One of Liberia’s erudite and professional legal scholars and presidential aspirant, Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe, has asserted that, in a country such as Liberia where corruption becomes very rampant and endemic, a leader of such nation who ignores good governance stimulated by the greed for money will produce a bad government.
“The civil conflict that occurred in this country was due to bad governance, selfishness and the lack of respect for the rule of law,” Cllr. Gongloe observed.
He added that no matter what plan a leader of a country may have to improve security, provision of basic social services such as effective health services for all citizens, provide good education and road networks coupled with youth program, as long as there is no money in the government’s coffers the leader cannot succeed.
The presidential hopeful claimed that, in Liberia, the number one reason for the government not having enough money in its coffers to address the basic social needs of its citizens is that the office of the President to the least civil servant is corrupt.
Cllr. Gongloe spoke recently in his own county, Nimba, when he served as keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony of the Heritage Impact High School in Ganta.
The counselor’s speech was interspersed with a similar address he delivered at the Geolanda Community High School in the same county when he spoke on the second them: “Quality Education Lays a Firm Foundation for Building a Good Nation”.
While addressing the huge audience, Cllr. Gongloe historicized that great nations, such as the United States, China, Germany, amongst others, have succeeded in nation-building because they have invested so much in education.
Making specific reference to a study done by the Catherine Grant Institute of Development, “Only broad-based secondary education and universal primary education are likely to give poor countries the human capital boost necessary to bring large segments of the population out of poverty,” he quoted.
Cllr. Gongloe made reference to neighboring Sierra Leone where the government of that country has ensured that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary education.
According to Cllr. Gongloe, the total percent of Government of Liberia’s GDP expenditure on education in 2020 was reported at 2.3090 percent, while, according to World Bank report concerning Sierra Leone, its GDP in the same 2020 went to 34.33 percent regarding free and quality primary education under President Julius Maada Bio.