Late February this year, the first consignment of the much-pronounced yellow machines arrived in the country. The arrival of the machines was greeted by both joyful noise on the one hand, and bellowing criticism on the other hand. Latest news says the second batch is on its way to Liberia via neighboring La Cote d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast).
While critics are on the one hand calling the procurement of those earth moving instruments as mere waste of financial resources, a vast majority of Liberians deem it necessary, proper and befitting given that those machines would be used to open farm to market roads throughout the length and breadth of the country as was the case during the presidency of the slain President William R. Tolbert, Jr.
Upon the arrival of the first batch, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and senior government officials joyfully galloped to the Freeport of Monrovia on Monday, February 23, 2026, to greet and welcome home the equipment, including bulldozers, motor graders, excavators, trucks and many other categories.
Across the country, the equipment are intended to open farm-to-market roads, repair damaged laterite roads and prepare surfaces for asphalt paving; something which is seen as huge benefit for the country, because during rainy season, many roads become nearly impassable.
While we too appreciate this gesture, we think these machines would only see their intended purpose only when the spirit of national loyalty is applied, and when the mind is set to truly revolutionize the entire nation as opposed to using them only for “political reasons.”
Those machines will certainly turn black and lose their original yellow colors if, and when the usual care free Liberian mentality is applied, wherein no one cares about the future generation; no one cares about what benefits the nation, except what benefits one’s own pockets financially.
It is not the yellow colors of the machines that matters, rather it is the suitable yellow vision in terms of progressive attitudes to ensure the practicality of the assigned mission that matters.
We urge the President, the Coordinator, Brownie J. Samukai to be ensure that political influence be deleted from the role of the yellow machines, and that those found attempting to insert their own political interest be discouraged.