17/01/2024
In 2022, I posted (and also discussed it at various intellectual centers) that the Weah lead Government has given-up on the electricity problems Liberia faced. I also disclosed that during a meeting with the LEC Management, Weah confessed that he didn't think his administration could solve the electricity problems. So, he was going to leave it to the next administration to solve. The conclusion was that they should just manage the situation until a new government takes over. I was bad-mouthed and called a liar.
Fast forward to 2024, Weah is turning power over this January and the same electricity problems still exist. In fact, they have gotten worse.
Electricity Problems:
* The Weah Government’s inability to regulate a responsive power distribution system that will satisfy paying customers’ power needs.
How is this important?
When a paying customer has power complications based on the Meter or Transformer supplied by LEC, LEC response team must be able to solve that problem within maximum of three days. Most minor problems like meter issues must be solved in a day. If the customer constantly suffers power issues due to LEC meter or transformer and these issues take weeks or months to solve, the customer would just take the risk and bypass the meter and pay a tiny portion of the electricity bill as bribe to an agent of LEC. There, the government has just lost fund needed to run and maintain the entity. If, when the transformer has problem, LEC can’t solve the issue in reasonable time, the community people would just take their wires and connect them to the next transformer. Now instead of LEC having to solve one transformer problem, they now have to solve two and subsequently three, four, etc. Hence, they lose more and more paying customers. Now the more customers they lose, lead us to the next problem.
* The Weah Government’s unreasonable charges (the price charged for the power usage).
Now, the more they lose customers, the higher they increase the cost for the power. To shine light on how ridiculously high the cost of electricity is in Liberia, here is a quote from the former United States of America Ambassador to Liberia Amb. Michael McCarthy: “I understand that the electricity tariff is expensive in Liberia. In 2020, Liberians paid 49 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity. For comparison, Americans spend about 13 cents. The French pay about the same as Americans. Ghanaians spend an average of 6 cents; Guineans pay an average of 10 cents; and Ivoirians spend an average of 12 cents. Why are Liberians paying four or five times more for less reliable electricity?”
As if this wasn’t enough, in 2022, the LEC again increased the cost of electricity.
These are two of the major causes of power issues in Liberia. The Weah administration has failed to minimize these issues. In fact, they have gotten worse under the Weah administration to the extent that in 2022, the President give-up on it and decided to pass it to the next administration to solve. Now you have a completely failed power distribution system.
President Weah has failed the Liberian people in every way possible. Unelecting him was the best decision we have made as Liberians.
