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Disappointed
and disgusted
Sunday,
October 29, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
President
Sirleaf doesn't seem to be listening to her critics. I
don’t even think she listens to the sentiments of
the Liberian people who elected her in the first place,
either. If she ever did, she's not showing it but
continues to do what she thinks is right.
That kind of leadership style is a bit too
arrogant and condescending for me, and a recipe for
disaster.
What’s wrong with the Liberian political
system can be traced to the office of the
all-too-powerful presidency.
With its overreaching presidential powers and a
trademark ability to get away unchallenged, and
supported in most cases by those compliant and corrupt
judges, a weak judiciary and a constitution that can
easily be manipulated to further the selfish goals of
the president, has never been in the interests of the
nation.
The critics are pounding on President Sirleaf
for her constant international travels, presidential
arrogance and interference in the judiciary,
corruption in government, nepotism in government and
the president’s failure to act when officials in her
government are not kinder and gentler in the way the
carry out their duties.
When the president is confronted with these
issues, her paid and unpaid supporters are always
ready to put up a fight without weighing the
seriousness of the issues, as she usually will gave a
very testy response in a way that questions one’s
patriotism, and why he or she should even ask such a
question in times like these.
Even a 2006 Africa prize for Leadership and the
Sustainable End of Hunger she received October 21,
from the Hunger Project, with a check of over $100,000
did not quiet her critics who see Ms. Sirleaf as
another example of a president who enjoys the
pageantry of the office and globetrotting to pick up
awards than actually governing her impoverished
nation.
In a recent article on his COPLA’s Web site,
the political activist Bodioh Wesseh Siapoe demanded
that "Her Excellency must return the award" because at the
moment “Liberia is incapable of feeding itself,”
while “majority of Liberians live on hand-outs from
global donors.”
Strong points Mr. Siapoe, because it takes a
lot of courage for one like you or anyone else outside
of the box to ask our celebrity president who’s
enjoying worldwide appeal to return such a prize, as
her diehard supporters sees nothing wrong, and often
emphasized a larger vision for this president’s
incessant foreign trips in the face of mounting
criticism from Liberians at home and abroad.
However, there is not a sentence in the books
that says a president of Liberia cannot accumulate
awards and honorary degrees from international
admirers, who perhaps are doing it to highlight their
own business interests to show their supporters the
results of what they think they are doing in order to continue
supporting them.
However, the recipient for such an award must
be deserving of the honor.
If the award was given to President Sirleaf for
her trailblazing role as the first woman to be elected
president of an African nation, than the Hunger
Project must clarify and redirect their reasons behind
the award to put this controversy to rest.
If the award was given for hunger, then it
surely was a travesty because President Sirleaf is not
deserving of it, and must donate the financial award
to deserving institutions in the country to achieve
health, education, nutrition and family incomes,
another commitment of the Hunger Project.
What I see in this controversy is presidential
disconnect from reality, as I continue to question the
motives of those handing out the award amid mounting
hardships in Liberia.
Why will President Sirleaf be chosen to receive
such an award and the cash behind it from an
organization that stands for the sustainable end of
hunger when the president is not an advocate of
hunger, at a time when the Liberian people are going to
bed hungry every night on her watch; when the price of
the national staple, rice is a national controversy
most Liberians cannot afford to buy because of the
obvious lack of employment and the funds needed to
feed a family?
With all that’s going on, President Sirleaf
continues to travel worldwide, (she’s now in China)
and perhaps sees light at the end of the tunnel when
she recently graded her government for achieving 70
percent of everything she claimed they set out to do
in terms of restoring pipe-borne water to the capital,
providing street lights, restructuring the Liberian
National Police and the restructuring of the Armed
Forces, which she also said is underway.
Those achievements are remarkable; Madame
president, and I want to applaud you for your efforts.
I am sure the Liberian people applauds your efforts
also. But it is not enough.
I don’t want to blame the president for
sounding too optimistic about the progress she thinks
her administration has made since she ascended to the
presidency in January. That’s because one has to
remain optimistic to partially insulate themselves
from their troubles.
However, President Sirleaf inherited a lot of
problems she must deal with, and must gain results to
retain her credibility and her popularity with the
Liberian people. But to grade oneself a 70 percent for
one section of the country is unfair, because
Monrovia, the capital is not all of Liberia to be
singled out and used as a benchmark for progress.
The counties or political sub-divisions are
still experiencing neglect from the national
government because of the evil effects of
centralization of services, which leaves those outside
of Monrovia in abject poverty as if they are not
Liberians.
That’s why I thought President Sirleaf and
her staffers would not have added a figure to what
they think of as progress her administration supposedly made, and
would have been cautious in reporting the results to the public by saying these
words: “From what I see, I believe we are making
progress and are heading in the right direction.”
Because the capital she speaks of so highly
with such a percentage lacks running sewer,
sanitation, trash collecting capabilities and a school
system incapable of educating Liberia’s children.
The West African Examination Council, (WAEC)
reported recently how almost 6,000 high school seniors
who took the annual national examination failed. Is
this news worthy of inclusion as part of the
president's report of progress in her administration?
There is also a nagging erosion problem eating
away miles and miles of pristine beaches. While homes and
communities in coastal Liberia are being buried in
deep sea, a result of the erosion with no help in
sight from the national government.
The Sirleaf administration is plagued with
corruption and unsavory characters depleting our
children’s future, presidential interference in the
judiciary; nepotism is running amok in her
administration, and there is no explanation as to why
there was never an investigation in the shooting incident at
the Special Security Service, (SSS) when Assistant
Director Ashford Peal shot officer Emmanuel Williams
to death in August.
President Sirleaf injected herself into the
case by giving (paying off) the grieving family $7,000
to bury Mr. Williams, which halted the investigation.
So what became of the case?
President Sirleaf once again interfered with
the judiciary when she injected herself into another
case by using her influence to halt a lawsuit filed
against Amos C. Sawyer, by Commissioner David Kortie
of the Governance Reform Council, (GRC). Does the
Liberian people have the right to fully know the
outcome of a pending case between officials of
government and ordinary Liberians not associated with
President Sirleaf?
What became of the infighting within the Governance
Reform Council, and charges of its out of country
members being paid monthly salaries in absentia?
SSS Director Chris Massaquoi and deputy Ashford
Peal are still working in their respective positions
in government. We have not heard anything about the
case between Kortie and Sawyer.
Is judicial interference also part of the 70
percent the president cited as part of improving the
lives of the Liberian people?
Is this the change we always wanted? I am
disappointed, already.
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