.
Gongloe said because government uses the country resources to give power and financial independence to a few persons working in its circle, the rest of the country has been abandoned, leaving the masses to suffer from poverty, hunger, and inflation for years upon years.
Speaking to a cross-section of citizens in Nimba County over the weekend, when he launched the opening of the LPP national campaign, the legal luminary expressed cognizance of the struggle of Liberia by rallying citizens to use the upcoming presidential and legislative elections to change the narrative of giving the wrong people power, which continues to marginalize the country, impeding the people from making progress.
He disclosed that Liberia is a rich country blessed with nature resources that government should use to empower her citizens and give them the best of services. He named agriculture, education, health, and infrastructure as priority areas that the LPP administration has set its sight on for a better future.
Narrating the strategies for fighting hunger in Liberia, the presidential hopeful explained that farming cooperatives in the fifteen counties and the Armed Forces of Liberia will be given support and instructions to grow rice across the entire country, because rice is the staple food of the country.
Emphasizing on the power of hunger in the life of the ordinary citizens, Gongloe added that his administration sees the agriculture sector as very significant, and will purchase best quality production machines, including rice mills, power tallers, and other equipment, to be used by the AFL and local cooperatives. He believes that that will be the greatest solution to rice shortage, scarcity, importation, and price increase.
“Without rice, Liberians’ problems will not be solved and the people will be hungry; this is our biggest enemy. We will fight a very big war using the army, with bigger weapons like rice mills and other equipment, to produce rice in every county. This will make price of rice to not increase and everyone will have food to eat,” he disclosed.
He intimated that his leadership, upon being elected as president, will ensure that every citizen has equal access to quality education and healthcare. Government will make sure that the public schools and hospitals get the necessary supplies, in order to avoid increase in the illiteracy rate due to poor education, and death rate due to poor health service delivery.
“My administration will make sure that government schools be free of charge, with the provision of all schooling necessities, including copy books, pencils, food, and all other materials. We will heavily subsidize private schools so that they will not need to increase their fees, for everyone to get educated under my watch,” he asserted.
He furthered that government officials will not leave the country to seek medical and health consultations outside Liberia, because the public hospitals will get the needed equipment and medications to treat all Liberians.
With reference to being the Integrity Icon in Liberian politics, Gongloe promised to present an administration of leadership orientation and void of corruption. He said his administration will liberate the struggling masses of the country from the hands of failed and deceitful politicians who have marginalized them.
“We will ensure lifestyle audits every three months and government officials who cannot justify certain things they own will face the law. They will be prosecuted for their actions if found guilty of corruption after investigation. They will be prosecuted or jailed for five to ten years, with their families being left to suffer their actions. This will save the country from the daily growing corruption in every sector,” he affirmed.
