MONROVIA, Liberia — In a striking moment during his first 2026 press briefing, Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan turned the initials of opposition leader Alexander Benedict Cummings (ABC) into a practical lesson on Liberia’s “bread-and-butter” economic challenges, using roads, energy, and connectivity to explain how infrastructure investment directly affects household welfare.
The Finance Minister was responding to a question that had been asked by a journalist, who quoted Mr. Cummings as dismissing the President’s Annual Message. According to this journalist, Mr. ABC had reportedly asked when he(ABC) officially responded to President Boakai’s Annual Message, “Dat coal-tarr (paved road) we will eat?”
Ngafuan said critics who dismiss road construction as disconnected from daily survival misunderstand the fundamentals of economic growth.
“I call it an ABC example,” the minister said. “Roads are not abstract. Roads reduce travel time. Time is money.”
He explained that improved road conditions to the Southeast now allow farmers and traders to reach markets in days rather than weeks, reducing transportation costs, lowering food prices, and increasing household income.
“When you save money on transport,” he said, “you buy bread and butter.”
Infrastructure as Economic Catalyst
Ngafuan defended the government’s continued focus on inherited infrastructure projects, arguing that development is incremental and belongs to the people, not political regimes.
“These are not Boakai’s roads or Ngafuan’s roads,” he said. “They are the Liberian people’s roads.”
He likened national development to constructing a multi-story building, where successive governments complete different floors rather than abandon unfinished foundations.
Energy and Jobs
The Minister also emphasized energy as a core “bread-and-butter” issue, noting that electricity is one of the highest costs for businesses. Lower power costs, he argued, translate directly into higher profits and job creation.
“When expenditure goes down, profit goes up,” Ngafuan explained. “And when profit goes up, businesses hire people.”
On Critics and Progress
Ngafuan said criticism is part of democracy but warned against what he called selective pessimism that ignores measurable gains.
“You can always zoom in on what has not been achieved,” he said. “But progress has been made.”
He concluded by urging Liberians to judge the administration not by perfection, but by direction.
“Today is better than yesterday,” Ngafuan said. “And tomorrow will be better than today.”
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