Was looking through my previous publications and came across a treasure trove of things I've written over the past eight year. Surprisingly, I've for some strange reasons not published any of these here. The following article was published in February 2012.
Democratic
Transition or Political Charade: Looking at Liberia 60 Years Ago
By:
Lamii Kpargoi
| Pre. Ellen Sirleaf |
Statement:
“We observe today, for the first
time in two generations, the swearing in of a second successive democratic
government elected peacefully by the will of the Liberian people.” President
Ellen Sirleaf made this statement in her January 16, 2012 inaugural address.
Determination: Misleading
Analysis:
Liberia
as a nation was founded in 1822 with the arrival of repatriated freed people of
color from the United States of America. The group made an encampment on
Providence Island from where the country was started.
Twenty
five years later, the founders of Liberia declared independence on July 26,
1847. The first president “elected” was Joseph Jenkins Roberts a person with
mixed black and white heritage from Virginia, USA.
Whatever
election was held to bring Roberts to power was restricted to the couple of
thousand settlers that were deemed as official citizens of the country at the
time.
After
Roberts there were several and regular changes of presidents until 1944 when
President William V. S. Tubman became president on the ticket of the True Whig
Party (TWP) which had been formed about seven decades earlier.
Between
1878 and 1980 the TWP had a virtual strangle hold on Liberian politics.
Political opposition was not allowed and elections were generally restricted to
members of the party. Between 1944, when Tubman came to power, and 1971 when he
died awaiting inauguration, Liberia knew no other leader.
In
her reference to smooth political transition in Liberia, President Sirleaf’s inaugural
statement used a yardstick of two generations. Dictionary.com defines a
generation as “The average period, generally considered to be about thirty
years, during which children grow up and have children of their own.”
Doing
a little back calculation, based on 60 years, one would arrive roughly at 1952.
Then the question arises whether there was a change of government or
inauguration of a new government in that year. As far as historic research has
determined, Pres. Tubman’s first term, which started in 1944 expired that year.
A
further question is thus triggered on whether Tubman’s second inauguration
which happened around 1953 can be classified as a democratic transition that
followed an election that expressed the will of the Liberian people.
This
determination is crucial to deciding the accuracy of President Sirleaf’s claim
in her inaugural address. The TWP under Tubman allowed little or no political
disagreement. He crushed every attempt at forming a credible opposition against
him, exiling people and even murdering some.
While
there were moves to open up the political space to a multiparty system in the
late 1970s, no opposition political party, under a genuine multiparty system,
was officially registered in Liberia till 1984/1985.
The
first ever democratic elections held in Liberia were conducted in 1985. The
democratic will that came out of those elections were not realized because the
military stole the people’s mandate.
The
1997 election that brought President Charles Taylor to power was the second
democratic elections held in this country’s history albeit under special
circumstances.
The
elections of 2005 were the third democratic elections ever held in Liberia.
Those elections were also the first that weren’t largely influence by
extenuating circumstances. It involved several candidates and parties and
everyone had the right to campaign anywhere in the country.
For
this fact check, the president’s newly named press secretary, Mr. Jerolimick
Piah, was contacted via his Facebook email, but he elected to ignore request
for explanation. A subsequent email was sent to Ms. Shirely Brownell of the
president’s office, to which Mr. Cosme Pulano sent the following response:
“A
generation is anytime between 18 to 30 years. Going back from today, two
generations takes us to the 1955 and 1959 general elections.
“In
May 1955, for the first time since 1931, there were three candidates during the
presidential election. Those candidates were William V. S. Tubman, True Whig
Party; Edwin Barclay, Reformation Party; and William O. Davies-Bright,
independent candidate. Tubman was elected President. In May 1959, he was
re-elected in a contest between the True Whig Party and an Independent
candidate. That election witnessed the swearing in of the first successive
democratic government elected peacefully by the will of the Liberian people.
“As
such, President Sirleaf’s statement, in her Inaugural Address: “We observe today,
for the first time in two generations, the swearing in of a second successive
democratic government elected peacefully by the will of the Liberian
people," is absolutely correct.”
In
contrast to the response from President Sirleaf’s office, Dr. Joseph Saye
Guannu, on page 13 of his book “Liberian History Since 1980”, emphatically
states that, “The election of 1985 was the first multiparty election in
Liberian history. More than three political parties contested.”
A
research of President Sirleaf’s previous speeches also unearths an interesting
angle. During her first state of the nation address in January 2006, she
acknowledged that her election in 2005 was the first ever democratic elections
in the country. She said at the time, “I want to report to you that the state
of our nation is fair and hopeful, for several reasons: We participated in a
relatively peaceful legislative and presidential election campaign. We voted in
an internationally judged free, fair, peaceful, and democratic [election] ever
in the history of our country.”
With
the 2011 elections passing off smoothly, the inauguration of January 16, 2012
was the first time in Liberia’s history where there was a transition from one
democratically elected government to another.
From
our yardstick for fact check determination, we’ve graded the president’s
statement misleading as she most likely innocently made the error and also
because she doesn’t seem to get any political mileage out of this statement.
The
fact is that the 2011/2012 transition, recently experienced in Liberia marks
the first time in the country’s history where one democratically elected
government has turned over to another.
If
you don’t agree with the misleading determination stated here of the
president’s remark, you’re welcome to submit your opposition to this blog.
