The Political Leader of the People’s Liberation Party (PLP), Dr. Daniel E. Cassell, has challenged religious leaders in the country to use their holy pulpits to loudly speak out against bad governance and other societal ills that are negatively contributing to the backwardness of Liberia and its citizens.
Dr. Cassell said bishops, pastors, prophets, prophetesses and imams should also summon the courage to call out the perpetrators of wickedness, bad governance, corruption, ritualistic killings—no matter who they are, without fear or favor.
He made these comments at a thanksgiving service held at the First Presbyterian Church in Monrovia on Sunday, October 17, 2021.
Dr. Cassell maintained that the church in Liberia must once again be the “Moral Conscience” of the Liberian society if the legacies of Bishops Michael Francis, Harris Brown, Arthur Kula, Fr. Robert Tikpo, Mother Dukuly, Shiek Kafumba Konneh, and others must be preserved and pioneered onward.
“These were great people of God who fearlessly spoke truth to power and rose to become acclaimed bulwarks of social justice in our country. We heard their piercing voices pitched aloud against misrule, repression, corruption, impunity, partisanship, injustice, tribalism, regionalism, nepotism, and other vices that permeated the Liberian society at the time,” the PLP Political Leader said sternly.
“Fellow compatriots, people of God, May I seize this moment to respectfully call on the church and the mosque to stand up against the wickedness and the debauchery obtaining in our country.”
He observed that, in Liberia today, the churches and mosques are shockingly silent in the face of reigning evils.
“Today, the Council of Churches and the Inter-Religious Council are tight-lipped amid all the horrible things happening in the country. Today, we see bishops, pastors, prophets, prophetesses, and imams gladly accepting political appointments and sadly abandoning their spiritual duties. Where is Liberia heading, my friends?”
He emphasized that though pastors, bishops, imams and others were called to be “God’s stewards and to do the work of God”, a few of them have turned into politicians by accepting political appointments. “Let the church and the mosque be the church and the mosque,” he stated.
Speaking further, Dr. Cassell observed that acts of corruption remain excessive and institutionalized under the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)-led government of President George Manneh Weah.
He maintained that the barbaric act of ritualistic killings has also become pervasive and continues to capture the news headlines.
According to him, hate, malice, division, exclusion, and vicious witch-hunting have sadly replaced love, unity, togetherness, peace, and tranquility in Liberia.
“Truth be told, our country is on the wrong trajectory, and we are in serious trouble. The government is callously insensitive to the plight of its people. While poverty is skyrocketing and extreme hunger and curable diseases are painfully decimating the precious lives of our people by the day, the “governors” of our country are acquiring luxurious condos, exotic homes, expensive vehicles, flying private jets, and living garishly.”
Dr. Cassell indicated that it is profound and appalling that while teachers, nurses, police, army, and regular civil servants are grossly underpaid and cruelly subjected to massive salary cuts under the guise of the infamous “Harmonization Scheme”, officials across all branches of the Liberian government are handsomely paid and given “grandiose benefits in addition to their huge salaries”.
“Brethren in the Lord, how can we claim to be a nation built or fashioned on Christian or godly principles yet be wicked to each other? How can God bless Liberia, so abundantly in natural resources, yet its people ranked amongst the poorest in the world? How can we fight a brutal civil war for fifteen unbroken years—in which 250, 000 of our compatriots were murdered in cold blood and the infrastructure of the country tragically destroyed—and yet still perpetuate the same evil, vices and anomalies that plunged our country into the bloodbath, that began in 1989?
“The questions then linger: Did we learn anything from our senseless civil war? Has anything changed since the cessation of the war and the restoration of peace and democracy? Why are we still committing the same vices that triggered the civil upheaval?”
He further observed that, in present day Liberia, the barbaric act of ritualistic killings has become pervasive, capturing the news headlines.
Dr. Cassell pointed out that Liberia and its citizens remain faced with multiple problems and challenges because God’s wrath has fallen upon the country due to sheer wickedness and other negative vices in the land.
“Today, we see our dear country Liberia submerged into a complete socioeconomic quagmire, with the perennial excesses and abnormalities of the past still at an alarming rate in the land—and has gotten our economy in a state of free fall,” Dr. Cassell observed.
“God is never happy with a nation in which wickedness and shedding of the blood of the innocent for ritualistic purposes are normal practices, and the citizens are consumed by fear, hopelessness and continual misery.”
He reminded Liberians, particularly government officials, to be cognizant of the fact that leaders who do not acknowledge God and seek his wisdom and guidance are certainly bound to waver and fall.
According to him, nations that fail to honor God and follow his instructions are destined to implode.
“The Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah teaches us the dreadful consequences of being sinful and disobedient to the instructions of God, while the book of King Solomon teaches us how God can graciously bless a Leader, it’s people and country when that leader seeks the face of the Lord in all that he/she does,” he stated.
Despite the multiple challenges as a result of poor governance, Dr. Cassell urged Liberians, especially public officials to submit to God.
“We need God’s intervention in our homeland. The people who are governing over this land must desist from their wicked ways and turn to God’s ways. They must go into their reclines, confess their sins to God, refrain from their barbarous tendencies, and plead for God’s mercy and wisdom”.
He noted that it is wicked to steal the resources of the country and impoverish the masses who are the legitimate beneficiaries.
He added that it is also barbaric for the “elite few in power to live in gross opulence while the masses of our people perish in the abeyance of deprivation, dehumanization, mortification, and subjugation”.
“It is sheer evil for young virgin girls to be captured by wicked men, gruesomely murdered, and parts abstracted for ritualistic practices”.
Dr. Cassell emphasized that Liberia will continue to be a perilous place to live if the hands of the people who governed over the land are involved with wicked, unscrupulous, and despicable acts.
According to him, Liberia is currently at a critical juncture in its national existence and the urgent need for real and sober leadership cannot be overemphasized.
He used the occasion to commend Liberians for being resilient despite allthat is obtaining and the perennial trauma they continue to encounter on a daily basis.
He said Liberian should remain standing and fighting for genuine change in the society.
“Liberians never give up and never stop trying to get it right. This is why the People’s Liberation Party (PLP) of which I am the Vision Bearer and Political Leader is here to genuinely work with the masses of our people to effectuate and realize the much-needed change”.
Dr. Cassell emphasized that citizens should continue to stand in the service of the Lord, seek his wisdom and guidance in order for the Lord to be their “Dependable Helper in our collective and unyielding search for a better Liberia that works for all our people, not the elite few at the helm of power”.
He said citizens should envisages a new Liberia where leaders are humble servants and power is used to honor humanity, and a nation where the government MUST ensure that every citizen finds hope and possibility in the place they call home with equal rights and opportunities being the national mentality.
Dr. Cassell added that Liberians must remain hopeful and steadfast that their nation will be a place where leaders are accountable to the people, love abounds with will and courage, and nationalism and patriotism rules.
“The people’s Liberation Party (PLP) is the way. Our arms are open to all and sundry. Let’s search for this new Liberia Together,” he added.
He however commended Rev. C. Wellington Morgan, elders and the entire church membership for holding a special thanksgiving and honoring service to enable him, his wife, Bendu Coleman Cassell, and PLP Organizing Chairman, Tapple E. Doe, appreciate and give thanks and praises to God for delivering them from the deadly Coronavirus.