𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓-𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐉𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐇 𝐍. 𝐁𝐎𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐈 won with a 50.6% mandate, which puts the country in a near-equal halves, leaving a huge task on the next administration to reconcile the electorate in order to function without heightened political tension. In addition to the huge task, Ambassador Boakai has vowed that, in the first 100 days of his administration, no car will get stuck on any major road, and he will ensure that prices of basic commodities are reduced to an appreciable level.
𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 engagement, it seems like Boakai, like Weah in 2018, is yet to graduate from the campaign rhetoric and is entering into inauguration with “deceptive” development messages only to appease the ears of the citizenry but not to be fulfilled in reality.
𝐀𝐌𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑 𝐁𝐎𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐒 become the 26th President-elect of the country, and won on an economic issued-based platform: agriculture, roads, education, sanitation and tourism (AREST), consisting of five pillars: macroeconomic stability and infrastructural development; health, wash, the environment and climate change; human capacity development; governance and rule of law; and gender, youth, children and social protection.
𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑, 𝐁𝐎𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐈’𝐒 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 statement as it regards road construction and rehabilitation has raised more skepticism than certainty. There are several major roads in Liberia, including those leading from Bong to Lofa, Nimba to Grand Gedeh, Grand Bassa to Rivercess, ELWA to Robertsfield, etc., and to vow that no car will get stuck on any major road in his debut 100 days either needs further interpretation or constitute the beginning of the many political scams Liberians usually receive after they reward politicians with power.
𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐘, 𝐁𝐎𝐀𝐊𝐀𝐈 𝐈𝐒 making such a herculean pledge without the full knowledge of what he is about to inherit from the out-going administration, which stands accused of looting the revenue coffers of the nation, making some of its officials financially well-off then even the country itself.