Going into the 2017 General and Presidential Elections, among the dozens of presidential candidates vying at the time, former Vice President Joseph N. Boakai stood tall and could have won that election plain and simple. But he didn't win and here's why.
Mr. Boakai had already sealed his own fate before venturing into that congested election. He decided from the word go that he had lost the election-it was Karma at work.
Karma, in Hinduism and Buddhism, is the relationship between a person's mental or physical action and the consequences following that action.
Karma also signifies the consequences of all the actions of a person in their current and previous lives and the chain of cause and effect in morality.
The Bible makes it explicit: "And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?" Luke 16:12 (KJV).
The former Vice President's attempts to distance himself from alleged corruption within theEllen Johnson Sirleaf's regime in 2017 and only identifying with the positives demonstrated his hypocrisy and unfaithfulness towards Mrs. Sirleaf, thereby defeating the trust and confidence reposed in him by the latter.
Not only did Mr. Boakai try as much as possible to distance himself from Mrs. Sirleaf's regime's shortcomings going into that election in 2017, but he went on to further described himself as an unused car parked in a garage, suggesting that he was not allowed to function as a sitting vice president-yet he continued in that role for 12 unbroken years feeding from the same regime.
Lest we forget, it was Mrs. Sirleaf who recruited Mr. Boakai, a non-Unity Party partisan at the time out of the blues to be her vice-presidential running mate in 2005 and maintained his service in 2011.
There is a two-point argument here: one is entirely based on faithfulness and trust; the other relates to the value system and morality. Winning one of these arguments could have won Mr. Boakai the presidency in 2017. But he chose none yet wanted to be viewed as the cleanest candidate entering the 2017 crowded presidential race.
Faithfulness and Trust
Mr. Boakai could have remained devoted to the UP-led government despite the chain of corruption allegations and squandered opportunities and campaign on its positives.
One defining line could have been taking responsibility for the regime's failures accompanied by apologies while reminding the public of the road infrastructure initiatives under the administration, something he wants to continue.
Simply port: "Yes, we made some errors, we apologize for those mistakes. We had a lot of opportunities, but we squandered them. We are sorry." However, the road projects we started, I want to continue..."
These lines of arguments would have garnered support and earned him trust among the electorates.
However, he chose to run in the opposite direction which brought his integrity and moral values into question.
Values and Morality
Mr. Boakai, a former Agriculture Minister under slain President Samuel Doe from 1983-1985, prior to which he had served in several positions within the Liberia Government earning him over forty years of public service under his belt cannot be trusted because he has nothing to stand for.
Mr. Boakai could have saved his political career by resigning from the Ellen regime citing alleged corruption and squandered opportunities and indicating in his resignation letter that those practices ran contrary to his moral values-stealing.
But the former vice president chose not to resign and remained in office enjoying the benefits of the "loots" of the Ellen administration until its end makes him no saint.
It is said that a man who has nothing to stand for can stand for anything. Resigning or refusing to be Mrs. Sirleaf's vice-running mate because of rampant corruption in her administration would have put Baokai on a pedestal never before witnessed in Liberia.
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Boakai failed to learn from other leaders.
Interestingly, former vice President Boakai failed to learn from examples within both the sub-region and the United States.
Atiku Abubakar, Olusegun Obasanjo's former vice president who turned against his boss after serving under him as vice president has since failed to win an election in Nigeria.
His latest defeat comes on the heels of the just-ended presidential election in Nigeria. This is arguably his third or fourth attempt. Atiku, now 76, even if age was in his favor can never win a presidential election in Nigeria because of Karma.
One man who understands Karma well is former United States Vice President Al Gore. Al Gore turned against his boss former President Bill Clinton during his situation with Monica Lewinski, after serving with him for 8 years. He offered President Clinton no moral support and distanced himself from the president.
He ran in the subsequent election and got defeated by former President George Bush by a narrow margin.
