Written by F. Shelton Gonkerwon cell: 0886526186 email: sgonkerwon.inprofile@gmail.com
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 06:26
Dear God In Heaven:
The Traditional Chiefs and Elders in Liberia have concluded a one week-long National Conference which discussed government’s decentralization policy so that the people in the countryside can equally share those benefits coming from our national wealth.
The government of Liberia through the Ministry of International Affairs (MIA) in concert with other partners sponsored the conference. Lord, as though the government did not know the appalling social and economic plights gushing those living in the countryside, requested the chiefs and traditional elders divulge their problems and corresponding solutions. Logically they wanted to know whether roads, schools, jobs and other social life were needed by the people. Of course those who summoned the chiefs and traditional leaders are children of the traditional chiefs and elders, now serving in high profile positions in the Ellen Johnson led Unity party government. They left the countryside and sought education in Monrovia and abroad long ago.
Obviously they left the countryside in darkness including no roads, no hospitals, no light, in addition to the prevalence of poverty, hunger and disease among other social and economic vices that often impede normal life of the people. By asking the chiefs and elders as to what life is like in the countryside suggests to us that they are disconnected when it comes to the common knowledge about the standing social and economic impediments facing the country people.
As it appears Lord, they are limited when it comes to the social and economic needs of the vast majority of the people who deserve social and economic growth. Lord, given their visible limitation, we the concerned citizens of the poverty-stricken Liberia wish to pray that you reinstall common sense into their minds and open their eyes, so that they can see from their luxurious offices, residences and cars the appalling conditions of the people. The problems facing the nation are so enormous and visible and could be viewed like distant mountains and as such they require no conferences or special class to be noticed. They did not consult the chiefs and elders when they were deciding to buy luxurious cars for themselves, wickedly siphon national wealth intended for the welfare of common people, although visibly the nation needs, roads, light, health, education, etc.
Lord, it is against this background that we the concerned citizens seek your intervention at this point to let COMMON SENSE lead the minds of those in authority. We think common sense is what we need to back our education, make us to realize the essence of mutual co-existence, make us to know the essence of our state, make us to think creatively and drive our state to a nobler height, make us cleave to your word for sanctuary and redemption from social and economic sins. Lord, we need common sense to know that we need to grow and develop in technology and civilization. We need common sense to know that after war there is need to be guided by law and order as a way of avoiding those mistakes that led us into social and political upheaval for nearly two decades. We hope that you would listen to our prayer because the educated class who profess to be the best have failed the state. Hence, Liberia’s growth and development no more depend on how much book one knows but how much spirit of patriotism and nationalism one has. Lord, we have got to realize that it is one thing to be educated and another thing to apply such education, especially so when the nation is seeking every redemptive means to get out of the mess. Kindly hear our plea and let common sense be our guide now and forever more, AMEN.
