His Excellency President Joseph Boakai and the First Lady of the Republic of Liberia
Dignitaries of the Liberian Government
Fellow Liberians and other
Distinguished conveners at the Liberia Diaspora Annual Conference
Deliberating September 26-28, 2025, in the United States of America.
I bring warm greetings from DO IT FOR CHRIST Ministries and in my own name.
I am unable to be amongst you today in person, but I desire to contribute in some way to the discourse affecting our beloved and cherished homeland. Kindly hear me out.
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BUYOUT AND SEVERANCE Package Availability? ~ HortenseInspiration
. . . To counter the problem of maintaining skill and competence, we must first address the elephant in that room. Namely, how to absorb the existing workforce that is misplaced and return more professionals and technocrats into the various sectors.
Possible SOLUTION. One way would be to offer incentives to existing workers who lack the necessary skill and expertise for the position they currently occupy. In order to staff these agencies and sectors with the requisite skill and expertise necessary to properly function in such areas.
Notably. Without specialized training one cannot perform duties requiring specialty. A qualified mechanic cannot perform duties of an electrical engineer simply by will of wanting the job. A dedicated janitor is not the right fit for an eye surgeon position. A successful petty trader cannot replace a budget analyst. Liberia must utilize its massive skilled manpower. Technocrats and professionals are readily available. It is suicidal nationally to have them languishing at the hand of sentimentality and camaraderie designated placements and appointments.
Developed talent is what fuels developed nations. Simply imposing a staggering fee for foreign labor is counterproductive, if a nation cannot utilize its own competent workforce. Furthermore, it places a huge drain on already limited national resources. Businesses will get their profits one way or another.
My SUGGESTION. There be set up a FUND to be utilized strictly for offering buyouts and severance packages. This will ensure workers are compensated fairly and justly for the services they have rendered their country to date. The condition would be that workers utilize those monies to start a new business, engage in productive enterprise for themselves, giving them a hand up in income generating potential.
Enforcement means that such a person cannot be re-employed in the sector after having accepted the severance or buyout. This is not a recycling match.
Prior to the disbursements of said FUND throughout the workforce, logistics would include conducting a thorough sweep and competency evaluation for civil servant positions. Present training and career advancement opportunities as a condition for retention. It would be otherwise inhumane to dismiss their services if they would excel, given were there opportunities for advancing their skills in their current role. Of course, finishing with proven competency and skill acquisition, like being able to pass an examination/test. Simply, they must master the job for which they're staying on to perform. In simple English, you got to go to school and train before you do career professional office job.
It is grossly unproductive to keep people employed in professions where they clearly lack requisite knowledge, skill and expertise, yet refuse skill enhancement.
Ignoring the problem of skill and competence in the Liberian workforce is a recipe for mediocre outcomes in every sector of employment. The workforce must match for continuity of infrastructural development. This is vital to national sustainability at every level.
MAYBE the Diaspora could establish such a funding source. Maybe, the Government of Liberia could reallocate some of the often mentioned "wasteful" spending to establish such a funding source. While the maybe(s) are many, there is certainly a way to accomplish this idea or a better one.
Notably. The USA Liberian Diaspora often send annual remittances equal to the national budget of the land. By and large, have we seen the collective added value, nationally, of Diaspora remittances? I am not sure we have. Liberians, we must, must, think far outside the proverbial box. Our country is bleeding unnecessarily even while we walk around with countless first-aid remedies.
The longer we let the sectors go unmanned by the level of professionalism required for running a smooth machine, the longer development in every sector crawls. It crawls on to a halt. Utilize our exhaustive manpower at home and abroad.
Liberia has unmatched human capital. There are qualified and competent Liberian technocrats in every discipline. It is detrimental to the country that technocrats are wasting away because the positions they have been trained and prepared extensively for, through education, discipline and rigorous training, oft at Government expense, are already occupied with incomparable talent.
Let us as a Nation absorb this large pool of misplaced Liberians in the workforce by helping them succeed elsewhere other than in technical and professional areas. The FUND offering severance and buyout packages would help get them there.
Lastly, officials and higher ups must refrain from dictating "who gets what" jobs, throughout the sectors.
The nation must handle this crisis in a humane and dignified a manner as possible. However, this crisis has to be addressed. Promptly. For posterity sake. I pray we find the right solutions to solve the right problems. We can do this and do this well.
THE DISCOURSE CONTINUE . . .
Blessings and peace,
~Servant Hortense*
DO IT FOR CHRIST Ministries
*Hortense Duarma Grimes
