Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
Monrovia – The General Overseer of the Restoration Baptist Ministries (RBM), Rev. Joseph Gardea Johnson, III has asserted that Liberia is experiencing a bad economy and if the current trend is not remedied speedily, Christmas celebration this year for many Liberians will be difficult.
December is that part of the year widely considered a festive period for majority of Liberians, with many particularly setting their eyes on the 25th, Christmas Day, to celebrate in grand style.
Usually, in yesteryear, Liberians would engage in shopping spree and all manners of pre-Xmas celebrations, which seem elusive this year amid a rather strangulated economy, underpinned by reports of massive corruption including the reported disappearance of billions of Liberian dollar banknotes and the alleged mismanagement or misapplication of some US$25 million dollar intended to mop up the excess liquidity of Liberian dollars from the economy that has taken a nosedive within less than a year under the six-year term of President George Weah’s administration.
In a recent exclusive interview with Punch TV, while responding to an inquiry about how does he foresee Christmas celebration for Liberians this year, Rev. Johnson said “It’s going to be more difficult.”
“Because even before the Christmas, right now, I will be very frank with you, I know some people who have not had rice, the Liberian staple food, to eat in the last three days,” said Rev. Johnson, who maintained that those who are going without the country staple are now constrained to substitute rice with other things, saying, “yes, they’re eating other things. They have not had their full meal. I know about that here.”
“From where I sit, people come here for assistance. You see the rice out there [pointing outside his office where the interview was conducted], we have to give it to people. Sometimes, I have to measure it by cup, It’s going to be difficult. If the trend continues this way, the Christmas is going to be very difficult,” he further said.
Rev. Johnson narrated that during a recent trip he made to Marshall, Margibi County, to visit some fellow pastors, his heart was broken to have seen people in that part of the country in dire need of assistance.
He said: “I went to Marshall to visit some pastors who are not under our RBM branch, and the condition I saw there with the people, it broke my heart. It was for that reason that I came and I decided to ask the church to find clothes that their kids are not using, toys that their children are not using so I can take it [them] to Marshall to those children in the village. It’s so pathetic, very pathetic.”
“I am going to take some of those clothes into Bong County to Salala, and give it to the orphanage home there. I am going to take some of it to Bassa, Flower Mill, and give it to some people there. I am telling you, what we need to do now is to focus on the empowerment of the people.” said Rev. Johnson, who said he pastors a church that close to 86-87 percent of its membership are people who are struggling and are barely trying to make it.
“It breaks my heart to pastor people who are suffering and seriously in need. Coming to church every day and look in their faces and you can see that they’re having rough time, and not being in a position of being able to change it for them, it hurts me, and I am broken by that everyday,” Rev Johnson lamented.
“This is the first time I have not been able to pay my rent on time. This is the first time that the income of our church is so low. I have a staff of 18 persons – 18 staff church members that we pay at the end of every month. I have 14 staff members at the school that we have to pay. This is the first time I am owing them for two months – you won’t believe that?”
“It’s not that we don’t want to pay – [its] because the people who are in our congregation who will usually bring their offerings and their tithes, they cannot do it anymore. And I cannot be insensitive to their plight as a pastor, I cannot be. Because you see the people who I pastor and I preach to, if they are in a better position and they are paid well, and they are well taken care of and people are not taking advantage of them, and people are not stealing from them, then I am in a better position. But if I am in a better position and they are not, then I am dead,” he stressed.
The Baptist prelate whose pastoral duty does not just stop at the Restoration Baptist Ministries but extends as well to shepherding others outside of his RBM congregation including offering pastoral care onto families, single mothers, some fathers with children, and single parents, says he’s praying for strength to keep doing what God has called him to do for the suffering people of Liberia, “especially in this critical time that we are in right now, things are so hard and so difficult. It’s just rough on some people.”
Asked what can be done to remedied the suffering of the people of Liberia, although he said he has not seen any road-map crafted by the current administration under footballer turned politician Weah, that is intended to take the country from economic deprivation to economic prosperity, Rev. Johnson said there are lot that can be done, especially taking into consideration the kinds of mineral resources Liberia is endowed with, noting that improving upon the proper management of these resources and showing responsibility in the area of accountability are cardinal to lifting Liberians from poverty.
“There are lot we can do. I think we are endowed with the kinds of mineral resources in this country that we can improve upon, especially in the area of accountability. The better we can account for the national resources, the better we can account for the things that we do to each other, the better our country will be. I think God has given this country so much for 4.5 million people, if they are properly managed and not milked out of the system by foreigners who have come under the disguise of being investors, the situation in the country can improve,” he pointed out.
Famous for speaking truth to power and taking radical stance on national issues, Rev. Johnson suggested that for Liberia’s current economic woes to be salvaged, there is a need to take some radical decisions.
Said Rev Johnson: “I have always said before this administration, in the past years, that in order for Liberia to graduate from this point where we are economically, and in every aspects of our national lives, there is a need for some radical decisions – decisions that will be painful, decisions that will be tough, decisions that will look like inhumane, decisions that will look unreasonable. But those are decisions that will put the country on the right footing. And sometimes it can be painful to make those kinds of decisions.”
He insisted that “there are decisions we ought to make to return the economy to the Liberian people, recommending therefore, that “Our investment code in this place must be Liberian friendly like in Ghana.”
He further recommends that Liberia be elevated to a place where when one leaves home for job, he or she knows where they are going, because they know what is going to happen at the end of the month, stating that the salary is going to be right, and it will not get one to the place where you will get your salary and begin to beg again.
“But it’s so bad. How we can have our country and foreigners are milking the country along with Liberians who are aiding them to milk the country, and our ordinary people are suffering. It’s easy to run this country. It’s easy to make the decisions, painful decisions to restore the economy to Liberians. There are certain things we cannot allow foreigners to get involved with,” Rev. Johnson emphasized.
Amid government’s effort to tidy up damaged roads in the country, the Baptist prelate intoned that although he’s a champion of road networks, but what importance it is to Liberians, when their roads are paved and they cannot afford to drive their own vehicles on these paved roads, even though some of these Liberians work for multi million dollar concessionaires that are milking the country dry.
“You have companies in Grand Bassa, you have companies in River Cess and Sinoe and all those places, milking the country and they have Liberians working for them, but those Liberians cannot afford to purchase their own vehicles that can get on their own road,” He said.
“So you have the paved roads, but you have an economically deprived people – that can’t find food to eat, they don’t have jobs, if they’re even working, the kind of salary they’re taking home…” Rev. Johnson added.
‘Rule of law is broken down’
To curb the suffering of Liberians and address the heightened hardship in the country as a result of the struggling economy, Rev. Johnson recommends that the issue of institutionalizing the rule of law in the country should be paramount.
“In any country that is most civilized and democratic in nature, the rule of law plays an important part in the well being of that country,” Rev. Johnson said, maintaining that upholding the rule of law helps to promote peace and helps to bring about more economic benefits to any given country.
The vocal preacher man pointed out that Liberians can not have a country where the rule of law is not the order of the day, and that they are not making sure that they uphold the rule of law.
“We can’t have a country where the rule of law is just broken down… absolutely, there is no rule of law… and rule of law is important. So that’s the first thing we need to do to restore the dignity of our country, and to help minimize the suffering and the casualty that we are going through, Rev. Johnson said.
‘Lack of accountability hampers rule of law’
Additionally, to address issues negatively impacting rule of law in the country, Rev. Johnson believes the lack of accountability plays a pivotal role, stating that accountability is cardinal to the forward-march of Liberia.
“I think the breakers of the law have sponsors. The people who deliberately break the law, they quickly find redress to go free… So when there are those who are sponsoring those who are breaking our laws, and the people who are breaking our laws can find a reference point where they can go free, it makes it difficult for the rule of law to be established,” he said.
He continued: “The only way we can help our country [is] we have to stop sponsoring people who are breaking the laws. If my mother who is dead today will come here and break the law, she must be held accountable. If my wife who I am married to breaks the law, she must be held accountable. If the Vice president who is in my church makes a mistake and breaks the law, she must be held accountable.”
Rev. Johnson is of the belief that if lawbreakers were not being shielded and if equal punishments within the confines of the law, were being served those who break the law, Liberia would be far advanced.
“If we don’t do these things our country will be where you see it today. There is no rule of law here. The place is broken down.” he maintained, adding, “People are going scot-free on the things they do, including people who are stealing, including people who are very corrupt.”
He said there are reports to prove that certain people are corrupt, but such individuals are left untouched while their actions hurt the country and bring untold suffering on the rest of the people of Liberia..
“There are reports to show that these people are criminals. There are countless reports from the GAC with the House of Representatives. There are NOCAL reports with the president. There are reports everywhere of massive stealing. You’re not talking about two dollars, you’re not talking about three dollars, we are talking about thousands and millions of dollars, Rev. Johnson said.
He wonders when will Liberia send a clear message to those serving in both the public and private sectors of the country that if one is caught stealing, that a specific punishment awaits such person, noting that because this is yet to be done, many corrupt individuals continue to engage in corruption to the detriment of the country and its already suffering masses.
