As a regular Crolaboy, I normally find myself around the Freeport-Logan Town belt during the late evening hours hustling, and what I see is a Liberia that unfailingly refuses to embrace the change it desperately needs.
By Ericson T Kemoon, contributing writer
The queue of trucks owned by Thomas Fallah, transporting minerals from the Western Cluster region daily during the late evening hours, is a stark reminder of our unfulfilled potential and lack of strategic foresight. This scene brings to mind two short stories by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, “What Men Live By” (1885) and “God Sees the Truth, But Waits” (1872), both of which offer profound lessons on human potential and missed opportunities.
In “What Men Live By”, a beggar possesses a bowl made of gold but, because it is covered in dirt, fails to recognize its value. It takes a stranger, a passerby from a faraway land, to identify the bowl’s worth and purchase it. The beggar, realizing too late what he had lost, might have spent the rest of his life in regret.
In “God Sees the Truth, But Waits,” a beggar sitting at the gate of a beautiful city—possibly Jerusalem—has a dream in which God reveals that a great treasure lies buried beneath the firepit in the beggar’s own kitchen. These stories reflect the tragedy of unrealized potential and squandered opportunities, resonating deeply with Liberia’s current situation. Liberia, much like the beggars in Tolstoy’s stories, sits on immense wealth and potential but seems incapable of recognizing or harnessing it.
Minerals are being extracted and transported daily, yet the visible benefits for ordinary Liberians remain minimal. It is here that Liberia can learn from Botswana’s mineral development module, which has become a global model for resource management. Botswana transformed its diamond wealth into a foundation for national development through strategic policies and transparent governance.
Key features of Botswana’s approach include ownership and control at which Botswana established joint ventures between the government and private companies, such as De Beers, ensuring significant state ownership and control over its mineral resources. In tense of Revenue Management, the government adopted a clear and transparent system for managing revenues from minerals. These funds were reinvested into critical sectors such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure, laying the groundwork for sustainable development. They promoted Diversification by recognizing the dangers of over-reliance on a single sector, Botswana used its mining revenues to diversify its economy, promoting agriculture, tourism, and other industries to reduce dependency on minerals. One key issue was Human Capital Development which had a deep shift when a significant portion of mining revenues was channeled into building the nation’s human capital through education and skills training, empowering citizens to participate actively in the economy.
They did not forget to look at the Institutional Framework where Botswana prioritized creating strong institutions to manage its resources effectively, including anti-corruption measures to ensure transparency and accountability. Liberia must adopt a similar approach and act swiftly.
The current extraction and transport of minerals must be tied to measurable developmental goals that benefit the entire population. Our leaders must be fast-thinking, strategic, and committed to implementing policies that ensure mineral wealth creates opportunities for all Liberians, not just a privileged few. The trucks transporting minerals out of the Western Cluster should symbolize hope and progress—not exploitation and inequality. Without such a shift in perspective, Liberia risks becoming like Tolstoy’s beggars—either living with regret for failing to recognize its treasure or never uncovering the wealth that lies within its own grasp.
