What they are giving — at that precise moment — is money toward the salaries of hundreds of Liberian bar staff: a good job to hold in a country where as much as 85 percent of the young population are unemployed. Indeed, despite the attention international agencies have lavished on Liberia since the end of our civil war in 2003, there’s not much to show for the effort.

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Of course, aid is appreciated. Over the past 14 years, donor generosity has promoted peace and confronted and defeated the Ebola epidemic. Yet there comes a point when charity can become a barrier to treating and respecting people and a nation as partners.

It is clear the current model isn’t working. Donor support is supposed to be a transitional arrangement: enhancing resilience, generating opportunities for trade and fostering the growth of a vibrant private sector to draw investment. This has not been Liberia’s experience. Instead we have become trapped in a pernicious cycle of reliance in which aid begets more aid. This means a rethink in the balance between aid and trade is overdue.

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This must begin with the government looking beyond aid to deliver Liberia’s future and taking the lead in setting the priorities and framework for delivering services such as health care and education.

This is not to argue that it should be the role of the Liberian government to directly deliver such services itself; rather that international nongovernmental organizations and intergovernmental agencies have taken, in some cases, complete control of the traditional functions of the democratically-elected government to set policy and deliver services. Without sovereign, democratic control and accountability, Liberia is not in fact sovereign or democratic at all: Its people are not free to chart their own course.

Aid can never fulfill the full swath of a country’s needs; it cannot be a substitute for political action. The government must recognize this and improve the general lot of its citizens — or be held to account for not doing so at the ballot box.

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Trade and investment are the most effective means to achieve lasting advancement. Only through economic development can we break the cycle of dependency. Yet the policies to cultivate this are woefully lacking. On the World Bank’s 2016 Doing Business Index, Liberia ranks a dismal 174th. Fluency in the language of international aid is all very well, but Liberia needs leadership with a proper grasp of development economics.

This means shifting from an extractive to an agro-based economy. Despite the fact that most Liberians live on farms, the nation imports the majority of its food. Through the re-establishment of the Agriculture Corporation Development Bank, we can provide subsidized equipment, fertilizer and improved seeds so farmers can expand their output and feed the country once again.

Corruption should also be tackled. Investors do not have the confidence that their capital will reach its intended destination. Even worse, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government — while feted by the international-aid community — has allowed a culture of impunity to develop at home where kick-backs and bribes have become common currency. This will stop only when corrupt officials are prosecuted and an example is set. Foreign investment will follow soon after.

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Ultimately, the people of Liberia want the dignity of work. They don’t want to rely on charity to feed their families. The current government has had 12 years to deliver on this, but we find ourselves economically where we began — if not worse.