The last two elections in the Republic of Liberia were, without a doubt, a stunning accomplishment. These elections were, perhaps, the most transparent any African nation has ever seen and could very well serve as a catalyst to propel our destroyed country from the backwaters of the abyss to a spot in the modern world. It could spark a flame that turns into a wild fire of development and growth for many generations to come.

With all of these positives, there are many mine fields that if not controlled could disrupt, derail and blunt all hope by pushing us deeper into the evil pit that we managed to bridge over the last few weeks. As an ardent observer of the plight of our people and the social economic turmoil over the past three decades, I suspect that all of the wolves that have since the election donned sheep’s clothing. Many of these people presided over the looting and pillaging of our country during the Interim government. It appears from the looks of things, that senior economic advisors from the “fellowship of thieves” have managed to gain unprecedented levels of trust in the new government and are infact poised to yet again ply their trade of corruption, neglect and outright tyranny without bullets against the helpless population of Liberia. With this observation begs the question, “Should the sprit of reconciliation ignore the massive fraud against the Republic by these once trusted advisors of the criminal past regimes and the current “fellowship of thieves”?” It is my contention that we can operate under the framework of forgiveness, but should not reward those who raped the country with yet another opportunity to continue raping by granting them access to the public coffers through assignment of positions of power.

While my personal knowledge on this subject is somewhat peripheral, very reliable sources tells me that at least one of Mr. Bryant’s trusted advisors, the architect of the Firestone lease extension and the pre-eminent advocate for the shameless cell phone network in Liberia is today poised and has positioned himself to become the pre-immanent financial guru of the President-elect. Unless we forget, a few months ago he shed a few crocodile tears in the pursuit of exonerating himself and pretended to be disassociated from the wicked deeds of the Interim government. He shamelessly begins writing open letters about Mr. Bryant and jumped his party for a candidate he abandoned to support Cllr. Charles Brumskine prior to the Accra Peace Conference. His behavior should at least raise a red flag as it is clearly an indicator of his chameleonic tendency - a dangerous pit viper now poised to continue raping the soul of our sweet Liberia.

Some of the readers of this document may very well think that I have jumped the gun by being preemptive or second-guessing the President-elect and her intentions. I will argue that, to the contrary, this is a cautionary note to our new leader that to populate her government with known criminals and corrupt individuals from the past will only engender continued discontent among the population. These discontents like before will simmer for a while and eventually erupt into another saga of carnage. In our short history this has happened three times. It simmered for 120 years and we ended it with Doe, It then slumbered in the Doe administration for ten years, then we had an eruption with Taylor. The Taylor corruption lasted for 12 years before we had the anarchy that led to this election. God granted us a reprieve, by ushering in a leader who without a doubt is capable of representing us on the World stage. We must caution her at every step, even being preemptive as I am now.

It is widely written and well known that the Bryant government is the most corrupt ever to serve our country. It is also no secret that his entire corps of advisors participated in the looting of what was left of Liberia, while presiding over a hungry people endowed with streets of pot holes, filth, hunger and diseases. It is also known that the Bryant and Taylor government prevented well qualified Liberians from participating in the most lucrative economic sectors of our country. They preferred Lebanese and other foreigners to Liberians because of the bribes readily provided by those people.

I know of several Liberians whose licenses were summarily pulled on the advice of these same so called economic advisors that are now alleged confidante of the President-elect. Are we going to see this trend continue with theses fraudsters? Many Liberians lost potentially millions of dollars in projected revenue and actually hundreds of thousands in hard earned cash because greedy people like them in their official capacity preferred Lebanese that were infact much less qualified to monopolize the most lucrative sector of our economy while providing substandard services to our People.

We had hoped that the elections and its result would have ushered in a new beginning - the dawn of a new day where qualified Liberians would be recognized and allowed to make meaningful contribution to their Country. From the looks of things, it seems that we are more likely to have an infested morass of corrupt individuals like these advisors exhibiting the utter contempt they have always displayed for the Liberian people in many failed governments past. What will it be, Madame President - the dawn of a new day or an extension of the corrupt behaviors of people like those economic advisors posing as your alleged confidante who enable the Bryant’s Kleptocracy? The Choice is clear and I pray that God will grant you the wisdom and courage to keep those shady characters at arms length.

About the Author: The Author Steve Adams is an IT/Telecommunication expert. He currently Serve as an International Consultant with the Wabash Corporation, in the US and Consults in the IT space in the Republic of South Africa. He is a former Executive of IBM and Unisys Corporation. Steve is a social activist who has written extensively on the corrupt activities of the failed system in Liberia. Steve can be reached at soadams@mindspring.com or at +231-77221128

---