Is Federalism The Answer?

By: Kolec E. Jessey
Saturday, July 24, 2004

As Liberia moves toward elections and democratic rule in less than two years, there is an emerging debate among some Liberians about the form of government the country should assume. That is, should Liberia continue with a unitary form of government, or change to a federal form of government in order to accelerate development and halt widespread poverty? 

In a unitary form of government power is centralized. The central government has the absolute power of enacting laws, tax enforcement, and revenue collections while in the federal form of government local authorities have some laws making and taxing authorities as the central government. 

Proponents of the federal form of government argued that the unitary form of government has over the years failed to produce the level of infrastructure development necessary for the advancement of Liberia as a modern state. They point to the current failed state status of Liberia as bolstering their contention. 

I found the assertions offered by Bai Gbala and George Wou to be very compelling. In particular, Mr.Wou’s pointed the negative effect of centralization of power or unitary form of government when he avowed that “where revenue earned in a locality has no way of impacting development in that area.” He went on to shore up his affirmation by citing the cases of Bong Mines, LAMCO, Firestone, and Liberia Mining Company as instances were revenue or taxes generated from concessions in those areas over the years never improve the quality of lives of those living in the areas. 

It is not a bad idea for Liberia to fundamentally refit its institutions and form of government considering the current situation. In fact, it is meaningful to engage in these kinds of debate. But to diagnose or attribute Liberia’s stunted development on the form of government may be overstating the point. Liberia, like many countries in Africa, underdevelopment stemmed from the inability of successive governments to encourage private sector initiatives that will develop a vibrant middle class that is not dependent on government as the foremost employer. In the absent of a sound economic policy that will develop such class through private sector job creation and empowerment, no form of government or elections can rescue Liberia from its current failed status. 

Developing a vibrant middle class entails government encouraging an obsequious and secure investment climate in which private enterprises become the bedrock for improving the quality of life and therefore, development. Once a vibrant middle class is urbanized that is independent of government the situation in Liberia can be transformed in a relative short period of time. Many countries in Latin America and Asia were in similar situation two decades ago. In particular China and India that has become the darling of the West were to a large extent no different from Liberia in many respects. The governments of these countries responded to their underdeveloped political and economic situations not by changing their form of government. Rather they responded by developing a robust private sector, diversifying their economies, and empowering their people through education. And the rest is history. 

Well, good governance entails empowering people to be independent economically and financially. Independent thoughts and mindset can only be development when the people are capable of being economically independent and not dependent on government as the sole institution of their well-being. This then breeds integrity and honesty. Therefore serving in government is viewed as service to nation not as a mean of enriching oneself at the expense of the citizenry. 

For instance, in America and Europe, serving in government is viewed as service to the people not as a means of enrichment. Hence a review of the American politicians running for offices in this year’s elections like George Bush, John Kerry, Dick Cheney, and John Edwards are all millionaires who only political ambitions are driven by service to the nation not enrichment. Let me not be misunderstood here. I am in no way suggesting that one needs to be rich or a millionaire to run for office or serve in government in Liberia. But by developing a strong middle class and empowering people the desire to serve for enrichment or corruption will be minimized.  

Let the proponents of a federal form of government in Liberia note that Nigeria has a federal form of government yet find itself in no different situation than Liberia and other sub-Saharan Africa countries that are underdeveloped and mismanaged. 

Now to further reinforce my point, a recent United Nations report insists that the best way for Sub-Saharan African countries including Liberia to get out of the vicious circle of underdevelopment, violence and abject “poverty is to develop trade and industry.” The report also noted that “ in addition to good governance and macroeconomic management in those nations, private sector be developed, economies diversify and agricultural productivity be dramatically improved.” 

This then suggest that the remedy to the crisis in Liberia is not to change the form of government from unitary to federal which is not realistic at this time since the end of the transition is too near for such a significant overhaul of the political system. But we need to focus our energy on creating an environment in which a stout private sector can be developed to create jobs and empower the citizenry. Such an initiative will create a robust middle class in which there will be radical transformation in the mind set of people from greed of conspicuous consumption or greed of poverty to service to nation and fellow citizens.