Liberia: Gongloe Tells Boakai: “Let the People Talk” as Criticism of Government Grows

MONROVIA – Prominent human rights lawyer and former Solicitor General, Tiawan Saye Gongloe, has urged President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to tolerate public criticism, reminding him that he was himself a vocal critic of the previous government.

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***By Selma Lomax, selma.lomax@frontpageafricaonline.com ***

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In a Monday public education commentary titled “Why Complain About Criticism, Mr. President? Did You Not Criticize President Weah Too?”, Gongloe said Mr. Boakai, while in opposition, openly condemned insecurity, violent crime, drug trafficking and what he saw as the Weah government’s failure to protect citizens.

“Criticism was legitimate then; it cannot become illegitimate merely because the critic has become President,” Gongloe wrote, describing criticism as “the soul of democracy.”

He noted that Liberia has a long tradition of citizens questioning those in power. He cited Albert Porte and Tuan Wreh, who challenged the Tubman system, as well as Togba-Nah Tipoteh, Gabriel Baccus Matthews, Amos Sawyer, Dew Mayson, Oscar Quiah and student leaders who confronted the Tolbert government. He added that Liberians continued to speak out, often at great personal risk, under the authoritarian rule of Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor.

Gongloe recalled the late Nagbe Sloh’s remark on ELBC that in a democracy, “you talk your own and I talk my own,” and the late Joe Mulbah’s saying that “jaw-jaw is better than war-war.” He said it is better for citizens to fight with words and ideas than with guns, calling this democracy’s “greatest safety valve.”

He argued that criticism helps governments see what they may be missing, warning that a President surrounded by officials who always say “yes” may never hear what ordinary citizens are experiencing.

Citing the rule of law, Gongloe pointed to a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that found President Boakai’s nominations to several already-occupied tenured positions violated the incumbents’ due-process rights, and ordered the nominations revoked. “That is precisely why public criticism and judicial scrutiny matter,” he said.

Gongloe said he has criticized many governments and bears the physical evidence of it, a memory he said will remain with him until death. He said he continues to criticize the government while offering solutions, and is himself criticized from both sides: some Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) partisans fault him when he commends the Unity Party (UP) government, while some UP members and supporters label him a CDC sympathizer when he criticizes it.

“That is democracy,” he said, adding that people will always disagree peacefully and respectfully, and that this helps officials know what citizens are thinking.

Gongloe concluded with advice to the President: “Let the people talk. Don’t complain. Listen! Correct what is wrong. Explain where the government disagrees.”

“Criticism is not the enemy of democracy. Silence is,” he said, calling silence “a very dangerous enemy of democracy.”