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Talks
About Possible Boycott of 2011 National Elections Sign
of Mounting Frustration
Tuesday,
April 29, 2008
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
I can
imagine how frustrating it is to live in a country
where there is a weak press, zero political
opposition, a powerful presidency, countless
fly-by-night “human rights” organizations
operating in name only and for grant money, and a
feeble legislative branch of government that has no
clue of its role and what is going on as the interests
of the people and the nation are being ignored daily.
It is a sad
commentary for a nation with so many problems and a
frustrated citizenry that dreamed of true democracy
and prosperity almost three years ago, but is unable
to reap the benefits of their electoral efforts after
electing those they thought were well-intentioned to
lead them at a very critical time, let them down by
pursuing their own selfish political and financial
interests.
With crime
and rampant corruption at an all time high in an Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf administration that came to power to
end corruption as we know it, and vowing to be a different
kind of president than her predecessors by virtue of
her sophistication, international experience, Ivy
League background and leadership abilities, the
frequently traveled president, who just cannot stay at
home to fully concentrate on the nation’s growing
problems has given renewed reasons why it is believed
her presidency lacks courage and vision, is bent on
pageantry and a flair for showcase, and lacks the
will-power to be the kind of president she promised
the Liberian people she would be when she was elected
in 2005.
Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
J. Milton Teahjay
George Weah
Ordinary
Liberians are discussing Ms. Sirleaf’s presidency
with passion because they are the ones who are feeling
the brunt of the suffering and the disappointment that
triggers down to them, a result of run away
corruption, criminal activities, an obvious lack of
sustainable wages, the unavailability of food to put
on the table, and the lack of jobs and healthcare,
while the president continues to travel abroad either
on vacation to the United States, or is in Europe or
elsewhere usurping the duties of the Ministers of
Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Finance, and Trade
Representatives who should have been designated to
perform those duties as she focused on the affairs of
the state.
Even when
those Liberian refugees in Ghana were being jailed and
asked to leave that country unceremoniously by that
government, a situation I considered a national crisis
that needed urgent and hands-on leadership from the
president, President Sirleaf left the country that
same week for Denmark and the UK to attend the
Governance Leaders Summit. After those two foreign
trips ended, it was reported that the president left
the country once again to vacation in the United
States.
These
concerns and that of others has led J. Milton Teahjay
of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) political
party to hint, I want to believe out of mere frustration of a possible
reluctance of the political parties to participate in
the general and presidential elections slated for
2011, which are legitimate grievances but the wrong
solution to what is seen as a national problem that
needs national attention.
Like Teahjay,
however, I too would feel a sense of frustration had I
lived in Liberia and not taken seriously whenever I
open my mouth to complain about the president’s
policies, knowing that President Sirleaf is constantly
given a blank check to run the country the way she
wants to run it without ever having to worry about
answering to the Liberian people who elected her, the
legislature that gave her the blank check in the first
place to do what she's doing, and the opposition
politicians, many of whom are seasonal and part time
politicians living overseas, but would make a quick
return to Liberia come election time.
While it is
certainly true that Mr. Teahjay often comes across as
lacking credibility, abrasive, always complaining
perhaps because he is not a part of the current
political equation in Monrovia as he once was in the
criminal Charles Taylor administration, where he
served among other things as the ‘traveling
spokesman’ of that despotic regime, is doing the
best he can to articulate those issues he believes are
of utmost importance to the Liberian people.
However,
because he is J. Milton Teahjay, who no longer
commands influence, respect and power to be taken
seriously, courtesy of his past political ‘sins’
of getting in bed with the devil, Charles Taylor at a
time when Mr. Taylor was busy invading other
countries, killing the Liberian people and their hopes
and aspirations, there is a tendency for some
(including me) to shout Teahjay down whenever he
brings to light some of those heart-wrenching
political issues we all feel strongly about.
The current
administration is also aware of Teahjay’s baggage
and that of the other opposition politicians, as if
officials in the administration including the
president does not have any political baggage to worry
about, and have used that to quietly undermine and
take the opposition lightly believing strongly that
there is no towering and credible opposition
politician of stature on the
national scene, who commands the respect and admiration
of the citizens to speak with a moral voice and
challenge the president on the leadership issue,
accountability and transparency and her endless
frequent travels. Certainly, if there is anyone who is
certainly aware of the political vacuum in the country
and has exploited it to her advantage, that person is
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
As Mr.
Teahjay was busy talking national politics, his CDC
partisans were busy fighting among themselves and
tearing down the political house George Weah built for
his presidential aspirations, giving credence to
President Sirleaf and her many reasons not to take the
opposition seriously.
So how can
Mr. Teahjay highlight the president’s
ineffectiveness when his new political party, the
Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), cannot even put
its own house in order to tackle those crippling
national issues that plagued the country; when the
dysfunctional CDC, in such disarray, resembles a
sinking ship without a captain to steer it from
disaster? This is happening at a time when the
party’s so-called “First Partisan,” former and
would-be presidential candidate, George Manneh Weah is
reportedly attending college and is enjoying sunny
Florida in the United States amid the leadership
crisis that looms in his party.
At a time
when Charles Brumskine of the opposition Liberty Party
is in the news for all the right reasons elaborating
on his recent “State of the Nation from a Political
Opposition’s Perspective,” policy speech in which
he addressed mind-boggling national issues such as
transparency and accountability, good governance, the
economy, taxes, foreign affairs and many more, I still
have not heard or seen (other than those countless
press releases from the CDC), a major policy speech
from George Weah, about the direction in which he
wants to take the country as a party leader.
From what I
have heard from those returning from Liberia, it is
believed things are not getting any better. With the
shortage of the national staple, rice on the world
market deepening, conditions are going to be even
worse as Liberians who cannot afford to find or buy
rice to feed a family are going to even be in bad
shape.
The nation is at a critical moment in its
history for the political parties, or for J. Milton
Teahjay to even hint of a possible boycott of the 2011
elections. If anything, the opposition politicians and
their parties ought to work together, find ways to
help the Liberian people and strategize for 2011,
always believing that with unity, there is success.
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