By Jefferson Tamba Koijee
What was marketed to the Liberian people under the deceptive name and style of the “Rescue Mission” has now revealed its true character. It was never a Rescue Mission. It has become a RISKY COCAINE MISSION, presiding over national decline, growing lawlessness, economic hardship and the dangerous erosion of public confidence.
In 1887, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche described a condition in which unresolved humiliation, envy and resentment cease to be temporary emotions and become an entire identity. He called it ressentiment.
When people cannot peacefully process another person’s success, they construct a worldview around destroying that person. Their envy begins to feel like morality, their bitterness appears righteous and their revenge disguises itself as justice.
This is the foundation upon which Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s so-called Rescue Mission was built.
George Manneh Weah rose from humble beginnings and achieved extraordinary success outside Liberia’s traditional political cabal. He became an international icon, humanitarian and President of the Republic without belonging to the privileged establishment that had historically treated political leadership as its private inheritance.
For that establishment, Weah’s success was unbearable. He represented everything they believed an ordinary Liberian could never become. More importantly, the Mighty Congress for Democratic Change represented the political awakening of market women, struggling youths, motorcyclists, slum dwellers and ordinary citizens historically excluded from the corridors of power.
Because they could not defeat that awakening through superior ideas, they launched a relentless campaign of hatred, malicious propaganda and political deception. Nationally and internationally, they portrayed President Weah and his administration as murderous, incompetent and corrupt. Allegations were repeated as established facts, and every national difficulty was weaponized against the CDC.
Among the countless falsehoods sold to the Liberian people, let us examine only four for now:
1. They declared that salary harmonization was evil. They promised that immediately upon taking power, they would abolish it and significantly increase civil servants’ salaries.
2. They politicized the tragic deaths of the three missing boys and promised the grieving families that justice would immediately be delivered and every person responsible would be prosecuted.
3. They promoted the dangerous allegation that government auditors had been murdered. They claimed to possess impeccable facts and promised to identify and prosecute the alleged perpetrators immediately after taking power.
4. They promised integrity, accountability and respect for the rule of law. Today, the country is witnessing troubling allegations of corruption, selective justice, police brutality, political intimidation and the continued deterioration of its democratic institutions.
Yesterday, they spoke as though they possessed an encyclopedia of impeccable facts. Today, nearly three years later, they have done absolutely nothing meaningful concerning those bold-faced claims they presented to the Liberian people as unquestionable truth.
THIS WAS NEVER ABOUT CHANGE; INSTEAD, IT WAS DESIGNED TO GIVE A CHANCE TO STATE-SANCTIONED CRIMINALS WHO ARE CURRENTLY ENGAGED IN INDUSTRIAL-SCALE LOOTING!
Their dangerous strategy succeeded in 2023. They removed the CDC from power, but capturing power has exposed the enormous difference between campaigning through resentment and governing with competence.
Today, the promised rescue increasingly resembles a national emergency. The economy remains under severe pressure, public confidence is declining and disturbing allegations involving cocaine trafficking continue to damage Liberia’s reputation. The rule of law is being weakened, while reports of police brutality, political intimidation and selective justice are becoming dangerously normalized.
Evidence was never the foundation of this movement. Grievance was. Resentment was. Hatred for George Weah and the CDC was. Removing the people’s movement from power was the mission; governing Liberia successfully was apparently never the priority.
The Unity Party did not merely offer an alternative political program. It gave an aggrieved political establishment permission to transform its resentment of George Weah, the CDC and Liberia’s grassroots majority into an entire political identity.
But resentment may capture power; it cannot govern a nation. Propaganda may win an election; it cannot stabilize an economy. Lies may temporarily damage a leader; they cannot permanently extinguish a people’s movement.
The Rescue Mission has become a RISKY COCAINE MISSION, with ressentiment organized into state power. Liberia and its suffering people are now experiencing the painful consequences.
The truth is emerging. The deception is collapsing. THE MASK IS OFF!
History will ultimately distinguish those who genuinely served Liberia from those who weaponized national frustration, manufactured falsehoods and exploited the people’s trust simply to reclaim power. JTK.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jefferson Tamba Koijee is former Lord Mayor of the City of Monrovia. He is currently the Secretary General of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC). He is a social, political and right advocate.
