Liberia ’ s Future On The Rope
Liberian Literary Magazine Promoting Liberian Literature , Arts and Culture
Liberia ’ s Future On The Rope
Martin Kollie
Our choice today as a country must never be gambling , but quality education . Our preference must be youth development and empowerment . It is too sad that gambling has become a way of life and a major source of income for thousands of young Liberians living in a small nation endowed with abundant natural wealth . It beats my imagination to see Liberians standing in long lines everyday fighting for betting tickets . Gambling can never be an option to reduce massive poverty and youth unemployment . It only increases the number of unproductive citizens and less-busy minds . If genuine and sustainable steps are not taken to enhance youth development through education , empowerment and employment in Liberia , I foresee a country of professional gamblers , beggars and drug addicts 10 years from now . We must understand that 65 % of our country ’ s population comprises of youngsters . We can only protect the future of this nation if we begin to massively invest in young people proactively and not retrogressively . Anything less than this , Liberia ’ s future is on the rope . Liberia stands a serious risk of embracing a dead future if nothing is done now to reclaim the attention of most Liberians , especially young people from a social syndrome that is increasingly swallowing our country . The addiction of this generation to gambling is alarming and I foresee an unfulfilled destiny if urgent measures are not taken to arrest the situation . The demerits of this anti-social act are costly and any attempt to ignore this fact will lead us as a nation to an undesirable end . Gambling is not a friend to any innovative generation whose primary goal is to take exclusive charge of a prosperous tomorrow . It poses threat to our existence as a people and encourages an illfocused generation that eventually becomes societal liability . If Liberia must make significant progress in this 21st Century by becoming a trendsetter of economic expansion , then our government must take the lead by persistently prioritizing youth empowerment and employment ! Gambling is not an option for Liberian Youth . It does not provide any answer to our current socio-economic nightmare . It undermines our destiny as a nation . The solution for unemployment , inequality , poverty , illiteracy , and disease cannot and will never be gambling . It is unarguably evident that the newest and most popular means of survival nowadays under the leadership of Africa ’ s first female President is Gambling . This act has taken center stage within our bleeding economy . The economy of Liberia will continue to experience sharp decline until local dominance can overshadow foreign control . The need to develop young minds is paramount to national growth and genuine development . An attempt to abandon Liberia ’ s only hope will only add insult to injury . The living condition of youth in this country is becoming very terrible as the clock ticks . The certainty of a better future in a country of equal citizenship is unthinkable as youngsters are left alone to struggle for survival daily . Our leaders who are in control of state resources must begin to rethink by engendering realistic steps to redeem this young generation from sailing on a shore of incessant failure . As the poverty gap widens , access to equal opportunities remains visibly unseen , whereas article 18 of our Constitution says “ All Liberian citizens shall have equal opportunity for work and employment regardless of sex , creed , religion , ethnic background , place of origin or political affiliation , and all shall be entitle to equal pay for equal work ”. If this provision guarantees our right to equal opportunities as taxpayers of Liberia , why must our self-esteem and dignity be undermined by gambling , prostitution , drug trafficking , begging , etc .? It is important to reconnect with our history by critically examining the role of young people during our civil unrest . Most of those who committed heinous crimes during our senseless conflict were young people . These young and energetic youth were used as front-liners by greedy politicians to perpetuate their evil plans . If the minds of these young citizens were conscious and enlightened enough prior to our war , Liberia would not have gone through such a national tragedy . We are yet to recognize how crucial youth empowerment is to the stability of any democratic society , even though there are lessons clearly written within the margin of our historical heritage . If we fail to learn from our past as a nation , I wonder how we intend to make progress ! Our country is on a pathway to economic and political uproar if we continue to intentionally ignore and abandon the preference of this generation . Empowerment opportunities such as education and employment remain very key to protecting our fragile peace . The sky-scraping increment of gamblers , prostitutes , and drug addicts in our society , especially in slum communities needs immediate remedy .
As the number of betting booths , entertainment centers , and drugs hideouts around the country increases , there is less appetite to promote academic excellence and quality education . As a result of this , the pillars of our educational system are crumbling . Students are no longer willing to spend hours reading and researching in order to ensure personal development . Other countries like Rwanda , South Africa , Kenya , Ghana , Nigeria and Uganda are far ahead of us simply because we have an illprepared population that lacks necessary skills to respond to existing global demands . It has been proven that gambling contributes to a high rate of drugs abuse , prostitution , robbery , etc . Gambling harms everyone and
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