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Pres.
Sirleaf's leadership style mimics predecessors
Sunday,
August 26, 2006
By
Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
I really
don't know whether I can win this public fight with
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the Liberian people, but it
is one I must pick to draw attention to something the
president has been doing from the time she was sworn
in as leader of Liberia.
No, I am not writing again about the July 26, fire that gutted
the 4th floor of the Executive Mansion, or the not so
professional and fatal conduct of her presidential
bodyguards or Special Security Service agents (SSS),
which resulted in the death of agent Emmanuel
"Silver J" Williams.
It is about the president giving away tons of
money, and bags of rice and other items to those she
feels need it in a country where someone is always
looking up to another person to give them something
because of existing hardship.
Knowing Liberians, I will be seen as just
another rabid critic of President Sir leaf who don’t
want to see peace in the country, but wants to bring
the president down at a time she’s trying her best
to bring development to the country and improve the
lives of
Liberians.
Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Some will even go as far as saying such
nonsense as “I don’t blame you, I blame Ellen for
putting the Liberian people thing on her head,” when
one attempts to discuss these very serious issues.
These Liberians will never see the politics in
the president’s actions since it is about humanity
and money changing hands and going to those in need.
And because the recipients are poor it might be seen
as in bad taste for anyone to even say anything
negative about the President of Liberia for doing
exactly what others failed to do.
But the presidency is not about charity. It is
about leadership, inspiration and empowerment, and
anything concerning philanthropic endeavors should be
left to the experts and others in the field who must
be empowered, and must have the support of the
president and the citizens to get funding for existing
organizations like the Red Cross and other
humanitarian organizations, or fund new ones that will
help Liberians in these critical times.
President Sirleaf’s altruistic approach to
governance is troubling, even as she glowed in the
Tubman, Tolbert, Doe and Taylor-style of the politics
of rice and money, and has revived the despicable
paternalistic practices of her predecessors whom we
watched helplessly in their days when they insulted
us, took us for granted, bought us and exploited us in
the name of helping us the poor and needy.
Now it appears that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
who’s supposed to take us away from the old to the
modern (political) era wants to be this maternal
figure that wants to look after her “children,”
and has demonstrated over and over how she’s not far
from duplicating the failed and arrogant policies of
her predecessors.
Where’s she getting the money, anyway? Is the
money appropriated in the national budget for these
philanthropic endeavors? If not, then why can’t the
money be appropriated in the national budget to be
distributed to humanitarian organizations to help
Liberians? Is the money coming from her personal
finances? Where’s accountability when we need it?
It is worth mentioning that right after the
inauguration, the president gave away money to
selected counties as if she had just won the lottery.
Recently, the president contributed $7,000 to
the bereaved family of the deceased SSS agent,
Emmanuel “Silver J” Williams.
Again, the president of Liberia, not private
citizen Ellen Johnson Sirleaf issued a $1,000 check to
the ailing Journalist Throuble Suah’s fund; 100 bags
of rice and 50 desk to the Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs); 100 bags of rice and $200 to the flood
victims in Margibi County, an unspecified purse to
some “staff for the upkeep of the children at the
orphanage,” and a donation to journalist Ignatius
Roberts, who lost his house in a fire in New Kru Town.
“In an attempt to identify with the people of
the county following the elections,” the August 21
news bulletin from Star Radio reported that President
Sirleaf donated $10,000 to the people of Margibi
County, $5,000 for the county’s scholarship program,
$3,000 went to District #2, and $2,000 was donated to
development initiatives in the county.
When will this madness end? And what if other
individuals and counties want money from President
Sirleaf? Is she prepared to give them their share of
money also? Is this leadership or is she just trying
to buy these people and counties in order to put them
in her pocketbook?
Certainly there’s room for this kind of philanthropic
spirit the president has shown. The only thing: It’s
all politics. And I wish prominent and private
Liberian citizens and other private groups would wake
up to the call and do what President Johnson-Sirleaf
is doing.
President Sirleaf could’ve used the
presidential bully pulpit to rally her friends in the
private sectors and Liberians at home and abroad to be
generous and rise up to the occasion to help Liberians
in need. She could have also secured private donations
that could be turned over to another body –
preferably a respected private organization to carry
out the humanitarian needs of the Liberian people.
However, as a political leader of the country
and leader of her Unity Party, President Sirleaf put
herself in the crossfire by playing politics when she
knows very well what she’s doing seems right on the
surface but is wrong politically.
President Sirleaf resurrected the old political
tricks of her predecessors by going into their
playbooks when she addresses this very serious public
policy issue by giving out personal financial
contributions to individuals and group, which cheapens
the process, incites loyalty and put her in the middle
of the story.
The president’s generosity corrupts the
political process, and makes the people to feel a
sense of indebtedness to her for helping them during
their time of crisis. Her generosity, which resembles
influence buying undermines democracy, and have the
potential of keeping the citizens in check whenever
they want to hold a very generous president
accountable for not doing the right thing.
President Sirleaf’s Unity Party will benefit
from her generosity, and will also gave her party an
unfair advantage over other financially strapped
political parties that cannot compete with the Unity
Party and a “rich” president who’s doling out
money like it is falling from the trees behind the
Executive Mansion.
The Press Union of Liberia (PUL), publicly
congratulated President Sirleaf the other day for her
donation to journalist Throuble Suah’s medical
funds. I am sure Mr. Suah appreciates the kind
gesture, but is the behavior an appropriate one?
Is the Press Union’s warm reception an
example of the group being very careful not to bite
the hand that feeds them?
Where are the activists when we really need
them?
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