Was again looking through my previous publications and treasure trove of things I've written over the past eight year. The following article was published sometime in mid 2012.
By
Lamii Kpargoi
Unlike
many parts of the world, where only known political quantities stand a good
chance to win elective office following years of public scrutiny, in Liberia
most people aspiring to public office run for the office regardless of the fact that they are virtually unknown even in their own little
communities.
Such
people even go to the extent of thinking that some accident might happen that would
propel them to the presidency. As a result of this, some of them employ the
help of marabous from Mali and other places in the sub-region to magically get
them to the presidency. Others rely on Nigerian preacher men from the Christian
faith to perform their magic. Yet still some of them rely on both Christian
preachers and Islamic marabous.
But
the reality of the situation is that neither the marabous, nor the preachers
have any magical part to play in any electoral process. Elections almost always
boil down to name recognition, though in more developed systems, policies take
a center stage.
In
the early to mid 1980s, the first attempt at introducing a real multiparty
democratic system to Liberia was embarked upon by the military regime. After
suspending the constitution in April 1980 and banning all political activities,
the military step up a committee to draft a new constitution and presided over
a 5-year transition process.
Unknown Quantities and
the Quest for the Liberian Presidency
When
the ban on politics was finally lifted in 1983/84, several individuals sprang
up and put themselves forward to contest those pending elections. Names like
Jackson Doe, Edward Kesseley, Gabriel Kpolleh, Baccus Matthews, etc were thrown
around.
Though
all these people were putting themselves forward for the presidency, it was
clear to anyone watching, at the time that Baccus Matthews, Amos Sawyer and
their other progressive colleagues were the most recognized and known
characters in the country. Their socialist leanings were already very well
known and they had led the agitation against to one party state.
If
the military had not banned the UPP and LPP, while they were still being
registered, one of those parties would have definitely produced the president
in the 1985 elections. Because they were banned, the supporters of those
parties did the next best thing in voting for the Liberia Action Party (LAP),
not because they preferred LAP but because they wanted to put an end to
military rule.
The
military stole those elections because the people who voted for the perceived
winners did not believe in LAP and were not prepared to put their lives on the
line for that party. They were only trying to rid the country of the military
government. That is why LAP could not use street demonstrations to kick the
military out of power.
From
1985, it took another 11 years for Liberians to be allowed to vote again in
July 1997. In the lead up to those elections which were meant to end the
country’s civil war, 13 people registered to contest the presidency. While some
of the big names from the 1985 elections finally figured, they performed
dismally because their time had past and the population was looking in a
single direction – towards eventual winner Charles Taylor.
Taylor’s
electoral victory margin, unparalleled in Liberian history, might never again be
matched. This victory was not due to him employing preachers or marabous,
though I would argue that he did use spiritists from both religious groups.
Like
the 1985 vote, the ballot was filled with the names of candidates who were
unknown even in their own little communities. Like before, some of them were of
the mistaken belief that magic was on their side.
Fast
forward to 2005 and the same scenario played itself out with 22 candidates. As
before the ballot got longer with meaningless names. The uncertainty of the
political variables in 2005 perhaps contributed to this.
There
was no clear front-runner going in to the 2005 elections. Cllr. Charles
Brumskine had been the only meaningful contender against Charles Taylor if
elections had been held as scheduled in October 2003. Cllr. Brumskine lost his front-runner status when he decided to hibernate for a year of the 2003 – 2005 transitional government.
As
the elections got closer, everyone knew that only one of three people stood a
viable chance of winning: Charles Brumskine, Opong Weah and Ellen Sirleaf, but
yet there were 19 others that still entered the race.
The
scenario is not much different for the 2011 elections, though the length of the
ballot, which had consistently grown since 1985 finally experienced a drop as
only 14 people put themselves forward. As before, no more than four of these
stood any realistic chance of winning, though this time round there was a
front-runner in the incumbent followed closely by Opong Weah.
The 2017 Possibilities
In
recent months, there have been a lot of speculations about succession to the
Liberian presidency. Like before names have been bounded around. In two speculative
pieces written by Front Page Africa editor, Rodney Sieh, he names Vice President
Joseph Boakai, Augustine Ngafuan, Brownie Samukai, Mills Jones, Varney Sherman,
Amara Konneh, Koffi Woods, etc as people who might play their hands in 2017.
With
the exception of VP Boakai, Cllr. Sherman and Atty. Woods, the rest of the
individuals listed range from the totally unknown to the relatively unknown.
Again, of all of them, it is only VP Boakai, Cllr. Sherman and Atty. Woods who
are known when it comes to serious policy issues like rule of law, economics,
etc. These are known of Sherman because he contested for the presidency before,
while Woods’ advocacy for good governance and rule of law is very well known in
the country. On the part of VP Boakai, he has won two elections as vice
president over the last 7 years.
Further,
it is only VP Boakai and Cllr. Sherman that have any meaningful political
constituencies. The vice president’s constituency cuts across Lofa County which
has a significant voting population, while Sherman’s is in Grand Cape Mount and
perhaps Bomi countries and not as vote rich.
Liberia
has seriously moved on from the era where someone will put his or her hand up
for the presidency simply because he’s a government official, “rich” or loves
the country. While these are all good attributes, they are generally
meaningless as they fail to tell the population how the person intends to
alleviate their sufferings.
Being
a government official, “rich” or having a Liberian flag and map in one’s blood
stream will in no way make the country’s health care delivery system better.
Those attributes won’t provide better standards in the education sector. They
certainly will not bring someone justice when their rights are trampled upon.
And they would most definitely not put money in the pockets of the hundreds of
thousands of Liberians that live in squalor.
In
order for someone to become president, that person must start telling the
Liberian people where they stand on crucial issues that affect the lives of the
population. They must have views on not just the improvement of basic social services,
but where they stand on using those services: whether they would send their
children to private schools or go abroad for medical treatment/checkup.
They
must show the population their plans for making Liberians have a future that
does not basically concern their next meal.
Those
are the major issues facing Liberia going forward and this author intends to
microscope all serious presidential possibilities over the next several years.
Each person will be assessed mainly on policy issues and their prescription for
improving the Liberian state and people.
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