Why must a poverty-stricken nation like Liberia spend over US$170.8 million in four years on just 103 lawmakers when the education system is a mess?
While it is a close contest for which branch of government is the most corrupt and unpatriotic, one could reasonably crown the National Legislature with such characterization. Members of both the 52nd and 53rd National Legislatures have betrayed public confidence and poorly represented the interest of the people.
The struggle for power and wealth on Capitol Hill has dishonorably plagued the integrity of the National Legislature and rendered it politically barren for almost 12 years now. The political marathon of 73 lawmakers is nearing completion and it is no secret that all of them have become millionaires overnight at the expense of those who elected them.
This is what happens when a group of crooks are elected by the people to lead. With 239 days to go on this journey, the race to amass wealth at the detriment of the ordinary masses will soon be over.
Though there are few lawmakers with the vision, passion, and good intention to uplift Liberians from the trench of economic misery, most are crooks and anti-change agents.
It is worth examining the facts about how these lawmakers have become millionaires in a small, but resource-rich country where over 80 percent of the citizenry is extremely poor and unemployed.
Sierra Leone has a national budget equivalent to US$648.8 million while Liberia has a budget of US$600.2 million. The population of Sierra Leone is 6.1 million while Liberia’s 4.3 million.
However, only 50 percent of Sierra Leone’s national budget accounts for recurrent expenditure such as payments on goods, services, and wages. For Liberia, the figure is 87 percent.
Liberia’s Legislature spends US$40.6 million in 12 months, while the speaker of the House alone bags US$445,000. The Senate Pro Tempore, on the other hand, receives US$482,000. These two powerful lawmakers receive US$927,148 while over 800 Liberian children die every year as a result of unsafe drinking water, according to WaterAid International.
Sierra Leone has a unicameral legislature, meaning that the parliament comprises of only a House of Representatives. The Sierra Leonean Parliament has a total of 124 Lawmakers from 14 Districts.
On a monthly basis in Sierra Leone, each lawmaker receives the equivalent of US$2,862, including US$698 for a Constituency Development Fund and US$2,164 for salary.
Liberia’s bicameral legislature has a total of 103 lawmakers from 73 districts and 15 counties (which receive two senators each).
Each Liberian representative receives over US$14,342 per month while each senator gets US$15,424. This excludes other expenses done annually. Permit me to give you a clear financial breakdown of what our nation is spending on just one lawmaker.
Detailed salaries and benefits of Liberian lawmakers.
Each representative takes home US$172,104 annually. This means that in a period of 6 years, Liberia is spending over US$1,032,624 in salaries and allowances on just one representative while citizens in Southeastern Liberia are completely cut-off due to bad roads.Caption: detailed salaries and benefits of Liberian lawmakers.
For senators, who go home with US$209,516 every year, Liberia spends over US$1,885,644 in over their nine-year term while extreme poverty strangulates thousands of our citizens.
I am still curious about the difference between general and special allowance. Also, why are we spending over US$16,000 for telecom and internet and US$15,000 for residential property lease for each representative? Isn’t this wasteful spending and mass looting?
Annually, over US$17.7 million is spent on just 103 Lawmakers who continue to ratify bogus concession agreements and mortgage our interest for self-gain. We have spent US$170,879,037 since 2013 on our lawmakers.
These millions are paid to legislators at a time when health workers, security personnel, and teachers are receiving US$150 monthly salaries. They are paid at a time when access to safe drinking water, quality education, improved sanitation, good roads, better housing, food security, electricity, environmental safety, social welfare, is rare.
Even though they continue to receive huge sums of dollars at the expense of the people, these lawmakers are not satisfied. Receiving brown envelopes to ratify concession agreements and changing our laws in favor of foreign interests are common practices in the Legislature.
Our National Legislature is one of the most clandestine and incompetent assembly anyone can ever imagine. Out of US$8 billion worth of natural resource contracts ratified and signed since 2009, almost all (66 out of 68) violated our laws.
Moreover, even though Liberia’s national budget of US$600 million is far less than the United States (US$4.147 trillion), the world’s economic and military superpower, our speaker and senate pro tempore receive more money annually those of the U.S. This is not only an irony that provokes, but it is gross wickedness and unpatriotism beyond limit.
Annual salaries of Liberian and US lawmakers.
Interestingly, our speaker and senate pro tempore even make more money than the president (US$400,000 annually) and vice president (US$230,700 annually) of the United States of America.Caption: annual salaries of Liberian and US lawmakers.
If these facts do not provoke you to act and stand up for CHANGE now, then you are a naïve idealist. We must demand immediate reduction in the salaries and benefits of Liberian lawmakers through mass civil action. We also remain hopeful that 2017 will make a lot of difference.
Our nation is bleeding as a result of the decisions lawmakers have been taking. Unequivocally and undoubtedly, they have become millionaires overnight as a result of greed and unpatriotism. Corruption has been an acceptable standard or value in the legislature. They have looted enough and it is time for them to go.
We must put an end to mass looting of state resources by voting them out. They have never been in our interest – not even once. If they have been working in our interest, youth unemployment would have been minimized by now. The exponential increase in drug addiction, gambling, prostitution, labor abuse, human trafficking, and poverty would have been curtailed. Unfortunately, service to the people through selflessness and patriotism has even been the least priority on their agenda.
Pathetically, corruption has polluted the minds of our lawmakers. Disinfecting or fumigating their minds of corruption remains a mountaineering challenge. To them, patriotism and nationalism are taboos. Transparency and accountability are forbidden. We must not allow them to deceive us any longer. Most of them are trucking eligible voters from one district to another simply because they have miserably failed. It is time to let them go.
Can Liberians make the difference this year? Yes, I believe so if only we vote wisely. Go and register to vote in October. Our story can change if our trend of doing business as usual changes. It is about Liberia reclaiming its destiny. Together, we can reclaim our future. We must make it happen and prove our pessimists wrong. Your voter’s registration card is not for sale. It is meant to boot out unrepented crooks and usher in a new breed of patriots.
Featured photo by David Stanley