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COPYRIGHT 2005 Financial Times Ltd.
(From The News (Nigeria) - AAGM)
The NEWS is convinced by the wisdom in which lies the common saying, 'give honor to whom honor is due.' As a matter of tradition, we have selected personalities and institutions that have made significant advances aimed at improving Liberia and the lives of its people, except for one entry. These individuals were selected based on their achievements and entries from the public. We therefore congratulate them.
Most Unpopular Leader: 2004 - Transitional Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant has won for himself The News' Most Unpopular Leader Award for the year 2004. He has won this award due to his persistent failure to clampdown on corruption in the power-sharing Government.
Consequently, the government is drenched in an ocean of financial malfeasance. Mr. Bryant has reneged on his promise to lay a solid foundation for many transitions, including one from secrecy, inordinate greed and corruption, to a transition to openness, modesty, transparency and accountability in national government.
Worst too, the Liberian Head of State has shown no commitment of transiting the country from the practice of pursuing personal interest in government at the expense of the people, to a new attitude of promoting and seeking the general welfare of the masses.
Sadly, Mr. Bryant heads a clique visibly entrenched in the manacles of opportunism for members of the few elite. More so, he heads an arrangement that is on record for investing in luxury rather than seeking to improve the general wellbeing of the people.
Worst of all, the Chairman has joined the band of public officials to parade with flashy vehicles on Monrovia's pot-hole roads while the provision of basic social services such as electricity, pipe-borne water, good health care delivery among others remain a mirage. Charles Taylor's incarnate?
Many had thought the selection of this businessman-cum politician to head the all-inclusive Transitional Administration would have quashed the vices responsible for years of tribal feuds and set the basis for healing the deep wounds occasioned by intermittent conflicts.
Instead, the Executive Mansion has overwhelmed Mr. Bryant to the extent that the prices of basic commodities including the Country's stable food, rice, have swollen. His dismal performance at the helm of State Power is to blame for the increase in the basic commodities and rampant corruption in government.
Violent demonstrations and protests have marred his administration due to his apparent reluctance to engage in consultations, the means by which he came to power.
All of these have made the Liberian leader unpopular with the citizens. Out of frustration, some citizens have rained insults at the Chairman and have publicly booed him at least four times since his induction as head of the power-sharing government.
The main campus of the University of Liberia, Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, Waterside Market and the Logan Town Community are places where our most unpopular leader of the year was booed at by citizens out of frustration, thus winning for him this title. Person of The Year Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the vocal and critical chairperson of the Governance Reform Commission, has shown a...
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