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Goodbye
to Kendaja National Cultural Center? Why?
Monday,
March 24, 2008
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
The last
thing any president would do to a national treasure
such as the iconic Kendaja National Cultural Center is
to tamper with it, demolished it, and then sell it,
(the talking point is) “lease” the ocean-front
site to the highest bidder to construct a 4-star, some
would say a 5-star hotel that in no way resembles
Liberia’s rich cultural heritage and the warm
memories of the 44-year old institution that once
occupied the spot.
Established
in 1964, the Kendaja National Cultural Center brought
part of the nation’s lost, forgotten, and hidden
tribal culture from the interior to the city in a
remarkable way for both foreigners and Liberians, who
never had the luxury of visiting the interior to learn
about the nation’s culture. Kendaja also became a
passport to a promising future in the arts, and opened
up opportunities for many of today's established
performers and would-be performers to strive for a
better future, quite different from the directionless
and poverty-stricken way of life some of them were
used to living in their previous lives.
With such
name recognition, coupled with the unique artistic and
educational roles Kendaja National Cultural Center has
played in the lives of Liberians, it would have been
in the best interests of the Liberian people for
President Sirleaf to leave Kendaja alone, save Kendaja,
empower Kendaja to improve on the nation’s rich but
once hidden and lost cultural heritage, teach adults
and school-age Liberian kids about it, and continue to
showcase Kendaja to the world as a visible part of the
nation’s past and vibrant future.
However, the
demolition of the Kendaja National Cultural Center
will certainly wash away dreams, and will also kill
the hopes of aspiring artists, who now have nowhere
else to turn to nourish their aspirations since the
Liberian government did not announce any future plans
for a temporary location where the artists will train
and live.
Another
talking point from the Sirleaf administration on this
issue is that “land has been acquired elsewhere for
the relocation of the center, through funds set aside
for the lease of the center.” But where is this
“elsewhere” the president is referring to whose
location cannot be revealed? Or, is she going to once
again use her (unilateral) presidential authority to
demolish yet another historic institution to build the
new cultural center?
The
unilateralist mentality on the part of this president
about the demolition of Kendaja tells us all that
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is unconcerned about preserving
and protecting the country’s national historic
institutions, which is bad for a country that does not
have an organized and professional system of archiving
its historical materials for local and foreign
scholars and researchers to dig deep and study more
about the entire country since its founding, other
than the little we know about the conflict between the
indigenous and the Americo-Liberians.
However, it
is an insult to the Liberian people and the residents
in the Robertsfield highway area, who did not have a
say in the decisions that affects their lives, even
when they were being told to abruptly vacate their
homes and trash the memories of their entire lives to
make room for this hotel; and a blow to the many
adults and kids whose lives the Kendaja National
Cultural Center touched and changed forever, who now
can no longer train and perform their way out of
stagnation and poverty to a future of hope because of
such callous presidential decision.
Realizing
that such a deal would portray her as being
insensitive and out of touch with the cultural
heritage of Liberia, President Sirleaf quickly went
into a damage control mode by spinning herself out of
a bad decision that could potentially damage her
legacy as the president who destroyed Kendaja for few
pieces of silver and gold for her rich foreign
friends, and was quoted as saying that “the leasing
of the ground of the National Cultural Center to the
Robert L. Johnson Group for the construction of the
4-star hotel, in no way undermines Liberia’s
cultural heritage.”
No matter
how much spinning that comes out of the Executive
Mansion concerning the destruction of the historic
National Cultural Center, this is truly an unfortunate
decision that puts the need to make profits over
indigenous Liberian culture, which also puts President
Sirleaf in lockstep with the offensive and oppressive
policies of the defunct Americo-Liberian ruling
oligarchy that was more interested in overtly wiping
out indigenous Liberian cultural heritage than
offering sensible leadership meant to improve the
lives of all Liberians.
It is indeed
true there is a need for jobs creation in Liberia.
There is also a need for development and the
construction of many four and five-star hotels all
across the country, geared toward tourism and
providing safety and comfort to those who wish to
visit Liberia.
But do we
compromise our national historic treasures for the
building of a hotel or hotels on a particular spot, as
it is in this case when Liberia has over 200 miles of
sandy beaches by the Atlantic Ocean that stretches
from one end of the southernmost part of the country
to the other? The decision to destroy or “lease”
Kendaja and replace it with a hotel is a sad
commentary, especially when there are many other
beachfront sites in the area and in other parts of the
country that could have been used to satisfy the
investment interests of the Robert L. Johnson Group
and the Liberian government.
Knowing that
the century-old odious history of Liberia is replete
with oppression, denigration, slavery, and the masking
of the cultural heritage of the indigenous majority,
which the then-Americo-Liberian ruling class deemed
shameful and uncivilized, one would think President
Sirleaf would exercise caution, good judgment and
excellent leadership skills by walking the fine line
between profits versus demolishing an established
cultural institution revered by Liberians.
Another bad
decision, but who in Liberia is going to challenge
President Sirleaf on this issue?
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