By Patrick Wea Smith
In much of the Global South, particularly across Africa, politics has too often been reduced to the crude arithmetic of power: who gets it, who loses it, and who can return to it. Rather than being driven by ideology, national interest, competing visions, and concrete policy alternatives, political contests frequently degenerate into struggles for access to state power and resources. Liberia is no exception.
Too often, our politics has been less about the transformation of the lives of ordinary Liberians and more about which political faction can capture the state. Once in power, the temptation has historically been to abuse public resources, weaken institutions, compromise accountability, and leave the ordinary citizen to bear the consequences of poor governance.
That is precisely why Liberia does not need an opposition obsessed with returning to power at all costs. Liberia needs a constructive opposition—an opposition capable of interrogating government policies, proposing credible alternatives, challenging failures, and offering Liberians a compelling vision for the future.
Unfortunately, the current opposition has yet to demonstrate that it possesses such a vision.
Where Is the Alternative?
The opposition, led politically by former President George Weah and the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), has spent considerable energy criticizing the Boakai administration and sounding political alarms. But beyond the noise, where is the alternative?
Where are the comprehensive policy prescriptions for agriculture, education, healthcare, tourism, infrastructure, job creation, investment, and economic transformation?
Where is the opposition’s blueprint for attracting foreign direct investment and creating meaningful employment opportunities for Liberia’s young population?
Where is the compelling argument that Liberia would be better governed under the same political leadership that governed the country until January 2024?
These are legitimate questions that the Liberian people deserve answers to.
Former President George Weah was not removed from office by a coup or an unconstitutional intervention. He contested a fiercely competitive election as an incumbent and lost. The electorate spoke.
Liberians had six years to assess his leadership. They had six years to experience his administration, evaluate his policies, observe his appointments, and judge his record.
And when the opportunity came to renew his mandate, the Liberian people chose otherwise.
That decision cannot simply be wished away because the former president who now desperately desires a return to the Executive Mansion.
The Record Matters:
Politics is ultimately about records.
The Weah administration was dogged by controversies, allegations of corruption, governance failures, institutional weaknesses, and serious questions about public financial management. Liberia’s international reputation also suffered considerably during that period.
Most significantly, several senior officials of the Weah administration were sanctioned by the United States government over corruption-related allegations and other serious conduct. Among those sanctioned were then-Minister of State Nathaniel McGill, Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, Solicitor General Cllr. Syrenius Cephus, and Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee.
These are not insignificant matters that can simply be erased from Liberia’s political memory.
If the opposition wants to return to power, it must answer a fundamental question:
What has changed?
What new ideas are being offered? What lessons have been learned? What institutional reforms will be pursued? What safeguards will prevent the abuses and governance failures that characterized the previous administration? Why should Liberians believe that the same political leadership will produce a dramatically different outcome?
The answer cannot simply be: Give us power again.
Liberians deserve much more than that.
Boakai Is Not Perfect—But Liberia Is Moving:
The Boakai administration is not perfect. No serious observer should pretend that it is.
Liberia remains a country emerging from decades of conflict, institutional decay, poverty, underdevelopment, corruption, and economic fragility. The challenges are enormous, and no administration can fix them overnight.
But there is an important distinction between an imperfect government struggling to rebuild a broken system and a political opposition whose principal argument appears to be that it simply wants the keys to the state back.
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai inherited a country requiring fundamental reconstruction—not merely of roads and bridges, but of institutions, public confidence, governance systems, national credibility, and the relationship between government and citizens.
Under his leadership, Liberia’s presidency has regained a measure of dignity, discipline, credibility, and international respectability.
There is greater emphasis on transparency, accountability, institutional reform, rule of law, and responsible governance.
Across the country, infrastructure projects are underway, including roads intended to improve connectivity, facilitate commerce, strengthen regional integration, and open economic opportunities for communities that have long remained isolated.
The administration is also working to strengthen healthcare delivery, improve public institutions, stabilize the economy, and create the conditions necessary for private-sector expansion and investment.
None of this means Liberia’s problems have disappeared.They have not.
Unemployment remains a serious challenge. Youth opportunities remain inadequate. Infrastructure deficits remain enormous. Poverty remains widespread. And much more must be done in education, healthcare, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, and investment.
But acknowledging these challenges is not the same as declaring the government a failure.
Governance Is a Marathon, Not a Campaign Slogan:
Liberia cannot afford the politics of instant gratification.
A country that has endured decades of mismanagement cannot be rebuilt in a few years. Institutions take time to reform. Investor confidence takes time to rebuild. Infrastructure takes time to construct. Human capital takes time to develop. Economic transformation takes sustained policy consistency.
The Boakai administration is still in the early stages of a much larger national reconstruction project.
What Liberia needs now is patience—but not blind patience.
It needs constructive scrutiny.
The opposition should challenge the government when it fails. It should expose corruption wherever it occurs. It should demand accountability. It should scrutinize budgets. It should question policies. It should offer better alternatives.
That is what democracy requires.
But opposition politics cannot simply be a permanent campaign for power.
Criticism without alternatives is noise. Opposition without ideas is ambition. And political ambition without a credible national vision is dangerous.
Liberia Deserves Better Politics:
There is an old Liberian saying: “It is better to be with the devil you know than the angel you have not seen.”
Whether one agrees with the proverb or not, its political lesson is worth considering.
Liberians have seen the previous administration. They know its record. They know what it promised, what it delivered, and what it failed to deliver.
They are now watching another administration attempt to rebuild the country.
The question before the Liberian people in 2029 should therefore not be: Who is making the loudest noise?
It should be:
Who has the better record? Who has the better ideas? Who has the stronger team? Who has demonstrated integrity? Who has a credible plan for transforming Liberia? And, most importantly, who can be trusted with the enormous power of the Liberian state?
That is the debate the country deserves.
President Boakai must be held accountable. His administration must continue to deliver. It must confront corruption, create jobs, improve public services, attract investment, strengthen institutions, and ensure that economic growth translates into better lives for ordinary Liberians.
But those who seek to replace him must do more than shout from the sidelines.
They must convince Liberia that they have changed, that they have learned, and that they have something substantially better to offer.
Until then, the desperate scramble for power will remain exactly what it appears to be: a struggle for power, not a struggle for Liberia.
Liberia does not need political hawks circling the state in anticipation of another opportunity to seize power.
Liberia needs statesmen. Liberia needs ideas. Liberia needs accountability. Liberia needs constructive opposition. Above all, Liberia needs leaders who put country before political ambition and national interest before personal power.
The road ahead will not be easy. But if the foundations being laid today are sustained, strengthened, and protected, Liberia can emerge stronger, more stable, more prosperous, and more confident in its future.
There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Liberia must keep moving toward it—not backward into the politics of yesterday.
