Liberia: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is not the panacea

Saturday, October 07, 2006   

          By Francis W. Nyepon

Liberia's development challenges run very deep. Amongst the myriad
root causes of this, empowerment of ordinary people is one of the most
important ways to ensure long-term poverty reduction.

Unfortunately, it is still underestimated by international development advocates and some in the Sirleaf administration who aim for quick results see injecting money into technically-oriented projects such as
infrastructure or enterprises that are ill-suited to current
conditions on the ground as the only means to realize significant
social transformation for all.

Our historical challenges, which kept the majority of our people
shackled hopelessly to the trappings of poverty go far beyond the
administration of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. It is about time
Liberians realize that President Sirleaf is not the panacea for our
age-old problems, which has beset our country for generations. 

Let it be stated here that every Liberian is the solution to the country's
systemic challenges. Only Liberians can truly solve these challenges.
Therefore, our country's recovery is not for the faint-hearted.
Rooting significant social transformation will only come if Liberians
at home and abroad make a concerted effort and genuine sacrifice in
the supreme interest of restoring the country to its rightful position
among others of similar size, population, resources, cultural
development and length of independence.

The time has come for every Liberians to rise up to the occasion,
through this government in order to lift the majority of our people
out of poverty; rather then risk the country slipping further into the
abyss of hopelessness, chronic underdevelopment and social
interruption. Liberians have a national responsibility and obligation
to demand that the Sirleaf administration implement fundamental and
necessary reforms to promote significant social transformation, before
another generation becomes dysfunctional and categorized as functioning
illiterates entrenched in the malice of corruption, mismanagement,
social deviancy and abnormality.

To begin such an endeavor however, Liberians must first avoid the
temptation of mantling a personality cult around the presidency and
prevent principle advisors from creating panic in the halls of
government by producing an artificial culture of hysteria just to
maintain their personal grip on power, by insisting on hanging a noose
around fundamental and individual freedoms of Liberians who which
simply to constructively engage the administration in taking advantage
of this unique opportunity in our history. 

The Sirleaf administration moreover, should resist maintaining any semblance of a patronage network or a privileged class, which would only perpetuate abuse, corruption and mismanagement by detracting from integrity in public service and civic responsibility.

The promulgation of DECREE-88A under the Samuel Doe administration in
1985 tragically caused reckless injury and havoc to innocent Liberians
without cause. Hence, our recent democratic multiparty experiment,
which brought Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to power must not be perplexed
with an opening to sponsor the collectivism of the proletariat. 

Those who now find it expedient to denigrate others in order to elevate
themselves by attempting to prevent serious debate from taking place
must recognize that they too bear equal responsibility for
cultivating a generation of activists whose only training, which they
help to provide, is to demand change from within government rather
than from innovation and the private sector.

The disparity gap which seems to be emerging under the Sirleaf
administration is widening, and could cause significant impediments to
sustaining genuine development in the long term. Nevertheless,
sustaining development will consist of advancement and empowerment of
all Liberians, not just a few, as has been the policy in the past. So
let's be clear. Attempts to sustain fundamental aspects and tangible
development under the Sirleaf administration will not come without
laying the foundation for significant improvements in human capacity,
literacy, life expectancy, security, poverty reduction, respect for
human rights and the rule of law.

What our country need are individuals with specializations who can
give life and hope to our ravaged society and economy. We need every
citizen's assistance to rebuild our devastated country. Each of us has
a responsibility to allow change to come peacefully through free and
open dialogue without fear or organized public threat by officials
entrusted with nurturing our young democracy and respect for the rule
of law.

Every Liberians must take advantage of the fact that our country now
has a responsible government led by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf whose
character, training and temperament will insist upon fairness,
transparency, privatization and poverty reduction in order to prevent
the country from falling back into chaos.

However, if we stand by, as some would have us do with our heads
buried in the sand, or watch from the side lines like a
spectator-sport jeering and criticizing whenever it suits a
particular cause, then we will have no one to blame but ourselves, which will
ultimately be counterproductive to our country's recovery, because in
the end, we will all become victims either directly or indirectly and
our country will again suffer and be at the mercy of international aid
agencies and unscrupulous foreign businessmen who do nothing but prey
upon our helpless people.

We all know by now that our country needs innovative measures to
sustain poverty reduction, craft social transformation and address its
urgent development needs. But in order to ignite this degree of
change, specific strategies need to be implemented to stimulate growth
and prosperity.

The Sirleaf administration needs to move immediately to enhance public
sector effectiveness and efficiency; restructure the consumer price
index; instigate macroeconomic stability; endorse comprehensive
agrarian and land reforms, and support decentralization to
reinvigorate economic growth and transform nation-wide. Things that
have paralyzed the country's daily operations needs to immediately be
eliminated, and a comprehensive review and implementation of specific
policies should be instituted to instill public confidence in the government.

To leave a productive imprint on the society given the high
expectation which exist, the Sirleaf administration should seriously
consider focusing its central national policy strategy on poverty
reduction, which seriously incorporates organizing an effective
educational system that includes vocational learning, from the top
down rather than from the bottom up. This strategy would considerably
benefit a broad spectrum of the population at every level. Education
will then gain its rightful place and become the great equalizer. This
author shares the view of most development experts that the lower the
rate of literacy stays in a country; the wider the disparity gap
grows.

Francis Nyepon is a policy analyst and Vice-Chair of The
Center for Security & Development Studies. He is a political economist and serves on several boards of humanitarian, environmental and human rights organizations in the United States and Liberia. He can be contacted at francis.nyepon@Gmail.com