Appointed on October 1, 2020, by President Weah as Liberia’s Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, Ledgerhood J. Rennie is a man of immense value to the Weah-led Government. A seasoned International Journalist of impeccable characher, he has earlier held high profile positions like DG, Liberia Broadcasting Service LBS. He Chronicles President Weah’s achievements and challenges so far and his chances to win a 2nd team
Since you were appointed by President Weah, what are your achievements and challenges so far?
I like to look at the achievements and challenges of the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism holistically, as the government is a continuum. The major, visible, achievement of the Weah government is the reform of Liberia’s media landscape. The Press Freedom Act of 2019 was signed into law by President Weah. The Law decriminalizes speech-related offences. It gives greater latitude to the media in Liberia and improves the landscape for the practice of journalism. The ministry has also, consistently, maintained regular rapprochement with the media by providing an enabling environment, free from intimidation.
As we strive to do more, one of our major challenges is resources-material as well as financial resources. Due to competing demands in the allocation of government resources, pressing priorities are allocated according to existential demands. But we continue to work with available resources from the government to achieve our targeted goals.
How will you assess President Weah’s first term in office in view of global challenges like Covid- 19 and the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine?
As Minister of Information, I am not in the best position to grade President Weah’s performance in the first 5-year term. The ordinary people of Liberia have already graded the President’s first 5-year term.
In all the working tours of President Weah, the Liberian people have expressed remarkable satisfaction with his visible works that have touched the lives of ordinary Liberians, in view of the external challenges, like Covid-19 and the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine you just mentioned.
There were lots of talks before his assumption of office in 2018, that he lacks the acumen to run the office of the President. But after 5 years, he has gone beyond these pessimistic expectations; particularly in view of grave external shocks like Covid-19 and other global calamities.
The President has ensured peace and tranquility in our country. When President Weah assumed office, there was a withdrawal of 15,000 UN peacekeeping forces from Liberia. There were fears that the new administration was incapable of maintaining the peace. But 5 years down the line, peace has been consolidated. This has impacted National development, as attested by intertional entities like the World Bank and the IMF.
Liberians will go to the polls on 10 October 2023. President Weah is seeking re-election. What are his chances to win a 2nd term?
The major winning characteristic of the man, President Weah, is his personality trait, his down-to-earth makeup. He is a peoples’ person. He keeps in touch with the ordinary people, that he is a proud son, coming from the slum of Liberia, to achieve the highest office of the land. He has not let his people down.
Liberia now has more electricity; more households are connected on the power grid.
The President’s flagship program on roads is another potential winning formula. He has connected communities with roads more than any President before him.
In education, when the President took over and was attested by his predecessor, Madam Sirleaf, education was in a “mess”. Today, the situation has changed. Students, now enroll full-time free of charge in public universities because of this policy the government instituted when the President assumed the highest office of the land. No student enrolled in public universities is now charged academic fees. Also, secondary school students who are eligible candidates to sit the WASSCE and LJHSCE under the Weah Administration have been relieved of payment requirements. The Government President Weah has instituted a policy to pay the exams sitting fees of all such students and his government has done so since its inception. This year alone, the government paid over $4.5 million to the West Africa Examination Council WAEC for Liberian students, about 49,847 of them to sit their exams. This has been the trend since President Weah took over in 2018 with a whopping 360, 000 secondary students benefiting from this pro-poor policy. In addition, the government has built more schools in the country than any other administration. We have trained more teachers than any other government, resulting in better performance of students. Before we came into power 2018, about 25,000 Liberian students failed the public university entrance examination. This was a colossal disaster. It was shocking to the nation that necessitated former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to declare that “Liberia’s education is a mess”. It was heartbreaking then.
Today, it has visibly changed. Our students are not just passing the exams but are scoring higher marks.
In the Health sector, the government has trained more doctors than any government before. When the government took over in 2018, about 2,000 health workers could not be paid due to external donor fatigue. President Weah eventually placed the 2,000 health workers on the government payroll. Now they are fully integrated and being paid monthly. We’ve increased doctors’ salaries from $700 to now $2000. We’ve sent many doctors out for training in specialised areas. We’ve built more hospitals, than any other administration- three new hospitals; the 14-military hospital, the 100-bed hospital in Borpolu, Gbarpolu, in Western Liberia, and in the east of the country Rivercess County where, never in the history of our country, a hospital has existed. Also, in the southeast, a new hospital is being built.
In the water sector, since 1990, central Monrovia, today, can boast of functional pipe-borne water in major communities and households, through the Liberia Water Corporation.
With all these positive development impacts on the lives of the people, though with challenges, as in other countries, President Weah deserves a second term in office.
From the survey, Liberia is the most peaceful county in West Africa. Could you explain the reasons for peace sustainability in Liberia, in view of the country’s ugly past?
Simple. Due to the leadership style in our country. President Weah is a man of peace. He exudes and demonstrates peace. Since he assumed office, he has encountered numerous protests and demonstrations; unwanted, unprovoked, and unnecessary, particularly from the opposition. The President has demonstrated maximum tolerance, with no political prisoners. No member of the media harassed or jailed. President Weah has respected the rule of law. There is freedom of association, media, and speech. One word that the President has repeatedly pronounced in all speeches is peace, reminding Liberians of our ugly past. The President is leading by example of consolidating the peace in the country. So if your survey summarizes the sustainability of peace, today, it is the personality of the President.
Youth empowerment is another key component of President Weah flagship program. Could you comment on this area as it constitutes 60% of the population?
Youth empowerment features prominently in the government’s development programs. Through the Ministry of Youth and Sports, there are several programs for youth in Liberia. Recently, we launched a Marshall Plan, through the Ministry of Youth and Sports, with our international partners. It entails the rehabilitation of young Liberians who are addicted to drug abuse and other vices. The government pledged $1 million to the fund. Indeed, Youth development and inclusion are at the core of President Weah’s development agenda. There are different programs, like skills training, recreational parks, like the Invincible Sports Park, and other recreational centers. Where the President grew up in Clara Town, he has turned a makeshift recreational ground into a top-class modern facility. The same in other Communities. The ongoing Unity Park, for instance, will be a state-of-the-art facility to not just cater to the young people in Monrovia but also serve as a symbol of national unity. So the President is youth friendly, ready to reform the youth into a productive force for national development.
Could you comment on President Weah’s Could you comment on President Weah’s international relations posture, in view of lean financial inflows, unlike his immediate predecessor, when UN and other international bodies were domiciled in Liberia?
Given all global happenings, the Covid-19 pandemic, economic recession and now, the Russian war in Ukraine, all that affected international inflows into local economies including Liberia.
Despite these external setbacks, President Weah remained steadfast in looking inwards to generate revenues and maintain international respect and esteem.
Liberia has garnered good relations with the IMF and the World Bank. We also have cordial relations with the European Union (EU). Last week, we signed a new five-year multi-million-dollar development program with the EU to benefit select areas of the national development agenda that will benefit the people. It is the same with our traditional ally- the Americans who through USAID are funding selected areas of our national development program. So, we do have a broad range of support from our foreign development partners.
However, it is worth noting that we do not have the magnitude of international support that former President Sirleaf had. With the largest UN peacekeeping troops in the world here in Liberia during the reign of President Sirleaf, there was about 100- million coming into the local economy per annum, backed by international NGO’s with humanitarian and development projects that followed.
Let me quickly add on the foreign scene, that President Weah is leading the crusade in ECOWAS in the consolidation of democratic principles and practices. Respect for tenure of office and the constitution remains the hallmark of President Weah’s engagements with colleague Presidents in ECOWAS. He firmly believes if democratic principles and tenets were respected, coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and now Niger, would have been prevented.
Also at the AU and UN, President Weah has consistently championed the issues of peace and democratic principles and tenets. This was the key reason US President Joe Biden invited President Weah along with other African leaders, to Washington, to participate in the Africa Summit on Democracy and the Rule of Law. This demonstrates the high respect the US Administration has for the President, and he was accorded a very high degree of respect, along with other African Presidents invited to that important gathering in Washington DC.
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