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Pres.
Sirleaf deserves applause for refund
Sunday,
September 17, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
When
President Sirleaf traveled to the United States and
the U.K. back in May, I raised the issue on this same
page about per diem, the number of government
officials and non-government officials that traveled
with her, who was responsible to pay their fares and
other expenses, and whether the president would
reimburse the government for the non-government
officials that accompanied her on those trips.
Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
The president has not addressed the issue about
non-government officials piggybacking whenever she’s
traveling, but was honest enough to refund the
leftover per diem of $33,116.78 to the government of
Liberia in a history-setting gesture I want to
believe is the first of its kind since the nation was
founded.
We Liberians, including myself have the
tendency of beating on our presidents for corruption,
for being autocratic and for not being there when we
really need them.
However, we have not done enough to applaud our
leaders when they do the right thing, probably because
it takes away something from us, or because we feel
our bloated egos will be deflated once we do the right
thing by recognizing some of the good things they have
done.
Lately, I have been beating on President
Sirleaf for her excessive foreign travels when we have
a Foreign Minister most Liberians don’t know,
because the president is always doing his job; the
lack of leadership and practical policy on the rice
issue as we are still importing rice, the distractions
in the administration, the lack of leadership on the
issue of the criminal Issakaba gangsters who are still
roaming the country killing innocent Liberians, her
government’s response to the Liberian Marketing
Association (LMA) and the issue of relocating them,
and nepotism in her administration.
However, what Ms. Sirleaf has done when she
returned such an exorbitant amount warrants our kudos
for accountability and thoughtfulness, because she
could have taken the leftover money for herself and
used it without anyone – not even an oversight
committee knowing, or the public demanding an answer
because that’s the way it has always been in Liberia
with our presidents who have absolute power.
Because not too long ago some of our
undistinguished members of the Legislature cited
couple of cabinet ministers who questioned their use
of per diem with contempt and jailed time, an abuse of
power in 2006 that reminded some of us as still living
in the days of old when high-ranking government
officials including the president ruled with unchecked
authority.
So when Ms. Sirleaf commits herself to
accountability (at least with the refund of the left
over per diem), Liberians ought to recognize and
applaud her effort without feeling ashamed of thanking
a person they don’t like, or a political foe that
just scored a point by doing the right thing in the
interest of the Liberian people.
President Sirleaf, whom we often criticized
when she’s not doing the right thing, I have always
said, is not an enemy we must always beat on even when
she’s doing some things right.
We cannot improve the lives of our people when
we are uncompromising and partisans to the core, and
are happy only when our party members and friends are
in the Executive Mansion.
And when our friends, partisans and ourselves
finally sits atop of the Executive Mansion we look the
other way as if we are unaware of what's happening; or
when we are employed in other line of work in the
government, we sit, enjoy and become part of the
corrupt and manipulative system we couldn’t stand in
our previous lives when the other person was president.
Just as we are quick to criticize President
Sirleaf when she’s wrong, we must also be above
partisan politics and recognize what she did when she
returned the leftover money by saying kudos.
Kudos, Madame president for doing the right
thing.
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