This is Where I Come in

A reply to Nat Gbasaygee

I have yearned for the kind of debate/approach you have presented as the strategy for native Liberians to take (back) the leadership of Liberia. It’s that premise that I will like to address. On the count that I am insulting native Liberians and have exhibited bigotry, I do not intend to dignify. The antidotes of your paradigm are countless and I am sure you know them as I do.
On the approach that we should support Mr. Weah and after he has gained the power and authority we can then rally around him, back him with a contingent of native technocrats, I differ. This is where I come in. I disagree, Mr. Gbasaygee, that this approach is prudent. I see it as putting the cart before the horse. Or it’s like swallowing the ‘dumbboy’ before looking for the soup to go with it.
Mr. Gbasaygee, I was born in a village and I have being amongst the most marginalized group of people in Liberia. I understand what it means for a government to view you and your people as less than human beings. This is exactly what majority of Liberians experienced during the over century rule by the TWP, predominantly Americo-Liberians and their wards. Samuel Doe and others saw the need to change the course of events after an enormous damage was already done. They removed the TWP from power. Doe had his share of flaws but this is not what this piece is about.
Ten years later, majority of our people decided to side with their heartless abusers and exploiters then wreaked havoc of unimaginable proportion on themselves. They fought a brutal war for them. 14 years after the destruction, the very victims went back to their victimizers to beg them for mercy in the following ways: 1. they massively elected Charles Taylor to rule over them. Taylor truly delivered until some strangers heard our cries and decided to drive him away. 2. As if not much damage was done yet, the same victims went out in an election and turned their lives over to another victimizer, a perpetrator of Liberia’s long running chaos. They knew quite well that Ellen Johnson was with Taylor on the day when his rebels struck Butuo and Karnplay. She was with him when over three hundred thousand lives of native Liberians were wasted. After all of our experiences or amidst all of this, we are setting out again looking for the individual to lead us. This is where I believe we have got it wrong. We are looking for a leader without asking ourselves what kind of leader we really want. We are again setting out looking for a leader without laying out what we require/ expect of the leader and asking how he/she is going to deliver.
In your argument, Nat, you maintained that our priority should be taking power from the victimizers (emphasis added), then we shall decide what to do with it. I think this approach is risky. This is the gamble we should not afford to take. It has the propensity to prop up tyrant. It creates pompous leaders who listen to no one. If our preoccupation is just to get power then later decide what to do with it, then we may as well don’t get it at all because we will end up hurting ourselves again. This will in the long run make us less worthy of trust. We will end up being worse than the ex-slaves who have kept this nation in the dungeon for so long. Our preoccupation should be taking power and keeping it for good, managing it to the best of our potentials. We can do this by being better than the victimizers, putting ourselves in the position to do by far better than they have done in nearly 200 years. We are not taking power just for the sake of power but to deliver, creating an enduring environment for all of Liberia. We cannot do this with a quick flight. We can do this first by setting out concrete and measurable goals for Liberia and having the proper people in place that are willing and prepared to do better than the Americos and their wards. This can be done when we begin to have concrete consultations and lay out sound agenda to move Liberia forward and restore sanity to the battered people of Liberia. In this token, I admonish that we look not for our leaders but let the leaders look for us and work on our agenda.
Let us ask ourselves, what kind of Liberia do we envision? How do we create what we have envisioned? When the answers are satisfactorily found then we can find the executors. This is my take, Nat.

Which Way, Liberia?

Journey without Compass

Perhaps who wins the senatorial seat for Montserrado County is worthy of attention for some folks. I am not one of them. For one mere fact I am sure about, whoever wins the seat that will make no difference in the lives of Liberians and in the character of the body called “the National Legislature." The legislators will still have no concrete laws enacted to give Liberia a focus. It will continue to be business as usual: bickering over money and no discussions about enacting sound legislation for the country. If anyone doubts what I am writing about, please check the track records of the legislature up to today. Or keenly follow the president’s leadership style/pattern.

My concern is how in this world can a holiday be declared in Liberia for a by-election vying for a single seat in Montserrado? This is the second holiday in less than a week. Last Thursday was a holiday in Liberia. Today is Tuesday; it is another holiday because of an election for a single seat in Montserrado. Isn't this insanity? Who are those making these kinds of decisions? What are the laws on holidays in Liberia?

For instance, the other day my son told me that they were on a week break because some workshop was going on in their school. The school year has just begun in Liberia and students have already had seven days of no classes. Where are the laws that stipulate the number of days or hours require in Liberia to complete a class requirement? Again, what are the laws on holidays?

As if we are not in the abyss already, the President was in Greenville a week or so ago to celebrate her birthday. Where are the laws that mandate a sitting president in Liberia to use public funds to celebrate a private birthday? So we are celebrating a president's birthday but we do not have a law to honor the lives of the thousands of Liberians that we have lost during many years of senseless upheavals. Liberians, where are we heading? This is like a journey without a map. A grope in the dark!

The leadership question

Development of this sort brings up the question as to what kind of leadership do we have in Liberia? From the law makers to the interpreters and to the law enforcers, where are we heading? What is the direction?
I do not think that leadership is about instincts or guess work. It is played based on rules, policies, and reasons, not gutsy feelings. For a case in point, it is gutsy feeling not backed by good judgment and sound policy that Ms. Mary Broh is following in Monrovia about her cleanup campaign. In Monrovia, Mary has declared every other Saturday a general clean up day by all Monrovians. Here, Mary is using guess work or instincts. She does not want to read what is in the books about keeping Monrovia clean. So she has adopted the yor oh yor method because that is what her personality dictates. Mary has some high level of elevated emotions and that is what drives her decision. She is a highly charged person, easily over stimulated or maybe over stimulative. And that is the drive behind her decision about keeping Monrovia clean. But leadership is not about one's personality or character disposition. It is about well tested policies backed by reasons and judgment. This is the path on which we ought to put Liberia.

By now some of us thought the legislators would have enacted laws to standardize Liberia's holidays, the Liberian school system, Liberia's zoning and address systems. By now some of us thought Liberia would have settled on how to make health care in Liberia a right through the enactment of laws that clearly define the terms. By now some of us thought, a committee would have started reviewing the Liberian constitution. By this time we would have enacted laws that stop people assigning counties based on tribes. Shockingly and sadly it seems we are still groping in the dark.

At some point the President will use the Tolbert's guess work by paying surprise visits to certain ministries to catch who is going to work late or who departs early. Then she will adopt the Tubman's trial and error method to use president's birthday to carry on development in host counties. A moment later she will be like Samuel Doe settling every dispute in Liberia even the ones between spouses; she will be serving as the chief patron to every institution. These are all guess works. They are based on instincts not thoughtful policies. And I am sure the president knows this but because she wants quick applauses she is playing to the crowd. She gets so energized when they say, " Ma Ellen now do it again ooh!" So it is not about a lasting direction for the country but the image of a person.

This is why I care little about the by election in Montserrado County. It is a waste of time and resources. And these sorts of things get me terribly sick to my stomach.