One of the most important factors of good leadership is the ability to withstand situations, be it political, economic or social, it is said. In fact, studies prove that many leaders hold this conviction to the teeth and do things against the will of the governed.

	• Pres. Johnson-Sirleaf

Again, there is another argument that leaders who listen to their people and act base on what they say enjoy political longevity.

Where does President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf fit between these two syllogisms, is the question on the lips of her admirers and critics.

The point in question is her response to assertions made by an opposition politician, J. Milton Teahjay that millions of dollars are leaving the country monthly.

The president, instead of launching an investigation, is calling for evidence before she can take action.

The Analyst reports on the issue from her press conference during which she also branded the police as not being effective to handle the crime crisis.

Observers say President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took a rather defensive posture, and wondered she tried to portray, when she responded to assertions made by political activist J. Milton Teahjay that the country is losing millions of dollars monthly in capital flight.

During her “farewell press conference” yesterday before departing for South Africa for the Nelson Mandela Intellectual Forum, the Liberian leader said she would not act on mere speculations, rather than on substantial evidence.

“If anybody has evidence of people sending stolen money, public money, please bring me the evidence, and then if I fail to act against the person, then you have every right to criticize me,” she said when answering a reporter’s inquiry.

In as much is it good for people to talk on issues of national concern, she said “loose talks would not help the situation. Bring the information, bring the evidence and say Madam President, here the Western Union receipts; minister Y, minister X sent this amount of money out of the country, and then I will look and see.”

Though she was not specific as to whether Teahjay spoke very loosely, observers are of the conviction that her statement implied.

And apart from that, observers say the president tried to dodge the issue when she said that she can only act base on the availability of evidence, because according to them, the fact that Teahjay mentioned Western Union and Money Gram, he has already done what the president wants before she acts.

“It is not about someone giving her evidence, but it is about her asking her security people, particularly NBI and NSA, to probe the issue raised by Teahjay,” an observer confided in our reporter.

   It was the president’s first time speaking to the issue, which generated astringent arguments in many quarters since Teahjay, former deputy Information minister alleged that government officials were sending millions of dollars to their relatives in the United States.

It may be recalled that on June 29, 2009, Teahjay, during activities marking the third anniversary of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) said an unprecedented trend of “capital flight” was at a high peak in the present government, alleging that about US$13.7m was being wired monthly by officials in the Ellen-led administration while Liberians were dying of hunger.

Serving as guest speaker of the program, he said statistics he obtained from the two reputable money transfer institutions in Liberia, Western Union and Money Gram have shown that the total of US$13.7 is being “illegally transferred outside of the country on a monthly basis.”

Speaking on the topic “Keeping the dream alive” said, “It is saddened that such huge sum of money is being transferred and sent into private accounts abroad by thieves while ordinary Liberians who cannot afford to buy a bag of rice turned to Bulgur Wheat as alternative meal for survival”

According to him, while Liberians are losing such huge sum to thieves, of being wired on a monthly basis, 8.4% of the population is being reduced to beggars while the balance 16% is comfortably seated and enjoying the wealth of the country.

At the same time, President Sirleaf has addressed herself to many issues confronting the nation and its people, such as the troubling security problem, high cost of living and many others. On the issue of security, the Liberian leader acknowledged that the general security in the country is bad.

“Every week, through UNMIL and our own security forces, we try to track the crimes as they are being increasing,” she acknowledged, and squarely put the blame at the feet of the national police which she said “has not been able to be very effective.”

The president informed the nation that about four police officers were arrested as a result of their participation in criminal activities, but said apart from the arrest of the four officers, not all of them are condemned.

“There are very good officers, even though they have very bad apples among them. We say the vetting process for the police was not as rigorous to produce the result as in the case of the army. So a revetting maybe necessary, maintain the good ones and wide out the ones that do not meet our standards.

In order to this, the president said her government has asked for the assistance of the United States and Great Britain which according to her have done an assessment and would soon give her a report as to what to do to improve the situation.

 “Once they are restructured, then we know we have to give them better compensation, better logistics to enable them to do their jobs. Please bear in mind too that one of the reasons is that this city is overcrowded.

We have people that have all come during the years of settling in Monrovia, we have refugees that are returning home, and we people that have been deported from jail in the United States and other places, so it makes it difficult to combat crime. You need to help us too,” the president rallied Liberians.

Whether the police or the entire national security apparatus of the country including UNMIL is teethed enough to combat the soaring wave of criminal activities in the country is a conjecture, but in order to win the fight against criminality, President Sirleaf said citizens have to help the government because “they have a stake in the peace and security of the nation.”

Also, as part of efforts aimed at addressing the crime wave, the president said the security people are trying to put into place mechanism, which may entail launching another operation, and added “We may have a response that may be more robust and responsive.”

On the issue of commodity prices, the Liberian leader again said, as she has always done, the issue is global.

“This is a world situation. All countries including the developed countries are feeling the pinch of this and there is nothing we cannot do about,” she said.

While the president agreed that the issue is global, she however noted that her government could make some adjustments on oil.