By Justice R. Clarke
MONROVIA, June 3 (LINA) – In simplest terms, the Liberian leader wants his compatriots to chart a course that will continue to promote positive, honest national discourse through unity to accelerate the country’s march to new heights in transformation.
In the view of Pres. Weah, it is possible that Liberians can overcome the prevailing economic challenges but not without the collective efforts by everyone, indicating that roars of conflict and divisiveness cannot and will never be helpful to anyone neither the nation.
“Let us make sure that what happened to us in the past does not happen again,” he said, adding: “This is the time for us to work together to move this country forward.”
“Our lives cannot be determined by those wishing the country ill and work to divide us. Our lives will be determined by what we do ourselves to transform this country for the good of all.
The President continued: “When there is peace, we all will have the opportunity to work and improve the welfare of our families, the communities and the state. If we want our country to be built, let us be positive in our actions and our reactions.”
He was speaking at the weekend in Johnsonville when a large group of residents of Paynesville and Johnsonville bestowed honor on him for the “unprecedented” development of community and primary roads his government has embarked on since coming to power in January 2018.
The residents say their communities have suffered decades of neglect by previous governments, and movements there had been hectic, thus contributing to poverty. And, now, they say it was laudable that the Weah-led government has its priorities in order – naming road construction, agriculture and energy as very significant to its development agenda.
In his address to the crowd, President Weah indicated that the country is on the right track and that there’s no turning back to the ‘dark days’.
Achieving greater development success in primary sectors and sustaining it will require attributes from the population such as courage, patience, resilience and extreme love for country, he noted.
Thousands of Paynesville, Johnsonville, and Pipeline residents, who appreciate the flagship road program bringing relief to them, partisans of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) party and other citizens have been quite ecstatic about the government’s interest in transforming lives despite the economic headache.
The President encouraged them not to be distracted by the actions of detractors of his administration.
The government is seemingly scoring high on public trust as a result of ‘frantic’ efforts in delivering on its agenda to connect parts of Liberia by paved roads as well as construct important feeder roads to create easy access to markets and reduce human suffering.
Meanwhile, the President says his government, in this year, has added agricultural development as another key priority.
This means moving to mechanized farming and empowering local farmers to increase productivity in the different regions of the country.
In April, the President set up a steering committee of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) that will identify particular areas along the primary roads for agricultural and industrial purposes when the county capitals are connected by asphalt pavement.
The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel Tweah, had said that the road infrastructure program can be achieved by the end of 2023.
LINA JRC/PTK
