President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, while addressing members of the legislature and key government officials earlier this year, named several completed and ongoing projects, especially road connectivity initiatives, which remain at the heart of his government’s ARREST Agenda. He also promised that his government intends to take robust steps going forward to ensure that the expectations of the Liberian people are met.
Boakai told the Liberian people that the interest of the state and its citizens, as opposed to the interests of a few greedy individuals, remains the focus of his government. He further emphasized that the fight to liberate the nation from the snare of corruption continues unabated.
The President also used the occasion and expressed his government’s intention to refurbish decayed public infrastructures across the country, in addition to paving streets in major cities so as to give them a renewed and attractive appearance, especially considering that these structures were originally constructed through state funds.
Such determination is highly commendable because it clearly shows that the forgotten are not only being remembered, but are also being made brand new, admirable, and desirable for public use once again. This move will certainly represent the dignity and beauty of the state.
Indeed, buildings such as the Hotel Africa, the True Whig Party building, the Ducor Hotel, and many others across the country that have lost their beauty, and now appear grotesques, require rehabilitation. There are many dilapidated public buildings which, when renovated and renewed, can once again become useful public assets.
This demonstrates wisdom. It marks a point of maturity. True maturity is the ability to make old things new and useful again, especially considering that these public structures lying in ruins were built through the efforts of past administrations.
By renewing them and giving them appealing new appearances, the government is not only restoring valuable infrastructures, but also rescuing the legacies of those who constructed them and rewriting their names in history.