Desist from pretense and be truthful

Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe of Bomi County calls officials here to stop living in pretense and be truthful in their public utterances.

By Lewis S. The

Monrovia, Liberia, June 5, 2024 – Bomi County Senator and ranking member of the ECOWAS Parliament, Edwin Snowe, is cautioning heads of governmental institutions to stop embarrassing the government with pretense and falsehood.

“I think those serving in public offices need to be truthful about things that matter to the people void of pretenses,” Senator Snowe underscores.

Senator Snowe spoke yesterday, June 4, 2024, when he appeared on a live talk show hosted by a local station here in Monrovia.

Speaking in Monrovia on a live talk show on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, the Bomi County Senator said the constant habit of public officials misinforming the public with lies has the ability to undermine the government’s performance and create tension in the country.

Truth-telling matters. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the President calling the Legislature and telling us exactly how the government intends to bring those yellow machines into the country; if that happens, it becomes a national conversation for all of us to take ownership of, he says.

But he cautions that failure to do so and having one cabinet minister make a big pronouncement, and the next day, the President comes out to say another thing is totally embarrassing and could turn the people against the government.

“We all want to see good things happening in our country, but it should be at what cause? Who’s bringing it? Whether it’s a gift because all we care for is truth-telling.”

Senator Snowe’s comments come in the wake of the controversy surrounding the government’s recent pronouncement of acquiring 285 pieces of yellow machine and the hullabaloo about the price increase of a 25kg bag of rice on the Liberian market.

Recently, the Government of Liberia (GoL) held a three-day cabinet retreat during which the Minister of State Without Portfolio, Madam Mamaka Bility, announced that 285 pieces of earth-moving equipment had been presented to the Government in a virtual turnover ceremony attended by her, the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Sylvester M. Grigsby, and Roland Layfette Giddings, Minister of Public Works.  

The pronouncement has been greeted with mixed reactions from the public. Liberians have welcomed the development on social media and other platforms but called for transparency, accountability, and full compliance with procurement and other related laws in acquiring the equipment. 

But Senator Snowe says the government should ignore what critics would say and focus on truth-telling rather than pretense.

Meanwhile, he discloses that the Liberian Senate is set to retreat in the port city of Buchanan, Grand Bsssa County, adding that discussions will focus on rebranding the senate, looking at some of the old laws and how they can work alongside the Law Reform Commission to reform some.  Editing by Jonathan Browne