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The
president's men, women and nepotism
Thursday,
February 02, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
Some of them
are well known in political circles. Some, well, are
not household names in any circle at all, but are
Liberians with impressive scholastic and public
service records.
They are individuals who left comfort and
lucrative jobs elsewhere to answer President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf’s call to contribute to her
administration and help in the reconstruction of
Liberia.
They are from Wall Street, the United Nations
and academia. Others are former employees of past
Liberian governments and Gyude Bryant’s interim
government, a stark difference from the initial list
of individuals whose names were circulated prior to
the January 16 inauguration, which caused uproar among
Liberians who just couldn’t understand where their
new president was heading.
Pres. Ellen Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Since the current appointments were announced,
the names and titles of Ellen’s men and women have
been on the lips of Liberians who have been trying to
separate the good and competent from the bad and
incompetent; and the ones they think were placed in
those positions because of their family and political
connections to the president.
Many Liberians don’t have a clue as to how
president Johnson-Sirleaf came up with the names of
her cabinet ministers and agency heads, but are
curious and patriotic enough to discuss the
appointments and the future of their country, no
matter where in the world they live.
Liberians are understandably edgy about the
appointments and Ellen is not disappointing them at
all. She and her aides appears to be overwhelmed by
the huge tasks of (1) making those political
appointments and (2) running the country and doing the
right thing.
However, the president continues to play to the
fears of her critics by creating jobs that don’t
exist, and shouldn’t have existed at all because of
the overlapping of ministries and the obvious lack of
funds. Instead, she is trying to please everybody, her
political contributors and cronies, instead of showing
restraint and leadership in decision-making.
This is the same Ellen who was never too far
away from speaking strongly about the huge bureaucracy
in government during the campaign. For her to now
repeat the mistakes of her disgraced and corrupt predecessor instead
of fixing them is indeed troubling.
Ellen made a blunder when she appointed her
relatives, Fumbah Sirleaf, (Director of National
Security), Ambullai Johnson, (Minister of
Internal Affairs) and her friend, the so-called
businessman Willis Knuckles, a guy who used to ship
barrels and used clothes to Liberia as Minister of
Public works.
Well, Knuckles' friends claimed he's a competent
administrator. As such, his new job is the right one
for him. So if he's such a good administrator, why
wasn't he appointed minister or deputy minister for
administration at some other ministry - his old
ministry, youth and sports? Why public works?
Why put this guy in such a sensitive job in a country
where roads and buildings and every other
infrastructure is destroyed?
Another troubling appointment could be at the
Ministry of Transport. I am unsure whether the new
deputy minister for administration, Benjamin Matadi is the same person as Benedict
(Ben) Matalda, the former Atlanta resident who was
deported to Liberia in the late 90s or early 2000s, by
US federal authorities for shoplifting, spousal abuse
and immigration violations. If he is the same person,
I am sorry the president’s choice is a bad one.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s official
appointments would have been flawless or perfect in my
reading had she not chosen her relatives, friends and
the non-engineer Willis Knuckles to head public works.
Do I smell nepotism here? Yes, I do.
The issue known as nepotism cannot be shoved under the rug because of our
love for President Sirleaf, who is enjoying a wave of
popularity for her trailblazing role as Africa’s
first elected female president.
Nepotism is a very sensitive issue in the
history of our country, because almost 26 years ago,
president William R. Tolbert Jr., who was fatally
overthrown, was also accused of nepotism, which his
accusers labeled a crime in that era.
Corruption is also an issue now as it was
in the past, and Liberians expect the president to
eradicate it completely or put a dent in it.
Is it any different now than it was during the
Tolbert days when charges of cronyism, nepotism and
corruption were quickly thrown around like flying
saucers popping up everywhere?
I see no difference because what was seen as
nepotism by the then People’s Redemption Council (PRC)
over two decades ago is the same today, except that it
is being practiced by a different person, Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf.
A fellow, who engaged me in a discussion not
too long ago about nepotism in the Johnson-Sirleaf
administration, was quick to ‘lecture’ me about
qualification.
“If Fumbah and Ambullai are qualified, I see
no reason why they cannot serve their country,” he
said.
“Yes, qualification is important,” I said,
“but nepotism, like corruption is unhealthy because
it breeds unequal treatment and grants patronage to
relatives in the workplace.”
While I am not a fan of nepotism, I
dislike bad governments and the conflict
that arises when a president, or a government employee
of influence and authority employs a relative to
manage a portion of government at the expense of
taxpayers.
I am sorry this is not a good start for the
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration.
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