CRITICAL ISSUES OF NATIONAL CONCERN (VIII)

Year End Message to My Fellow Countrymen, Comrades, Well-Wishers and Audience

My Dear Countrymen and great comrades in the fight for social justice and democracy, I salute you all at this great time from the hilltop of progressivism where we have all over the years been posted critically thinking and utilizing the might of the pen to repel the forces of injustice, corruption, imperial leadership and the menace of poverty.

The year 2008 has gone and shall never return to meet us where it met us when we, mostly in our youths celebrated with lullabies and sent up praises to our Creator asking for longevity. At this time, our concern must not focus on request for longevity in life. What we must pray for considering the political climate and situation, which conventionally is at a disadvantage, is good governance, the product of which shall provide opportunities for longevity.

The year 2008 was a great challenge to lead campaigners for democracy and social justice in Africa. In our country, we saw the locust of corruption, due to the lack of security for public integrity, consuming the fabrics of good governance thereby depriving the masses of our people from better social services and ideal living standards. The scourges of rape and armed robbery went uncontrollably and still remain threats to the survivability of our people.

Mass killings and kidnappings, and abuse of little children through human trafficking were reported around the country. Natural disasters and unfortunate ones caused by men also left some of our people in homelessness and mournful agony. About nineteen of our countrymen died at the hands of others over a farmland dispute in Margibi County, which led to the arrest of a Senator and some others accused as partners-in-crime. Sadly, about ten of our compatriot also died during a football match between our dear Lone Star and visiting Gambia. Hundreds of our people were left as victims of flood around Monrovia, Nimba County, Grand Cape Mount County, and other parts of the country.

There were also several steps taken by our government to address some of those things threatening the existence of our people. Our government launched a road rehabilitation project which saw the paving of major streets in the country. Several construction works were undertaken in local communities to give our people roads to access markets with farm produce, schools to educate children, and health centers were opened in some communities. A strategy to reduce poverty, called LIFT LIBERIA, the common name for the Poverty Reduction Strategy, was launched as a means of reducing poverty in the lives of our people. An Emergency Response Unit of the Liberia National Police was inaugurated to fight robbery and other crimes in the country effectively.

An anti-graft unit called the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission was launched to enforce the campaign against corruption in the country. But the make-up of the commission is still a controversial issue with the civil society community describing it as a ‘bogus process, which fell short of consultations’.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission commenced its public hearings early in the year. Witnesses around the country, including individuals suspected of being perpetrators appeared and gave testimonies of their roles and experiences during the civil war. The testimonies left many of our countrymen in uncertainties and extreme frustrations due to the controversial accounts and deliberate distortions of the facts by those actors. At the same time the advocacy for the establishment of a war crime court continues with vigilance in the country.

During the year, several personalities visited our country which signaled to the world the return of genuine peace in Liberia. The President of the United States, George W. Bush, The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, including several other world larders and investors came and left. And a landmark event worth mentioning here was the election of Barack Obama as the First Afro-American to become President of the United States of America.

On the continent of Africa, several unfortunate situations left us with great challenges as we strive to democratize the continent. Electoral violence and protests left several of our people dead in Kenya and caused the East African state to lose nearly one billion dollar. Several properties were destroyed as the state nearly loses its authority. A new government was formed against the Constitution of the Country.

As the year ends, Zimbabwe remains a threat to us all where the political crisis has been transformed into a deadly humanitarian crisis that is killing our people. Hunger and pandemics have spread among the rural people while the political leaders have been stifled in a deadlock thereby leaving our people in conditions suffused with hopelessness. The state of Zimbabwe has completely loss its authority and has proven to be unable to protect our people from violence and at the same time can not provide for the people basic social services in health, nutrition, education, and security.

Our people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being terrified and are dying of the scourge of war for which decades ago the United Nations was founded to prevent. In neighboring Guinea, the long time military cum civilian ruler, Lansana Conteh died, and a bloodless coup took place. The army has seized power and has unfortunately suspended the constitution, trade union activities, and political activities. This action by the army indicates that the rights of our people there will be suppressed and bad governance and dictatorship will continue there. That is a serious threat to us all and the entire subregion that is still recuperating from the internecine crises and political decadence that went around from Liberia to Sierra Leone and then to Ivory Coast.

At this critical point my dear compatriots, it is no imagination that I can tell you that the struggle for democracy and social justice in Africa will one day succeed. For us in Liberia, as we have committed ourselves to the fight against injustices, tyranny and bad governance using the pen and the intellectual mind, we must endure the fight. As we enter into a new year, let us all be hopeful and set a goal for every country. Our concentration in Liberia should be the Elimination of Corruption. Eliminating corruption should not be limited to government. We must enter our schools and oppose bribery; we must obey the laws of our country. For those of us who are in the markets, we must stop skyrocketing prices and sell according to standard prices. Extortion for services out of normal systems must be spoken against in our hospitals, banks, and public services and even the larger private sector.

Continentally, we must all join hands to campaign for the liberation of the great people of Zimbabwe, who by accident of history are the unfortunate victims of a failed state rambling in what the Legendary Nelson Mandela referred to as ‘a tragic failure of leadership’.

This is why we must utilize all available energies and option to counter every act in our country that may have the propensity of creating an imperial leadership. While we must be loyal citizens to our country, and we must all be defenders of its sovereignty, let us with consciousness avoid sycophancy and challenge dictatorship from all angles. Our common focus, if we are to reduce poverty, stop corruption and injustices must be the institutionalization of a system of good governance, because men in all spheres of the globe according to the Athenian Philosopher Socrates, desire nothing more in common than the wish for ‘good governance’.

Let the campaign continue with vigor and endurance in the New Year (2009). We must remain carriers of messages of peace, democracy and social justice every where we go. Peace in a neighboring country is peace in Liberia, and a threat to peace anywhere around the world, is threat to peace in Liberia. There must be no time in our lives when violence should become an option. Leaving the pen for violence is an indication that the intellectual reservoir has run dried, and unfortunately a violence campaign never succeed till the end, all in such struggle are mere cowards and losers. For our people to live in harmony and improved living conditions, the struggle for change, democracy, and social justice must remain bloodless.

I salute you, and wish you all the Blessing of our Creator in the Coming Year.

-In the Cause of Democracy and Social Justice, the Pen Shall Never Run Dry-

CRITICAL ISSUES OF NATIONAL CONCERN (VII)

Emphasizing the Reality of Bropleh’s Alternative to Rapists

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei

One would wonder why this controversial issue has claimed the attention of the pen, and has become a subject of discussion under this series. As it was stated in the maiden edition of this series, that our discovery of the fact that what we are writing are influencing national policy decisions, so everything that has to do with a contentious national issue will have to be a matter of dialoguing here for possible solutions. That has, and will always be our intent. That is also why the slogan of the series goes like this: In the Cause of Democracy and Social Justice the Pen Shall Never Run Dry.

There are three major reasons why we will have to attempt to emphasize the reality of Dr. Bropleh’s clear and audacious alternative to the spineless and vicious men in our society who are inhumanely assaulting teenagers as low as six years and nine years to ease their sexual emotions. We have to divorce this issue from all hypocrisies and sycophancies. As a social thinker I believe strongly that what threatened society and the survivability of a particular generation must be countered and eliminated with all available options. Whether Bropleh thinks the same way, so be it. The three reasons we will discussed to emphasize the reality of the alternative are: The issue of rape, the issue of prostitution, and the controversies surrounding the personality of Bropleh.

The first reason here is the prevalence of rape in our country today. It is indeed appalling that rape and armed robbery are the two crimes that usually top police charge sheet. Sadly, little girls in their teens and under ten years are the unfortunate victims of this scourge. There are several cases that when we reminisced of for the sake of humanity we weep in empathy. That an innocent kid will loss her life or her future just in few minutes to the pleasure of a man who has no esteem for himself is a question that we all must ponder over. Two years ago nine-year old Janjay died of rape. Earlier this year, a little girl identified as Tenezee was raped to death in New Kru Town. Several of these cases are occurring uncontrollably. Children are either dying or being damaged completely. Imagine that a six-year old had her womb removed after being raped.

With all attempts made, including the Act that makes rape unbaillabe, with all the harsh punishments against convicts, the crime continues unabatedly. These are occurring in a country where there are prostitutes available for anything one can afford. Therefore, it is prudent and realistic enough for anyone to call the attention of rapists to the services of prostitutes as a means of saving little children from their (rapists) wrath. For anyone to think the other way and condemn this as an option is to be hypocritical and to give a blind-folded eye to the reality of prostitution, and at the same time not doing anything about it.

Prostitution is now an open business in Liberia, and this is not an issue to brag on any longer. In 2005 Save The Children-UK released a report indicating that 90 percent of a sample of school going girls in Monrovia were surviving on prostitution. Regrettably the Gender Ministry and the NTGL did not do any counter investigation to help reduce this immorality in Liberia, but later condemned the report. This is a wrong way of addressing our social problems in this country. We need to face the facts about those problems and find solutions or alternatives to them.

Finally, I must bring out an important issue here to conclude this conversation. Bropleh’s personality and assertions have most often sprouted controversies in this country. This is not strange to me. Every revolutionary who attempts to bring momentary changes to the prevailing order will have to face the condemnations of those benefiting from the wastage of that order. It is evident that many things we accept and do in this country do not reflect the reality of the day and also can not be accommodated in the new realm of globalization. But it will only take a virtuous and courageous man to denounce those things. And as such, he must be prepared to suffer attacks from conformists. In recognition of the fact that Liberia is a pluralistic society, Bropleh, a Methodist prelate, called for the recognition of Islamic Holidays or the elimination of Christian holidays from our national activities. He was misunderstood not because he was not clear, but because people wanted to use the situation against him to score relevance, and for many other reasons. And unfortunately, he received all the condemnations available to the wisdom of his critics. He had come across similar situations in his attempt to attitudinally revolutionize this society that is morally decrepit. Today, he has seen a situation that is very troubling - involving the future of little and innocent Liberian girls against the quenching of the sexual thirst of individuals who have no esteem for their manhood - destroying little and innocent kids. For him he believes that since all attempts are not yielding the required result of curbing rape - he had proposed to rapist to make use of prostitutes that are available. But as usual this is the society that he is struggling with, he is the subject of all humiliations and personality mortification by people including women groups that can not curb rape and prostitution by themselves. Anyway, this where he has launched his revolution, so help us God.

I give him my support and I care not who misunderstand the reality of these revolutions that are coming event by event. Where the fact is practical and visible, we shall not deter to throw in our energy.

It was the American civil rights writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson that said, ‘….To be great is to be misunderstood’. … ‘Jesus was misunderstood, Socrates was misunderstood, Pythagoras was misunderstood, and so many who came to change were misunderstood.’
And I am not surprised if Bropleh is misunderstood.

-In the Cause of Democracy and Social Justice, the Pen Shall Never Run Dry-

CRITICAL ISSUES OF NATIONAL CONCERN (VI)

Who wins the Corruption War?

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in her inaugural address declared corruption as publc enemy number one, indicating that a fierce battle would be launched against corruption. But President Sirleaf did not indicate where the battle front or the buffer zone will be. Moreover the word corruption has become a political cliché to either destroy opponents or to score political victory. Both are evidence in the ongoing war.
Since then the government had continuously decried the presence and prevalence of corruption in the country, portraying a forceful resurgence of the public enemy. But when one thinks about who or what really represent the public enemy on the front, it creates a pseudomystic thinking to either assume or dismiss that those who are decrying the public enemy are the ones representing the forces of the enemy. Thus the enemy becomes invisible, and practically invincible.
And now it seems that the public enemy number one has worn bullet proof to survive, there seems to be serious inadequacy on the part of the battle front commander who declared the war open. The inadequacies are not the absence of logistics, equipments, and resources. The inadequacies are manifested in the deep-seated cronyism style of leadership and the lack of political and administrative will in the Frontline Commander to move vigilantly. Moreover, the war has been influenced by peddling, bigotry, and a system of ‘cover-up’ for those who are in or near the ‘kitchen cabinet’
The government of Liberia is armed with all necessary weaponry and units to ensure victory. The infantry battalion at the GAC is doing all to dig out the hidden public enemy in government agencies. But it seems that forces representing the government in the illusive, yet publicized war are not appreciative of each other. Some public occurrences in recent time can actually tell where the public enemy is being hosted. The Deputy Auditor General was brutally attacked at the Ministry of Public Works, while officials indicted by audit reports are sponsoring bogus ‘pro-democracy’ groups to undermine the credibility of the GAC. Reports of influence peddling are lingering in the spheres of government operations in terms of contracts, concessions, and political appointments. The worst of these reports are the ones occurring in the camp of the commander-in- chief, and the u-turn in decision concerning the Western Cluster deal which was widely believed to be characterized by ‘palm greasing’.
The judiciary is swimming in serious pool of malfeasances where justice is now on bonanza for sale, and the Supreme Court is nearly turning to a partisan syndicate, where majority votes, influenced by lobbyists - not reasons, precedence, and statutes - are determining verdicts.
The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission was intended to reinforce the battle, but its rejection by the civil society has dumped it into a pool of the incredible syndicates. This had left the people with no hope in the war, as the public enemy gluttonously consumes their resources with no accounts.
After crying wolves for nearly three years, the president announced a policy on corruption which still falls short of effective political will to prosecute and restitute stolen assets. Yet she claimed that the battle will be won. Intellectually, as they are now fighting the war using public speeches and gimmicks, they may win applause from their cheering squads for their oratorical skills. Fantastically, the government claims that the widespread talk about corruption in the country is an indication that the fight is succeeding, but that is a sheer farce. The noise is publicly made because the people are deeply frustrated and tired of corruption because they are still feeling its impacts in the presence of intellectual grandiloquence and opulent pleasantries.
The battle line has been absorbed in extreme hypocrisy thereby putting the true owners of the nation’s resources, in whose interests the war is purportedly launched, in sheer disillusionments.
But at the end of the six-year term, it will be no surprise to see the masses of the people weeping for losing the corruption war, because it is not fought in their interest. The war has taken a trend that had left pundits to believe that it is intended for those who are innocent and have no real affiliations with the ‘untouchables’. Audit reports from the statutory audit institution, the General Auditing Commission, have been reduced to legislative debate where anything can happen and anyone can lobby to go free, while audit reports from quasi panels are used as the basis in the fight against corruption. But let them know that whatever the case, we are aware that the prosecution based on the ECOWAS Panel Report is in no way a fight against corruption in this government. What we know is that those accuse of corruption in this government are either changed from one Ministry or Agency to another, or forwarded to the Justice Ministry for investigations- the reports of which are never made public or heard of anymore .
Finally, let’s make no satire of this situation; the Liberian people will definitely lose the corruption war. At the end of the six-year term, those that have been destitute will still be the same or deteriorate beyond conventional poverty classification, while the central clique, the group that earns nothing except in government, will grow their bellies and secure big accounts out of the country; paying huge mortgages on properties in the U. S and Europe while Liberia remains undeveloped; paying tuitions in schools and Universities in Europe and the U.S thereby giving them no reason to improve educational facilities in the country. Shamelessly, the same group seeks medical treatments abroad, benefitting from the products of the farsighted leadership given by others while resources given to them to manage are squandered. The much talked about Poverty Reduction Strategy, a fine intellectual paper, is nothing but an illusion, because even those that are preaching it around are aware that it cannot be achieved in three years, and resources to be used for its implementation are transferred to private pockets. But the sycophancy and hypocrisy has to go on, to pave the way for continuity in the spree of ‘gobachopism’. Who wins the war is left with anyone to determine, but the loser is clear.
But I say this to my dear people: The days of weeping shall one day be over, and a leadership that will fight corruption in the true interest of Liberia will one day come. And so, ‘endure the times and weep no more, for your days are ahead’.

In the Cause of Democracy and Social Justice, The Pen Shall Never Run Dry

CRITICAL ISSUE OF NATIONAL CONCERN (V)

THE CONDITION OF DISABLED LIBERIANS: MY ENCOUNTER WITH THE BLINDS

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei


While roaming the streets of Monrovia one encounters many things, sometimes strange, mysterious and sometimes very interesting events that seem to be unimaginable. For those with hearts and minds for humanity come across sorrows while others may just move about. During those chores, it sometimes becomes a fortune to meet an old friend or a good friend and, to see entertainers –most of them in search of a bread to take home.

My observation has roughly concluded that three out of every twenty Liberians that roam the streets of Monrovia during the week must have some form of disability, or inability- blindness, physically impaired, mentally impaired and technically incapacitated (lacking in productive skills) - but LISGIS can prove me otherwise. These are really the people that most often come out with no specific routine or schedule for the day but with high hopes of taking bread to feed a family and keep life going.

This, in some ways, is indicative of the depth to which poverty have sunk into the lives of the people that it is becoming deep-rooted and finally accepted as part of life. Interestingly, it is prevailing in the midst of multilateral donor funding and acclaimed professional government with a much publicized poverty reduction agenda coupled with huge revenue intake. This unfavorable, yet prevailing state of affairs had involuntarily reduced thousands of our people to sheer mendicancy at the expense of the dignity of their humanity and personal integrity. Anyway, let’s get to the critical issue.

On a hot Saturday afternoon I encountered four blind Liberians who had come on what they normally term as field outreach – singing in street corners. The four blinds were engaged in a hot feud over the spot at the Carey and Lynch Streets intersection. One had claimed that the spot is his position and he gets his daily bread from there. The other, a lady in a counterclaim, averred that she had met no one there; therefore she is entitled to be there. The other two were peacemakers. One of the blinds being so farsighted suggested that a deal be agreed upon: One person use the location for three days in the week, and the other for the remaining three days excluding Sunday. The blind man who claimed ownership of the spot refused to accept the deal on grounds that the lady has always obstructed his normal ‘eating spot’.

I could not withstand witnessing what the people were going through. They attracted a huge number of people that stood witnessing them, some steering in laughter while some expressing sympathetic ululations. Even within the audience witnessing the blinds, there were some Liberians who still complain about the presence of unfavorable economic conditions that are making life unbearable.

But why will everyone complain in the country. The survivability of the physically, mentally and visually disabled and the technically unable who move around the streets depends on those that are both physically and technically able, and if the latter group complains of hardship, by extension, the disabled only survive at the general mercy of God.

Yes everyone must survive at the general mercy of God, but the segment of our society surviving on welfare needs special attention from the society – the state, religious groups, philanthropic organizations, and the family. These groups must work to ensure the upholding of the dignity of those people by providing better livelihoods for them that their survivability can not be dependent upon transitory incomes obtained from begging in street corners.

The empowering of those people economically through the provision of skills that will make them independent will not only take them from the street as beggars, but it will also reduce the state’s expenditure on welfare for the disabled. By extension that will in some way reduce burdens and stress on those that are able in a way that saving will increase in the economy.

Finally, it will also be important that relevant line ministries and welfare groups focus attention to the mentally impaired. The number of mentally impaired persons (mad men and women) is increasing steadily in the city of Monrovia and the country at large. Some of these people begin their madness with minor psychosocial problems that can be solved. But the absence of care through counseling and encouragement gradually leads them to a terrible situation of madness. This group of people needs to be catered to at a special center for mental rehabilitation where they will be properly monitored and protected from returning to the streets where they are abused, beaten, raped, and sometimes kidnapped.

-In the Cause of Democracy and Social Justice the Pen Shall Never Run Dry-

THE CHALLENGES OF ACHIEVING GENUINE RECONCILIATION IN LIBERIA

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei


Introduction

Reconciliation as an institution and function of the transitional justice system is done with contrition and forgiveness based on the conviction of the parties involved. There have been numerous discourses to explore possibilities of genuine reconciliation in the absence of justice. Justice comes in two forms, restorative and retributive. Restorative justice calls for the reconciling of the forces involved in a conflict to restore and build broken relations without punitive actions against perpetrators. On the other hand, retributive justice prosecutes and punishes guilty perpetrators for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In all cases, transitional justice examines the two – restorative, through truth commissions, and retributive through tribunals or courts. In the transitional justice process none is a substitute for the other, and individuals searching for the truth, or prosecuting perpetrators are to have no connections with the conflicts and its associated problems. A tribunal can succeed a truth commission or any of them can be duly implemented. Other countries like Sierra Leone and Rwanda have experienced some forms of the two. While South Africa, Ghana, and some states in the United States resolved their internal conflicts with only truth commissions.

The post-conflict situation in Liberia is challenged by numerous occurrences and expectations. The effort to establish the actual causes of the Liberian Civil War is on-going through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission established under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that finalized the brutal aspects of the Civil War. The process as a whole is transitional and needs to be handled carefully in the absence of biases and prejudices. This paper is an attempt to critically examine the ability and will of the commission to effectively propel the shattered and traumatized people of Liberia towards the achievement of genuine reconciliation in the midst of blunders, glaring deficiencies, oversights, contradictions, claims, counterclaims, rebuttals and propositions and limited human, material and financial capacity. The argument therefore does not attempt to dismiss the strides made by the commission in executing its mandate.

Historical Distortions and Empirical Contradictions

History as the account of events of the past built on political and socio-economic occurrences can not be evaded in reality. What history suffers is distortion and biases from academicians who deliberately write to satisfy clique or individual interests. However the case with Liberia, it is empirical that the written history of Liberia is replete with errors and deliberate distortions. Written Liberian history texts taught in schools have no details on the contributions of many sectors to the growth of the state, some are humiliating to the tribal communities, and many with glorifications for the settlers. Today, eyebrows, and questions are being raised about the reality of the existence or actual occurrences of some incidents in Liberian history, the Matilda Newport and Canon situation is one of such.

Every event of today must have some connections with precedence from the past. The present can not therefore be decided without references and linkages with the past just as the future can not be determined in the absence of acquaintances with the past and the present.

This issue of deliberately prejudicing and slicing the contextual issues of our history does not only pose a challenge to our reconciliation process, but also retains a declassified mentality of the Liberian psyche for a significant part of our population. Our reconciliation process is therefore highly challenged to clarify the contradictions.

One of the mandates of the TRC is to ‘conduct a critical review of Liberia’s historical past, with the view to establishing and giving recognition to historical truths in order to address falsehoods and misconceptions of the past relating to the nation’s socio-economic and political development’ [Article IV (d) TRC ACT]. With varying and controversial accounts of our history, one wonders critically as to whose writing may be considered the falsity and whose writing the truth by the TRC.

The Commission, according to its Act is to investigate occurrences between the period January 1979 to October 14, 2003. We will have to be told by common logic whether an incident that occurred on January 1, 1979 have no unbalance force that precipitated its occurrence from December 31, 1978 backward. The causes of events can not be evaded in a reconciliation or prosecution process, and a problem can not be addressed without using its causes as a prime variable. These are necessary to further expound in the discourse and sharpen the contradictions in our reconciliation process because the Act did not mandate the Commission to go into events preceding 1979. The Commission will only thread into such incidents based on an application by any person or group of persons.

Critically, the Twin Battles, the issue of the Fernando Po Crises, the Matilda Newport Situation (whether True of False), the 1951 and 1955 incidents, the numerous raids of natives by the LFF and many more incidents are not within the stipulated mandate of the Commission, except by the interest of a group or an individual who may by inquisitiveness request the Commission to do so.

Questions of Neutrality and Independence

If we are all to be at the Great Judgment Day, those to prosecute or ask us questions are those who never live with us on earth. There hands are cleans of all worldly deeds, whether good or evil. They therefore morally fit to mount the podium, enjoy the requisite independence, and characteristic neutrality to ask anyone a question and declare you fit for either heaven or hell.

Transitional justice or conventional judicial systems require independence of juries, panelists, judges, and commissioners, etc. This independence is required to render unbiased and impartial decisions that will set a peaceful trajectory for progress and avoid, by the conscience of the participants –perpetrators, victims as well as witness- a relapse into chaos. Does our institution of reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission possess the characteristics of independence, impartiality, neutrality with reference to our civil war, and our political evolution as a nation-state in connection with varying ideologies? This question is puzzling and raised another critical one of the possibility of x-raying every Liberian to find the most neutral to lead the reconciliation drive. Is there any of us, so unique and without stains from the causes and consequences of the conflict? Let the search begin. So help us God!

Since the process began many questions of such have emerge from key actors as well as victims. Some members of the Commission, however the case, were connected to either the cause or the consequences of the civil conflict. Some are from the political institution which many of the witnesses have condemned for being responsible for our national woes. Will they now resign and put out public defense for their party. At the same time, some are from various activist organizations, and student groups that agitated in the country thereby necessitating the change that led to the war. What can they also say of their roles? One may wonder whether they will build their defense in their report, or possibly, there may be a compromising report to satisfy the apparently opposing forces on the Commission.

Claims and Counterclaims

We are seeking to have genuine reconciliation. This desire, if fervent and ardent to our quest for peace and development must be guided by principles of truth and judgment of morality. In this effort, we must speak nothing but the whole truth since indeed we have decided to speak of our roles and reconcile our socio-political and economic disparities that will lead to the possible consolidation of peace among us as a nation and people.

It is the importance of the truth to the process of reconciliation that all witnesses are required to take oath before explaining their roles. But if the witnesses are fiendish enough and have no reverence for the process, their testimonies become clothed with lies, errors and contradictions, thereby making a buffoonery of the process.

The hearings of our Truth and Reconciliation Commission since its inception in January 2008 have been characterized by claims and counterclaims which expose the possibilities of falsities and distortions in the testimonies of witnesses. With these ensuing, it ponders our consciousness to think with exegeses about the prospects of achieving genuine reconciliation when the truth or the whole are allegedly not been told.

In fact, the first testimony that was made before the Commission on the first day of public hearing still remains an issue of serious controversy. The accused perpetrator has mustered all courage to challenge the testimony against him on the basis of its inaccuracy as he alleged. That testimony also lifted the floor mat and dragged the public attention to a claim that it was done under a conspiratorial supervision of one of the Commissioners.

In recent occurrences, the pages of newspapers and headlines of major news have been focused on the thematic hearings of the Commission, but regrettably, rebuttals and counterclaims and street discussions are challenging those testimonies continuously, and are simultaneously posing more encumbering challenges to the overall process of genuine reconciliation, since the parties involved in the cross-claiming scenarios are not submissive to accepting what have been said under oath vis-à-vis there is no barometer to test the testimonies and determine the lies form the truths, or no means of avoiding witnesses from lying under oath.


General Expectation versus Capacity

The general expectation of the people of Liberia is to live in perpetual peace and economic prosperity. Toward this end, the people are committed to whatsoever initiative that can reconcile the past, build the peace and improve both the governance and the economy. This is generally demonstrated by the people’s support to major activities in the country – the Elections, the Reconciliation process, etc.

At present, the vicinity of the Centennial Pavilion that has been over the years an abandoned and quiet area is fully active and paying host to Liberians from all orientations who assemble daily based on their inherent interests to follow the reconciliation process of their country. At the bottom of their heart is to have PEACE and DEVELOPMENT, though many persons suggest different ways of reaching that ultimate desire. For some a War Crime Tribunal is the best way to solve the problems of our civil crisis and bring perpetrators to justice. But others believe that reconciliation through the TRC should remain the only channel of addressing national anguish and tragedy. Yet, there are some who believe that ‘sleeping dog should lie’, so that ‘we can not dig out old wounds’.

However, the road to achieving genuine reconciliation to meet the general expectation of the people need to be matched with the capacity of the state, its institutions of governance and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The capacity of the Commission- human, material and financial needs significant support and effective monitoring till the end. The Commission at one time went comatose as a result of limited funding to the extent that statement-takers launched series of strikes.

People are recommending, in regards to the alleged connections of some members of the Commission to the conflict which undermines their neutrality, that foreigners be hired to write the report and actual history of the country based on the data gathered by the Commission. With the ongoing expectations of the public, the need to empower the commission in finance, human and material resources needs not be overemphasized. In the absence of such capacity building to ensure efficiency in its work, the people’s expectation will be cataclysmically defeated and the reconciliation process will remain illusive.

Conclusion

The process of attaining genuine reconciliation in a post-conflict nation is as delicate as the process of making and keeping the peace. Our quest to have a nation reconciled with its people in harmony and economic prosperity must be treated with much delicacy and reverence for basic principle of transitional justice.

The truth and Reconciliation Commission, the transitional justice institution championing our reconciliation agenda, is threatened by many challenges that may erupt controversies after the process have concluded. These challenges are manifested in the structure, mandate and targets of the commission as have been made public during its period of
Hearings. The process has witnessed accusations from major actors on the independence and neutrality of Commissioners, on the credibility of witness and so forth.

The people are now in their consciousness, diagnosing the possibilities of achieving genuine reconciliation amidst the deliberate distortion of historical facts and claims of falsities and witch-hunting, and limitations or inadequacies on the part of the Commission itself.

However, the Liberian people are committed to seeing their nation peaceful in booming with economic opportunities, and a spirit of trust and confidence in the system of governance. This resolve of the people to reconcile and build peace have been manifested to their courage and support given to all national initiatives.

CRITICAL ISSUES OF NATIONAL CONCERN (II)

On Constituency and Representation

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei

The dynamism of our country in all sectors is faced with the problem of meeting the challenges of globalization and development. Since the end of the civil war, attempts to make strategic reforms in all sectors to set proper national development agenda have not been realistic and effective. The leakages have primarily been due to the unavailability of relevant statistics and data to tell the total number of people in the country, and give the actual composition of our resources and mosaic- social, geographic and economic information.

With the conduction of the 2008 Census, the discourses have extended with appendages to all ends. National development agenda, according to development specialists is drawn and implemented according to population distribution in a given community. Our reform and development strategies, therefore, will have to consider with priority those counties that are highly populated before those with fewer populations. Our representation in the legislature, also, has to be redistributed on the basis of population per county in continuation of the reform process and in consonance with the Constitution.

In terms of parliamentary composition and structure, particularly a bicameral legislature, members of the House of representatives are practically and theoretically drawn from the people in numerical consideration of their population, while members of the upper house or senate, are equally divided to represent the political subdivisions. That is why it has been conceptualized that the representatives represent the people, and the senators represent the political subdivision.

Like the United States, from whose system we formulated our system of government, membership in the House is based on each state’s population, and the size of the House is therefore not specified in the Constitution. But for the Senate each state is entitled to two that is why Rhode Island, the smallest state, with an area of about 3,156 sq. km. has the same senatorial representation as Alaska, the biggest state with an area of some 1, 524, 640 sq. km. Regardless of population, every state is constitutionally guaranteed at least one member of the House. At present, seven states – Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming – have only one representative. On the other hand, six states have more than twenty representatives, and California alone has fifty-two.

The European Union parliament has 732 members apportioned among the EU’s 25 countries on a modified population basis. The most populous country, Germany, has 99 seats and the least populous, Malta, has five seats.

The ongoing debate in the Liberian legislature on the issue of constituency and representation should be an anathema if indeed we are constitutionalists and pragmatists. But unfortunately, people are ignoring the mobility of the population as indicated by the census result to claim that there are attempts to disenfranchise their people. Who then are the people? Let it be clear that where ever the people are there were they should be represented from in the House. So wherever the people moves, they literally take there seats with them there. It is on the basis of accepted threshold that our constituencies are carved, and subdivisions that do not meet the accepted threshold are given some guarantees to be represented with specific amount of representatives.


The results of the 2008 census tell that we are a little over 3.5 million with some counties densely populated and some sparsely populated. If the 20, 000 provision is to be adhered to, then we will have to open up for a constitutional referendum or revision, but where in the constitution provided that the legislature can adjust the representation in the House to a number not exceeding one hundred, it is prudent that the given threshold of 45,000 per constituency be used and that every county be guaranteed with at least 2 seats regardless of populations. The number of representation per county is not in any way an indicator of development or economic growth for such county; it is the quality of the representation which is underpinned by the integrity, political-will and competence of the representative occupying the seat that makes the lawmaking effective and credible.

In fact, there are arguments now that the more there are people on a decision or lawmaking body, the less functional and effective it becomes in making executive and influential decisions, and conversely. That is why conservatives are robustly challenging the proposals of increasing the members of the United Nations Security Council from 15.

Finally, this era must be considered as an era of reformation, and we must now begin to put forth arguments and proposals that will benefit the national interest, instead of thriving on trivialities on the basis of regional divides. I hope that one day we will all make laws and say that this will benefit the country and not the county.

-In the Cause of Democracy and Social Justice, the Pen shall never Run Dry-

The American 2008 Elections: What Can Africans Do? And Why?

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei

INTRODUCTION

The United States plays a dominant role in the political and economic governing systems of the world. Since the collapsed of the Soviet Union or the virtual end of the Cold War, the United States controls a unipolar world with all power, including those of continental and regional economic and political groupings, directed by the dictates of the U.S. This control of the world systems by the U.S. has created a de facto world empire with its president being the de facto world emperor. The critical question or issue this fourth edition of this series seeks to address is the role of Africans, mainly Liberians, in the ensuing elections of November 2008. Plainly this paper intends to critically know ‘what should be the role of Africans (Liberians) in determining the leadership of this de facto world empire’. It began by briefly citing cases of the United States and the activities its presidents in directing the world to their whims.

The U.S. As A World Empire

The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold marked by the apparent success of the U.S. Doctrine of Containment saw the emergence of the United States of America as the superpower of the world since 1991. This supremacy by the U.S. is not just based on military dominance. It extends to the economy, currency, lifestyle and the product of mass culture. In the exertion of its role as a supreme power in world’s affairs, the U.S. contributes about 22 percent of the budget of the world governing body, the United Nations. As such it claims a position of unlimited power to act, and to defy any resolution that restricts it in pursuing its foreign policy objectives and goals. This status of unchallenged dominance and economic supremacy has given the U.S. a considerable edge in deciding the policies of the U.N. and the future or destinies of its members - sovereign states of the world.

The United States, in its quest to sustain its role and remain influential in all aspects of world politics and economy have established trade and military missions around the world, and at the same time striving to dismantle potential threats against its existence as a superpower. At present, it leads the world in an ‘anti-terrorist’ war and donates huge sums of money in building ‘democracies’ in other nations. The U.S in 2003 led a coalition of forces and dethroned the government of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. In 1994 the U.S. forced the military ruler of Haiti to relinquish power to the democratically elected president they had overthrown. A U.S. peacekeeping force later followed to oversee the return of democracy in Haiti. Towards its emergence as the sole superpower in 1989, U.S. troops invaded Panama and overthrew the government of Gen. Manuel Noriega, whom it had accused of aiding international cocaine trade.

In the continual effort of exerting itself as a world power, it plays major roles in developing world torn nations and disadvantaged countries. The United States Agency for International Development and other U.S funded institutions currently work on major development and peace building programs around the world. Liberia and many African countries are typical beneficiaries.

This control and direction of the world by this one nation (the United States) makes it an imperative for every other nation, sovereign or independent, to be very circumspect and concerned about political development in that one nation.

The U.S. President, A world Emperor

The president of the United States is the custodian of its sovereignty and director of its foreign policy. With such a domineering role in global politics and economy, the President assumes the role of a ‘world leader’, or a ‘world emperor’.

The major foreign policy doctrines executed by the U.S were the makings of the presidency. And these policies have forced other countries, mainly third world countries like Liberia and its African neighbors to take directions that suit the activities of the foreign policies of the U.S. It had also caused contraction, congestion or expansion of our policies, and sometimes leads to utter failures due to the incompatibility of the policies, the environment and the practical reality. But in all, successes have been reported in some instances.

However, the U.S. presidency had been concerned with pursuing foreign policy objectives that will to the best of all, secure U.S. domestic and international interests in trade, military and political diplomacy. Immediately after independence, President George Washington declared a policy of isolationism, a policy built on the principle of avoiding formal military and political alliance with other countries. But this policy was abandoned in 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The U.S. then embraced the war against the Axis Power and adopted a policy of Globalism, the idea that the United States should be prepared to use military and economic force around the globe to defend its political and economic interests.

In the pursuit of the policy of Globalism, President Harry Truman sent U.S. troops in Greece in 1947 to counter the Communist guerilla war against the people of Greece. That was directly a way of containing communist expansionism against the interests of the United States. President Truman then propounded his famous doctrine as he strived to be a world emperor: “The U.S. must support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or pressure.”

Let the 21st Century (the present) be our concern now at this point. The beginning of this century has indeed witnessed international development and the grandiloquent influence of the United States as the growth of a ‘world empire’, and the president, George W. Bush, a ‘world emperor’. His policies, both domestic and foreign, have in some particular way, affected every nation, particularly those of the third world category-Liberia and her African neighbors. His declared war against ‘terror’ had kept the world political system busy with confrontations and rough diplomacies; and the economy fluctuating among recession, collapse and stabilization, while social values erode invariably.

The Bush Presidency has introduced a tradition, and his retirement is of global focus as the race for his successor is portraying. He actually accentuated and exerted himself as a world leader in many instances by issuing ultimatums. In March 2003 he mandated that “Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours, their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing”. Saddam’s refusal led to that conflict and it is ongoing with uncountable casualties to both sides, and at the expense of the world economy. In July of the same year, after several efforts had failed to end the bloodletting in the city if Monrovia (Liberia), Bush intervened strongly by declaring: "In order for there to be peace and stability in Liberia, Charles Taylor needs to leave now." That intervention probably brought an end to the street fighting between government militias and rebel forces. With what his presidency introduced, every African has been concerned as to what happens after him, thus everyone will want to know exactly what are the qualities of his successor and what level of impact will there lives be affected with. What are his plans for Africa? More to that are questions like ‘will there be a diversion, modification, or adjustment to the Bush style of leadership’.

CONCLUSION: What Can Africa Do?

This inquiry may sound laughable. But it is important to take note of the above exposé, though abridged, of what the U.S does and what its presidents do, and in relations to the current world unipolar political order.

Africa, from all aspects of developments, is affected by decisions made in the U.S. mainly as the world becomes a global village with the U.S controlling the strongest global financial institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Using Liberia as a point here, it is important to note that Liberians use both the U.S Dollar and the Liberian Dollar as legal tenders with the U.S. Dollar valued very high and considered with preference. U.S local policies affect Liberia. There are thousands of Liberians living on incomes earned by families residing in the U.S.

The U.S. diversity Visa program makes thousands of Africans to travel and settle in the United States every year. Some who called themselves ‘the totally successful’ in the program abandoned their nationalities for U.S. citizenships. But these people maintain regular ties home. They have roles to play in the elections. These people will have to join a campaign for a president that will help, using the traditional influence of the U.S. presidency, bring relief to the peoples of Africa by advocating and implementing sound policies that will lead to progressive development in Africa. Africans home are also to call on their relatives in the U.S. to join a side, a side that is an African-focused side, because this side will be concerned about developments in Africa rather than aid. That could lead to a U.S development package for Africa as the Marshall Plan was there for Europe after World War II.

With the level of progress taken place on the African Continent, Western Media focused mostly on the worst side of Africa thereby giving the world a terrible look at the continent. This is to explain how the media works in making things look their way. African media houses will have to join the elections and give more coverage to the side that will help give Africa a good look on the International scene. Media houses must carry more advertisement and publicity to capture the people’s attention on the candidate most needed now to take the problem of the African peoples at the workings of American bureaucracies.

Than all other things, African leaders and technocrats must get themselves set for the new order that may result from the ensuing elections. The result may have the proclivity to chart a different course on the continent. Changes on the right side of the plane must be accepted, while those to left that undermine African cultures and systems must be rejected with decisiveness. Africans must also follow the electoral process with curiosity to understand how a mature system works without organized fraud that stimulates violence and casualties. It will also be good to learn from the lapses of the process and build on ours.

The Question of Democracy in Africa

First Published May 2008

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei

Every century in Africa brings a new challenge to its socio-economic and political developments. This 21st century is witnessing mass campaign for the democratization of the continent, and a free market or capitalistic economy. As it has always been, the western powers or the colonial masters of pre-independent Africa are the leading proponents of this campaign through intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. But can they really succeed in democratizing the continent as they succeeded in plundering its resources during colonial and imperial dominance? Or is the western democracy a model so strange to African political lives and cultures that Africans found difficulties in adjusting their lives and ways of governance to its tenets; or is it that the Western-support democracy and capitalism are canopies to continually submit Africa to imperial dominance? These are questions African politicians and technocrats need to consider in their efforts to unite the continent; and must also be careful of the numerous demands of the Western powers in securing certain interest. Because it has become commonplace that when these demands are not met, and when certain interests are not achievable, African leaders are quickly branded as ‘predators of democracy’, ‘human rights violators’, and so forth.

Early this year (2008) the People’s Daily (Chinese Communists newspaper) carried an editorial that claimed that western democracy is the cause of some of the violent conflicts in Africa . That article was a commentary on the then post-election violence in Kenya . This claim could be one side of the complex problems facing Africa . But there are more that the leaders of the continent need to understand and make both legal and institutional reforms in their styles of governance. This may save succeeding generations from ideological misconceptions and undue submission to pseudo-imperialism.

But what remains empirical and doubtless is that Africa ’s major political crisis is centered on the quest for wealth creation and class or sectarian interest promotion against that of the masses. African leaders have most often used their offices as industries of profiteering and neglecting the conditions of the people they serve. This is evident by the gross underdevelopment of the continent and the many corruption cases against African leaders. But most often, those that fall in the anti-corruption dragnets may not necessarily be hooked because of the crime, but because of an inherent malice in their successors or attempts to eliminate or degrade a particular class.

These practices of selective justice and cronyism are bad omens in the efforts to democratize Africa . The West has affirmed a resounding commitment in fighting corruption in Africa . The World Bank and other Breton Wood institutions, and major donor agencies and nations are setting benchmarks that nations should meet before they are qualified for grants, aids or loans. Among these benchmarks are ‘rule of law’, ‘good governance’ and ‘transparency and accountability’. But how trustworthy is the commitment of those institutions and nations to support the growth and development of Africa in the wake of conspicuous hypocrisies and prejudices- something already branded as ‘neocolonialism’. Some African leaders whose regimes have poor human rights records are succeeding in getting aids due to their submission to the whims and caprices of those institution and nations, while others that are bent on repelling ‘neocolonialism’ are left to be strangulated economically, thereby creating political instabilities in their countries.

With the numerous raw materials and physical human resources, democracy is possible in Africa if the leaders can efficiently exploit the resources and support home-base economic development and empower their citizens to become movers and shakers of their own economy. Western and foreign industries and merchants have from time immemorial played decisive roles in the governance of African states. Realistically, their interests had never been in the development of the continent and its people, but clever methods of using African heads-of-states to partner with them in pillaging the resources of the continent. If Africans become permanent movers of their economy, their chances of determining their governance become higher, thus the leadership and governance will be left in their own hands, and neocolonialism may extinct and live only as a concept in the minds of its agents.

As the adage goes, ‘Man best servant is himself’, the West and any other powerful group of nations can not succeed in building durable democracy in Africa without the Africans as the forerunners. The success of democracy in Africa is dependent upon the leaders of Africa and their people. In recent time three unfavorable situations have occurred in Africa that are seriously threatening the survival of democracy on this continent. The ongoing electoral crisis in Zimbabwe is one among the three that demonstrate the archaic egoistic nature of African leaders to remain in power until their death. The possibility of having a democratic re-run election reflecting the true will and voice of the people of Zimbabwe is a razor-thin due to the continuous fears and harassment against opposition supporters by the ZANU- PF and its pro-militias. President Mugabe’s assertion that oppositions will never taste power until his death is sufficient to express that he is the ‘one and only one to decide for that nation’, and that the popular people of Zimbabwe have no stake in determining who leads them. Even if he really wins the popular vote of the people, expressions by senior security officials and actions against oppositions can render the process incredible because the people’s true decision is not only the vote, but the level of freedom they have to express themselves truly determines the presence of democratic governance. But it is a challenge to the African Union and the Southern Africa Development Community to move with genuine and decisive interventions and insure that the true voices of the Zimbabweans are reflected through their votes fearlessly.

The Kenyan post-electoral crisis was a frustration to many who see Kenya as a success story in Africa where incumbent Kibaki and his PNU allegedly rigged the elections. The controversies surrounding the announcement of results and international opinions on its incredibility ignited massive protests that took away thousands of lives and destroyed millions of dollars worth of properties. This undemocratic practice open a new page in the lives of all Kenyans with the sowing of seeds of tribal conflicts, and the vivid expression that no African nation can boast of peace due to the uncontrollable rapacity of its leaders. Nigeria had the same case in 2007 with the reelection of the PDP taking no glory of credibility and fairness from independent observers. The PDP arrangement and status quo, still at the helm of power maintains the result of what was generally declared as ‘fraudulent’. More of such cases, coup attempts ( Liberia , Malawi , Comoros , etc), and ceaseless civil wars ( Darfur , Somalia , etc) are reported yearly around the continent. So this is 21st century Africa in the struggle for democracy.

To succeed in this advocacy of democratizing this continent, Africans need massive education of African culture of politics before the colonial period. The study of traditional African ways of governance is essential to know how the Africans governed themselves before their ‘masters’ came, because Julius Nyerere, the Mwalimu, had said that “the traditional African society, whether it had a chief or not – and many, like my own, did not – was a society of equals and it conducted its business through discussion… ‘They talk till they agree’. That gives you the very essence of traditional African democracy”.

This strive of democratization must also consider as secondary, the building of an African regulated market system to enable the continent become self-sufficient, and not only as a source of raw materials, but also a market of finished products. The numerous partnerships foreigners are building with Africa are intended to build their markets and strengths in the competition to control Africa’s resources, and to establish allies in Africa for support in future conflicts that may erupt among them as they all strive to control the continent. It is another challenge to the African leaders and the African Union or other regional bodies in Africa to strengthen their members and citizens politically and economically in building democratic governance which is the prime ingredient of sustaining peace on the continent, and liberating it from the wave of neocolonialism. Again, the need for fiscal probity in governance, and the self-sufficiency of the continent are very vital to the process of democratizing the continent, because the vulnerability of the African people to ‘everything that comes’ has been underpinned by uncontrolled avarice and corruption in governance, the insufficiency of basic commodities and the economic hardship face by the people.

CRITICAL ISSUES OF NATIONAL CONCERN (II)

ON CONSTITUENCY AND REPRESENTATION

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei

The dynamism of our country in all sectors is faced with the problem of meeting the challenges of globalization and development. Since the end of the civil war, attempts to make strategic reforms in all sectors to set proper national development agenda have not been realistic and effective. The leakages have primarily been due to the unavailability of relevant statistics and data to tell the total number of people in the country, and give the actual composition of our resources and mosaic- social, geographic and economic information.

With the conduction of the 2008 Census, the discourses have extended with appendages to all ends. National development agenda, according to development specialists is drawn and implemented according to population distribution in a given community. Our reform and development strategies, therefore, will have to consider with priority those counties that are highly populated before those with fewer populations. Our representation in the legislature, also, has to be redistributed on the basis of population per county in continuation of the reform process and in consonance with the Constitution.

In terms of parliamentary composition and structure, particularly a bicameral legislature, members of the House of representatives are practically and theoretically drawn from the people in numerical consideration of their population, while members of the upper house or senate, are equally divided to represent the political subdivisions. That is why it has been conceptualized that the representatives represent the people, and the senators represent the political subdivision.

Like the United States, from whose system we formulated our system of government, membership in the House is based on each state’s population, and the size of the House is therefore not specified in the Constitution. But for the Senate each state is entitled to two that is why Rhode Island, the smallest state, with an area of about 3,156 sq. km. has the same senatorial representation as Alaska, the biggest state with an area of some 1, 524, 640 sq. km. Regardless of population, every state is constitutionally guaranteed at least one member of the House. At present, seven states – Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming – have only one representative. On the other hand, six states have more than twenty representatives, and California alone has fifty-two.

The European Union parliament has 732 members apportioned among the EU’s 25 countries on a modified population basis. The most populous country, Germany, has 99 seats and the least populous, Malta, has five seats.

The ongoing debate in the Liberian legislature on the issue of constituency and representation should be an anathema if indeed we are constitutionalists and pragmatists. But unfortunately, people are ignoring the mobility of the population as indicated by the census result to claim that there are attempts to disenfranchise their people. Who then are the people? Let it be clear that where ever the people are there were they should be represented from in the House. So wherever the people moves, they literally take there seats with them there. It is on the basis of accepted threshold that our constituencies are carved, and subdivisions that do not meet the accepted threshold are given some guarantees to be represented with specific amount of representatives.


The results of the 2008 census tell that we are a little over 3.5 million with some counties densely populated and some sparsely populated. If the 20, 000 provision is to be adhered to, then we will have to open up for a constitutional referendum or revision, but where in the constitution provided that the legislature can adjust the representation in the House to a number not exceeding one hundred, it is prudent that the given threshold of 45,000 per constituency be used and that every county be guaranteed with at least 2 seats regardless of populations. The number of representation per county is not in any way an indicator of development or economic growth for such county; it is the quality of the representation which is underpinned by the integrity, political-will and competence of the representative occupying the seat that makes the lawmaking effective and credible.

In fact, there are arguments now that the more there are people on a decision or lawmaking body, the less functional and effective it becomes in making executive and influential decisions, and conversely. That is why conservatives are robustly challenging the proposals of increasing the members of the United Nations Security Council from 15.

Finally, this era must be considered as an era of reformation, and we must now begin to put forth arguments and proposals that will benefit the national interest, instead of thriving on trivialities on the basis of regional divides. I hope that one day we will all make laws and say that this will benefit the country and not the county.

-In the Cause of Democracy and Social Justice, the Pen shall never Run Dry-

The American 2008 Elections: What Can Africans Do? And Why?

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei
002315694498 / pericle925@yahoo.com


INTRODUCTION

The United States plays a dominant role in the political and economic governing systems of the world. Since the collapsed of the Soviet Union or the virtual end of the Cold War, the United States controls a unipolar world with all power, including those of continental and regional economic and political groupings, directed by the dictates of the U.S. This control of the world systems by the U.S. has created a de facto world empire with its president being the de facto world emperor. The critical question or issue this fourth edition of this series seeks to address is the role of Africans, mainly Liberians, in the ensuing elections of November 2008. Plainly this paper intends to critically know ‘what should be the role of Africans (Liberians) in determining the leadership of this de facto world empire’. It began by briefly citing cases of the United States and the activities its presidents in directing the world to their whims.

The U.S. As A World Empire

The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold marked by the apparent success of the U.S. Doctrine of Containment saw the emergence of the United States of America as the superpower of the world since 1991. This supremacy by the U.S. is not just based on military dominance. It extends to the economy, currency, lifestyle and the product of mass culture. In the exertion of its role as a supreme power in world’s affairs, the U.S. contributes about 22 percent of the budget of the world governing body, the United Nations. As such it claims a position of unlimited power to act, and to defy any resolution that restricts it in pursuing its foreign policy objectives and goals. This status of unchallenged dominance and economic supremacy has given the U.S. a considerable edge in deciding the policies of the U.N. and the future or destinies of its members - sovereign states of the world.

The United States, in its quest to sustain its role and remain influential in all aspects of world politics and economy have established trade and military missions around the world, and at the same time striving to dismantle potential threats against its existence as a superpower. At present, it leads the world in an ‘anti-terrorist’ war and donates huge sums of money in building ‘democracies’ in other nations. The U.S in 2003 led a coalition of forces and dethroned the government of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. In 1994 the U.S. forced the military ruler of Haiti to relinquish power to the democratically elected president they had overthrown. A U.S. peacekeeping force later followed to oversee the return of democracy in Haiti. Towards its emergence as the sole superpower in 1989, U.S. troops invaded Panama and overthrew the government of Gen. Manuel Noriega, whom it had accused of aiding international cocaine trade.

In the continual effort of exerting itself as a world power, it plays major roles in developing world torn nations and disadvantaged countries. The United States Agency for International Development and other U.S funded institutions currently work on major development and peace building programs around the world. Liberia and many African countries are typical beneficiaries.

This control and direction of the world by this one nation (the United States) makes it an imperative for every other nation, sovereign or independent, to be very circumspect and concerned about political development in that one nation.

The U.S. President, A world Emperor

The president of the United States is the custodian of its sovereignty and director of its foreign policy. With such a domineering role in global politics and economy, the President assumes the role of a ‘world leader’, or a ‘world emperor’.

The major foreign policy doctrines executed by the U.S were the makings of the presidency. And these policies have forced other countries, mainly third world countries like Liberia and its African neighbors to take directions that suit the activities of the foreign policies of the U.S. It had also caused contraction, congestion or expansion of our policies, and sometimes leads to utter failures due to the incompatibility of the policies, the environment and the practical reality. But in all, successes have been reported in some instances.

However, the U.S. presidency had been concerned with pursuing foreign policy objectives that will to the best of all, secure U.S. domestic and international interests in trade, military and political diplomacy. Immediately after independence, President George Washington declared a policy of isolationism, a policy built on the principle of avoiding formal military and political alliance with other countries. But this policy was abandoned in 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The U.S. then embraced the war against the Axis Power and adopted a policy of Globalism, the idea that the United States should be prepared to use military and economic force around the globe to defend its political and economic interests.

In the pursuit of the policy of Globalism, President Harry Truman sent U.S. troops in Greece in 1947 to counter the Communist guerilla war against the people of Greece. That was directly a way of containing communist expansionism against the interests of the United States. President Truman then propounded his famous doctrine as he strived to be a world emperor: “The U.S. must support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or pressure.”

Let the 21st Century (the present) be our concern now at this point. The beginning of this century has indeed witnessed international development and the grandiloquent influence of the United States as the growth of a ‘world empire’, and the president, George W. Bush, a ‘world emperor’. His policies, both domestic and foreign, have in some particular way, affected every nation, particularly those of the third world category-Liberia and her African neighbors. His declared war against ‘terror’ had kept the world political system busy with confrontations and rough diplomacies; and the economy fluctuating among recession, collapse and stabilization, while social values erode invariably.

The Bush Presidency has introduced a tradition, and his retirement is of global focus as the race for his successor is portraying. He actually accentuated and exerted himself as a world leader in many instances by issuing ultimatums. In March 2003 he mandated that “Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours, their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing”. Saddam’s refusal led to that conflict and it is ongoing with uncountable casualties to both sides, and at the expense of the world economy. In July of the same year, after several efforts had failed to end the bloodletting in the city if Monrovia (Liberia), Bush intervened strongly by declaring: "In order for there to be peace and stability in Liberia, Charles Taylor needs to leave now." That intervention probably brought an end to the street fighting between government militias and rebel forces. With what his presidency introduced, every African has been concerned as to what happens after him, thus everyone will want to know exactly what are the qualities of his successor and what level of impact will there lives be affected with. What are his plans for Africa? More to that are questions like ‘will there be a diversion, modification, or adjustment to the Bush style of leadership’.

CONCLUSION: What Can Africa Do?

This inquiry may sound laughable. But it is important to take note of the above exposé, though abridged, of what the U.S does and what its presidents do, and in relations to the current world unipolar political order.

Africa, from all aspects of developments, is affected by decisions made in the U.S. mainly as the world becomes a global village with the U.S controlling the strongest global financial institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Using Liberia as a point here, it is important to note that Liberians use both the U.S Dollar and the Liberian Dollar as legal tenders with the U.S. Dollar valued very high and considered with preference. U.S local policies affect Liberia. There are thousands of Liberians living on incomes earned by families residing in the U.S.

The U.S. diversity Visa program makes thousands of Africans to travel and settle in the United States every year. Some who called themselves ‘the totally successful’ in the program abandoned their nationalities for U.S. citizenships. But these people maintain regular ties home. They have roles to play in the elections. These people will have to join a campaign for a president that will help, using the traditional influence of the U.S. presidency, bring relief to the peoples of Africa by advocating and implementing sound policies that will lead to progressive development in Africa. Africans home are also to call on their relatives in the U.S. to join a side, a side that is an African-focused side, because this side will be concerned about developments in Africa rather than aid. That could lead to a U.S development package for Africa as the Marshall Plan was there for Europe after World War II.

With the level of progress taken place on the African Continent, Western Media focused mostly on the worst side of Africa thereby giving the world a terrible look at the continent. This is to explain how the media works in making things look their way. African media houses will have to join the elections and give more coverage to the side that will help give Africa a good look on the International scene. Media houses must carry more advertisement and publicity to capture the people’s attention on the candidate most needed now to take the problem of the African peoples at the workings of American bureaucracies.

Than all other things, African leaders and technocrats must get themselves set for the new order that may result from the ensuing elections. The result may have the proclivity to chart a different course on the continent. Changes on the right side of the plane must be accepted, while those to left that undermine African cultures and systems must be rejected with decisiveness. Africans must also follow the electoral process with curiosity to understand how a mature system works without organized fraud that stimulates violence and casualties. It will also be good to learn from the lapses of the process and build on ours.

THE PLIGHT OF THE CHILDREN OF LIBERIA

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei

Introduction

Children everywhere are termed as future leaders. And for this reason, every family strives to give their children the best foundation to grow up and become respectful and productive people. It is because of the importance of children in succeeding their parents as heirs apparent that religions emphasize moral training for children with care. The Qur’an warns parents who don’t take good care of children, and also advises for good training for children. The Bible also gives parents a good recommendation to train up their children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it.

Socially, societies are communally organized for the welfare of their communities, in which moral standards are set. It is through the practices of these standards that children experience and learn, and exhibit when they take over as descendants and forerunners in charge. This practice is passed on from generation to generation.

With the emergence of political organizations and the nation-states, laws have been codified to maintain peace and order. Policies and plans are put together to set basic foundations that succeeding generations will flourish in peace and wealth. States are taking prime responsibilities of building schools, clinics and recreational centers for young people who need the best upbringing to take over the future of the nation-states. States also formulate programs and implement them for child protections against environmental and health disasters, societal vices -kidnapping, rape, child labor and abuse, etc. International organizations have accentuated the need for children protection and empowerment through various conventions, treaties and protocols.

With the existence of these modern opportunities and enormous increase in globalization and information technology, one wonders what will be the future of the children of Liberia when they are far from realizing the empirical existence of protocols and conventions aimed at protecting them, at a time when empathy had perished from the country, where no one cares anymore. In fact, when globalization and technology were gearing up to boom around the world, Liberia was deeply deposited in chaos. Today while some countries are promulgating policies that will assign one lap top to a school going child, Liberian children are yet to know what technology and globalization mean.

The Plights

For over a long time young people in Liberia have lived as a destitute class of people. For a few whose parents maneuver to gain access to state’s resources, or by other means, they were quickly transferred to foreign countries where all is planned and implemented well for children, thereby giving them significant edge over those who struggles through the rough terrains in Liberia.

Growing up as a child in present-day Liberia is quite a difficult one. Children born during the years of the civil upheaval can not adequately explain the nature and necessities of peace though they need it most. They grew up and saw violence and barbarism as a condition of life all over the county. Ironically, those vicious acts were perpetrated by those responsible to give them a future. They were taught to kill, smoke, steal and roughly survive. Consequently, most of them saw looting, stealing, and harassing as the easiest means of survival.

With the return of the country to normalcy, dozens of them in their adolescence or beyond, hopelessly ply the streets of cities as mendicants, drug addicts, and hijackers. Some are amputated and their survival left at the mercy of offering givers. The situation of kidnapping had existed for years, and still prevails in some parts of the country.

The Present Situation

Of recent, with the prevailing economic conditions in the country, another horrible specter has begun haunting the Liberian children in their infancies. Cases of rape against little girls between the ages of 0 and 17 occur weekly around the country. Sadly, reports of suicide are taking place involving children less than 15 years of age. One wonders what may be the psychosocial problems affecting those kids to decide on death as the only solution. It will be a conjecture to believe that these kids are sharing the problems of their parents who finds difficulties in making ends meet, some of whom (parents) cowardly escape from their homes. Just in less than six months, children are dying and disappearing under mysterious conditions. Two major cases that my thinking capacity had not absorbed and therefore finds it difficult to believe are the news of the alleged suicide by hanging committed by the two kids – thirteen year-old Angel Togba and seven year-old God’s Gift. Last year, nine-year old Janjay died after being raped and abused. Other cases breeding horrors in the lives of Liberian children are the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Alvin Davis (Monrovia), Augustine Golotor (Gbarnga), Vaywue Kesseley (Zorzor), and the disappearance of several children around the country, some of whom corpses are found with several parts missing. Issues of child labor and abuses are very common. These reports must alert everyone in the country that the children of Liberia are living in sheer vulnerability and no where in the country is considered safe for their survival. But we keep eagle eyes on our government viewing its commitment and ability to bring to justice those in the habits of ruining the future of this country by destroying its children in their infancies.

Besides the threats of kidnapping, raping, and killing hanging over the children of Liberia, a good number of them live in harsh social and economic conditions resulting from problems in their families. Expressions in the faces of children in the streets signal lot of things- hunger, force labor, family problem, and maltreatment at home. Most of them live today as breadwinners for their families by selling petty goods in markets and street corners, and running between cars for customers at the peril of their lives. With several promises to take them from the streets and markets and send them to school, they remain in disillusionment because the promises are yet to be fulfilled.

Looking into the Future

A brighter future for this country depends on building a good foundation for the children of Liberia. What can save the day now and set the future properly is taking steps from promising, policy writing to implementing and enforcing existing laws and policies. The Free and Compulsory Primary Education and the Policy on Girls Education are potential enough to contribute enormously to the problems if and only if they are enforced and their implementations monitored and evaluated regularly. Moreover, Liberia needs modern localized and legal provisions to protect the children in consonance with other international documents like the Convention on the Rights of the Child, African Chatter on Human and Peoples’ Right and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Robust child protection and education policies with proper implementation and monitoring are needed to rescue these harsh situations. Child protection needs to be complemented with legal actions. A fast tract court to adjudicate cases involving child abuse, rape, kidnapping, and maltreatment will be very essential to the process. Cases concerning children can pass through the Women and Children Protection Section of the LNP that will investigate them and send them to court. This means that the Women and children Protection Section of the LNP needs to be vibrant and equipped with officers trained as Children Monitoring Officers.

TRANSCENDING BEYOND ELECTORAL SLOGANS

A Need for Practical Actions

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei

05 694498/ pericle925@yahoo.com

When the euphoria of political activities beclouded the country in 2005, we did not only see myriad of political candidates, and parties; we also saw documents in the forms of project proposals and research papers dubbed as platforms. With nearly 800 persons vying for 94 seats in the legislature and 21 battling for the presidency of the state, each plying street corners and villages with poster of all kinds; all had something to say about the emancipation of the Liberian people from diseases, illiteracy and poverty-the worst state of human socio existence. The most pressing needs of the people had been peace and an environment to reconcile and live safely. Giving peace and better lives to the people meant social security that will improve their status from poverty, barbarity and violence to a symbiosis of mutual coexistence. The elections would have drawn the divided line between the days of the past when the nation’s wealth and resources were in the hands of a club of mischief makers, and a new day that will awaken patriots to national services for the amelioration of all and the state. This in the minds of the downtrodden can only be achieved with strong-hearted and courageous people who can translate the natural resources and the people’s labor into consumer goods and services accessible to all. Yes indeed, the elections were successfully held, but had the divided line been drawn, had there been any socio-economic transformation besides the one being experienced by the presence of a UN peace Mission? Are the people seeing or experiencing any radical or revolutionary changes in their lives as they expected when they sang and voted in 2005?

As it had usually been in our electoral history, our post-election lives have been literally the interpretation of our campaign slogans. In 1997 as a little boy growing up in Monrovia, I witnessed activities of the 1997 elections. I can still remember two slogans: ‘the oldma is number five, she will play her defend’, and ‘You kill my ma, you kill my pa, I will vote for you’. Being so inquisitive, I began to ask for the meaning of these slogans. The first one was interpreted as Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is on the fifth position on the ballot paper, therefore if elected president she will defend the Liberian people in all aspects of life. For the second slogan, I was told that the people are tired of war, and the only way for peace was to elect Taylor as president. They were prepared to live with him and his attributes, whether he is cruel or barbarous. I still pondered on the rationalities of the latter interpretation.

Surely, the elections were held with Charles Taylor winning about 85 per cent of all votes cast. I interpreted his victory as nearly everyone was willing to accept him and swallow the pills associated with him because by endorsing him, they were at peace. Taylor was president and the slogan began to transform into practice with gross incompetence in public service, armed robbery and secret killings. Yet all accepted it, because it was endorsed.

In 2005, two popular slogans came again: ‘you know book, you na know book, we will vote for you’, and ‘when you up, you up’, “UP” up, we will go Up’. By experience, the Liberian people were prepared to live up to any of these slogans. With Weah becoming president, illiteracy and ignorance would have loomed at lunatic rates. He will have no reason to improve the education system because he had ascended by the appreciation of the people to his limitations and ignorance in governmental affairs. To the people then, the state needed someone that just ‘have the country at heart’, it did not matter who understands the calibration of ideals and the machination of policies for transformation thereof into social benefits. With this anti-education slogan saturating every political gathering, the illiterates and those who had earlier opportunities to learn but refused began to appreciate their statuses. Surely, they got the highest vote in the first round of the elections, and it was more time to appreciate and celebrate their statuses with more justifications been provided by some people from the intelligentsia. This made the elections to be dubbed as the ‘Educated Vs. the Uneducated’. As many pundits observed, the peoples’ vote were in protest against the deplorable states of affairs of the country and its people caused by those ‘educated ones’ who had led the country for decades, but dumped all in turmoil and agony. Unfortunately, for them the canoe somersaulted on November 8, 2005 in favor of the ‘Educated’. This victory was the result of numerous promises not to repeat the past, but set a new pace for peace and sustainable development.

To fulfill these, a lot has to be done. The slogan, ‘when you up, you up’ represented the peoples’ popular desire to see Liberia regaining its political and economic status on the continent of Africa. Despite the incinerated state of the nation, the people enthusiastically assumed that a leadership under a former civil servant, a vociferous activist from the 1980s, an international economists, and humanitarian worker, could champion that cause. Thus Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected and inaugurated as president on January 16, 2006. She had brought to the presidency a team of officials with monumental experience from international organizations, and voluminous policies relative to poverty reduction, female education and empowerment, and the provision of basic social service to the people.

The skills of these experts and the brilliant works of their hands need to go beyond policy writings and delivering platitudes to the economically traumatized people. The experts need to effectuate radical changes that the regime can not end without the people practically experiencing the fine economic policies and theories propounded to them. Transforming the electoral slogans sang by the people means to give them the opportunities to build their lives as they felt then when they envisaged and brilliantly coined the wordings. Effective regulations to control prices of basic commodities that the minimal salary of a civil servant or a private employee can graduate from a mere state of eating to a state of maximizing benefits from his and build a future for his descendants is paramount to the process of practically interpreting the victorious slogans of the 2005 elections. Currently, it has become difficult to understand the economic effects and benefits of the past two increments made in the civil servants salaries during the last two fiscal years because as they are announcing the increment, prices of basic commodities are proportionally increasing. As a result, one can not easily identify any tangible benefit or good that a civil servant earning USD 55.00 can accrue after purchasing a bag of rice for USD 30.00 and still having other liabilities of purchasing clothes, paying tuitions in thousands, and regular home maintenance and feeding.

The vision and interest of a government to deliver the anticipated results are different from its will to enforce its policies. But the two can be juxtaposed with a set of committed and determined officials who understand the people’s plights, and are courageous enough to alleviate them. For the people to go ‘up and up’, there must be an effective deterrent to stop public officials from stealing from the people, and at the same time recycling those resources to retain power. Public stealing or corruption is a major virus that have stagnated the people of this country in poverty by keeping them down. For the people to go ‘up and up’, this government must build in itself a determination and an inner army to fight corruption, and begin to set the examples by exposing and prosecuting those who may see themselves as untouchable members of the kitchen cabinet, but are by themselves corrupt.

A Well informed and educated citizenry are essential in the building of peace and durable democracy. Vibrant and prosperous nations are also the products of their existence. The pillars of constitutional democracy- freedom of speech, transparency, elections, equal rights, etc, are more applicable in an informed and educated society. The people’s will and their inalienable right to freely express themselves through public media or any other means available must be sacred and respected to the fullest. Paramount to the observation and protection of these rights is the availability of quality education to the people, and a laissez fair policy on the exchange of information amongst them. Thus, the need for the people to be informed and educated needs not be underestimated if their lives are to progress proportionally to their aspirations of ‘going up and up’.