Eliminating persistent security challenges in 2007 

 Friday, January 19, 2007   

             By Francis W. Nyepon

Persistent threat to Liberia’s national security deals with two areas. First, the socioeconomic injustices caused by intergenerational inequality and hopelessness; and secondly, the hindrance to effective governance and sustainable economic modernization caused by recycled politicians whose mindset remains a drag on the country’s ability to develop and attract long-term meaningful foreign investment.

Together these challenges could overwhelm the capacity of the Sirleaf administration in satisfying basic needs, prevent stagnation and reduce poverty.

These differentials pose the greatest security challenge to Liberia rather than political entities, partisan bickering, terrorists or outsiders. Over the past quarter century, most ordinary Liberians have experienced a net decline in GDP with an increase in the number of people living in extreme poverty. Historically, Liberia’s national security has had its roots in deep-seated intergenerational hostilities caused by extreme economic and social stress. 

Flimsy state structures and useless policies were simply unable to cope effectively with social growth and demands, thereby, causing vicious political decay, widespread mistrust and unproductive socioeconomic capacity. Consequently, these strains and challenges resulted in years of unnecessary anguish, desolation and misery among the populace. Equally worrisome today is the impact of growing income differentials between various strata of the middle and lower classes. When such divisions coincide with potential ethnic or religious differences, the result could again cause widespread antagonisms and social tension.

In view of the above, it is crucially important for the Sirleaf administration to recognize these gaps and develop adequate and effective policies to address doubt, resentment and disparities in order to ensure true security throughout the country. 

For generations, minority of individuals has had breaks and favors handed to them by the state through quasi mandates, thievery and inheritance, which usually entitle them to undeserving privileges and disproportionate share of the national wealth, thereby depriving the majority of much needed goods and services. 

Most ordinary Liberians believe that the corrupt and influential still have more resources at their disposal to buy nearly all that they want.  This includes, but is not limited to twisting the judicial system to serve their interest. These factors were the driving forces that led to the 1980 coup.  That is why the Sirleaf administration must remain vigilant in avoiding the appearance of protecting the status quo to prevent a repeat of our vicious past.

Injustices based on privilege, institutional bias, and unscrupulous practices that gave the minority an illegitimate leg up on the majority should not be allowed in 2007. Conditions, which induce and reinforce intergenerational inequality and hopelessness, need to be abolished by overturning laws, which ambush opportunity and productivity when the status quo is maintained. If left unchecked, these challenges will only widen injustice, discrimination and dissatisfaction between rural and urban residents, women and men, youth and adults, skilled and unskilled people, and the list goes on.

The predatory behavior of corrupt recycled politicians could again set our country backward and subject our people to another round of extreme mental anguish, social and economic distress.  Their mindset could again cultivate bad-governance, inequality and perpetuate poverty and melancholy in society if not reined-in by the Sirleaf administration during 2007. 

Furthermore, their greed for power and influence still have them believing that they are entitle to positions of trust.  They are nothing more than flatterers who view governance not from the perspective of integrity and effective policy formation, but rather from the perception of attempting to please the head of state merely to gain favor and influence.

Recycled politicians are surfacing in the Sirleaf administration and everywhere. They are continuing their corrupt practices of gross mismanagement, financial malpractices that have become reminiscent of successive governments and interim administrations including the notorious National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL). Therefore, eliminating these persistent security challenges will dispel the notion among ordinary Liberians that the politically connected subverts justice for their personal favor using cronyism, fraud, coercion, and other unlawful mechanisms to get ahead. 

Against this backdrop, poor economic growth, worsening social indicators and potential class conflict need to be seriously reconsidered by the Sirleaf administration in order to undertake deep reforms to offer hope towards building an open and free society. 

The intensification of unemployment, class stratification, urban population growth, and potential ethnic and religious stress may exacerbate existing divisions and produce multiple outbreaks of social disorder. The promulgation of progressive policies to narrow the gap and tighten the poverty divide will allow the Sirleaf administration to promote real economic and social development that benefits all Liberians.

Although the Sirleaf administration has made sincere attempts to root significant social transformation in the past year, the administration still needs to tackle the persistent national discord along class, ethnic and religious lines, which pose a real threat to peace and stability. Political will must be translated into viable solutions that can genuinely be felt by ordinary Liberians. Targeted social policies must therefore become the necessary preconditions for eliminating the pervasive perception of ordinary Liberians that many in government still receive disproportionate shares of the national wealth and resources illegally and unscrupulously.

So, in 2007, ordinary Liberians must come to see and feel tangible opportunities to improve their livelihood, or resentment could again increase to painful levels, which could result in the growth of legions of unemployed youth becoming vulnerable to extremist movements, and gangs syndicates peddling hate, violence and an urban crime wave against innocent helpless people.

 It is this web of socioeconomic inequality that is the root cause of our persistent security challenges. Hence, laws and policies, which would tend to promote these behaviors and attitudes must guide the Sirleaf administration in rooting significant social transformation.

The burden of insuring meaningful change in Liberia resides within the vision, scope and comprehension of the Sirleaf administration. Political economists and development analysts will agree that the Sirleaf administration has the most significant role to play in this direction in a generation. 

To initiate this, the administration needs to implement demonstrable and effective social policies to increase the upward social mobility of all Liberians. The government’s actions must demonstrate a commitment to moving the country forward. It’s commitment to successful socioeconomic policies must break intergenerational and socioeconomic injustices, which serves as the bedrock for discontent. 

It must implement sustainable long-term strategic plans without regard to party affiliation, as is customarily the case in Liberian political life. Both the President and Legislature must insist upon the implementation of targeted policies, which transforms social conditions and create a climate to enhance long-term investment and an enabling environment for trade liberalization.

Francis Nyepon is a policy analyst and vice-chair of The Center for Security & Development Studies. He is a political economist and serves on several boards of humanitarian, environmental and human rights organizations in the United States and Liberia. He can be contacted at francis.nyepon@Gmail.com.