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Opposition
politicians? What opposition, and where are they?
Monday,
November 13, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
Once upon a
time there were over forty presidential candidates
running for the singular position in the West African
nation of Liberia.
The candidates were many and existed in name
only, and the Liberian people couldn’t keep up with
their names, didn’t know what they stood for as they
tried to convince them to elect either one president
of a nation barely surviving and trying to recover
from years of self-destruction.
Some of the candidates were, well, educated and
nakedly arrogant as if that alone could make them
president, while others were ambitious and determined
to be president but lacked an understanding of what
leadership is all about and did not quite understand
what it takes to lead a nation as difficult,
dysfunctional and impoverished as Liberia is today.
Some naively believe sheer academic
credentials, preferably a PhD and that turgid style of
speaking validates and separates them from the rest of
the population.
They also thought the slick makeover they
acquired while living abroad was all they need to win
the hearts of the Liberian people, whom by this time
last year were yearning for a serious and competent
leader who was prepared to solve some of their
problems.
However, the election is over, and now we know
the true story because other than that much-talked
about acquired education they wore on their sleeves,
coupled with a keen ability to spill out marathon
rhetoric, a bulk of the presidential candidates never
had Liberia and its weary people at heart in the first
place because most jumped into the race to prove their
own importance and be part of history. And history
will not be kind to them in future analysis.
Some of the candidates couldn’t
convince anyone whether they should vote for them, and
did not position themselves after the elections as the
credible opposition they always wanted us to believe
they were when they were on the campaign trail.
Running out of Liberia after the national
elections as some shamelessly did reveal something
chilling:
It proves that those individuals cannot live in
Liberia unless he or she is elected president, and
also proved the Liberian people right when they did
not elect either one president in November 2005.
The idea of leaving Liberia after an election
in which they were defeated is politically flawed and
fatal, because the Liberian people will always
remember who was there for them and with them when
they needed them most.
Leaving Liberia after a major defeat shows how
opportunistic and selfish the former presidential
candidates can be, and that they are not to be trusted
and taken seriously the next time because they did not
stay to defend their beliefs, their ideals and their
values, and are cowards who did not stay to contrast
themselves from the eventual winner, Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf.
And after such a contested election certified
by local and international observers as free and fair,
one would think the former presidential candidates
would cherish their new roles as opposition leaders
whose oversight role is crucial in keeping the current
president in check as she continues to make critical
decisions that affects the nation.
The opposition leaders who left the country
after the presidential elections don’t even live in
Liberia to have a clout and be a credible alternative
to President Sirleaf, who seriously needs a credible
opposition to monitor her tragic policies like her
constant interference in the judiciary, corruption,
the hiring of shady figures to work in her government,
nepotism, the president’s attempt to appoint mayors,
superintendents and other county officials instead of
electing them, and the idea of honestly engaging the
president on the issue like the decentralization of
government services in the entire country.
Those things just don’t happen overnight, and
obviously don’t happen with part time and seasonal
opposition leaders who only appear in Liberia and on
the political scene only when it is time to campaign
for the presidency.
It is true that most of the former presidential
candidates left Liberia after the elections to pursue
their careers, and to also be with their respective
families in the United States whom they left behind
when they went to Liberia to run for president.
However, what is so unfortunate is that some
perhaps see the Liberian presidency as a joke, and the
country a training ground for political adventurism
– a place where they think they finally can land
their dream job, the presidency, to be added to their
career and academic trophies, which they believe would
enhance their bloated egos.
In the United States where many resides, I
don't believe the
former presidential candidates are distinguished
fellows at any think tank espousing policy-issues dear
to the hearts of the Liberian people, the Liberian
nation and their American audience.
And they are not even engaging Liberian
organizations about their experiences as former
presidential candidates, and where the stand, why he or
she did not win the presidency, why the current
president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won, and what cost
George Weah, who was the early favorite during the
campaign and during the October 11 elections to
suddenly melt during the November runoff?
Don’t you think Liberians everywhere deserve
to know first-hand from the individuals what
transpired during that historic event - the first of
its kind in the history of the Liberian nation? Don't
you think the Liberian people ought to know how they
can improve the electoral process for future
elections, and how others with presidential
aspirations can improve their chances of winning, and
how they too can learn to avoid similar mistakes?
The question is, if these guys have the courage
to travel hundreds of thousands of miles to Liberia to
have a conversation with the Liberian people in their
quest for the presidency, why is it that they don’t
seem to have any interest or the courage to have a
conversation with Liberians and key Liberian
organizations in the United States?
What are they afraid of, and what’s their
problem?
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