|
Interference
with Liberianization Policy revealed what's wrong with
powerful presidency, and a badly flawed constitution
Sunday,
March 09, 2008
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
If President
Sirleaf had a choice, she would exercise her executive
authority by abolishing the Liberianization Act
intended to help Liberian-owned businesses compete on
an equal playing field in their own country, and would
replace it with an unnamed Act that favors
foreign-owned businesses operating in Liberia, just as
she attempted to do recently.
Before the
president’s plan could gain any momentum after it
traveled from the Executive Mansion to the Legislative
Building across from the street that also symbolizes
the epicenter of government, the ill-conceived bill
was abruptly withdrawn and became a public relations
disaster for a president whose political fortune rests
entirely on those Liberians she unjustly targeted to
carry out her national economic plan.
However,
President Sirleaf’s decision to suddenly withdraw
the bill she put forth that would have amended the
1973 Investment Incentive Act known as the
Liberianization Act, in favor of her own foreign
investment bill did not come easily, since this
president is not one who is easily influenced by
public opinion, and is not known to back down from an
issue because of overwhelming public disenchantment,
unless her back is against the wall with no other way
to turn like the Willis Knuckles’ debacle that
exposed the hypocrisy in some of her domestic policies
and brought shame to her administration, after a
picture of the (married) and disgraced presidential
aide engaging in-group sex was leaked to the press in
2007.
President
Sirleaf was at her defiant-best when Mr. Knuckles was
outed for such tasteless act that disrespected
Liberian women, which many saw as an insult to
Liberian women and women everywhere. But the Liberian
leader, who is also a woman, did not see what the
world saw in the picture when she refused to fire Mr.
Knuckles immediately. After days of soul-searching,
and when the public outrage became unbearable, Ms.
Sirleaf finally did the right thing, which was to
listen to the overwhelming sentiments of the Liberian
people and let go Mr. Knuckles.
The same
stubbornness occurred during the debate regarding the
Liberianization Act, which the president finally
withdrew after much criticism from Liberians at home
and abroad, but vowed to bring back after further
“consultations and dialogue among Liberian
businesses, civil society groups, the citizenry and
other interested groups,” exactly what this
democratically elected president should have done
before flexing her presidential muscles regarding such
a sensitive domestic issue that has a potential of
affecting a whole lot of people who depend on the old
and existing law to earn a living.
Consultation, as the president later said is
what's needed to quiet rising opposition to a bill of
that kind, especially when it is done with respect,
while the people’s ability to genuinely earn a
living is taken into consideration. An alternative way
for those affected to earn a living should have also
been taken into consideration, discussed thoroughly
and put in place. It also takes common sense, savvy
political maneuverings and extra efforts to gauge the
political temperature of the nation to win the other
side over; in order to carry out certain policies a
post-civil war president passionately thinks is right
for the people, but is unable to sell to the people.
And when
those soon-to-be policies are opposed overwhelmingly
by a majority of the people through protests, opinion
pieces, and through other media outlets, it is in the
interest of the president to back off and negotiate
with the other side immediately, because no progress
is going to be made when any president or a post-civil
war president such as Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is
still being viewed with suspicion because of whispers
of her war past can accomplish anything, let along
attempts to unilaterally scrap existing laws she does
not like that goes against the interests of the people
it protects the most.
It is true
that the Liberian presidency is a powerful institution
guided by a badly flawed Constitution that grants the
president authoritarian rule and enormous power
disguised as democratic rule, to do what he or she
thinks is right for the nation. However, what is wrong
with the Liberian Constitution is it granting of
unchecked, unbalanced and unlimited powers to a
president who will not hesitate to abuse it, without
taking into consideration the health of the nation and
its weary and oppressed citizens.
Because we
are not living in the dark days of 1944, 1971, 1980 or
1997, when we lived at the mercy of despotic and
ignorant leaders or thugs, who trashed and manipulated
our nation’s Constitution to carry out their selfish
goals, treat us as their slaves, and ruled us with
ironclads even as they killed our collective
aspirations; hardened our resolve and made us never
wanting to return to the dictatorial days that robbed
us of our humanity.
That
experience taught us a lesson, when in 2005, Liberians
believed they made the right choice when they elected
the urbane, the educated and much-traveled Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, whom they believed would bring her
international experience and sophistication to change
what we don’t like about Liberia and ourselves.
With such a
bold choice made in President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,
one would think it is a good choice that would lead to
true democracy, unprecedented growth and prosperity.
Are we there
yet? Time will tell.
|
