AMID THE FANFARE AND ALL OF the hullabaloos which preceded the October 10, 2017 general and Presidential elections, Liberians can finally breathe a sigh of relief the process has come to an end, at least not the very end.
FROM CIVIC EDUCATION AND making sure the ballot papers reached its destination in time, the work to ensure Liberia gets a new democratically elected leader as Ellen Johnson Sirleaf gets prepared to exit the stage has been an onerous task and from the outlook of things, it hasn’t even finished yet.
THE ANNOUNCEMENTS OF RESULTS from polling stations all across the country appears not to be the last icing NEC is putting on the cake as the reality becomes glaring that no candidate looks set to achieve 50% plus one, a key requirement for anyone wanting to be President of Liberia.
THE APPEARANCE OF THIS reality is due to the gluttonous and egoistic personality traits many of these newly minted parties, some of which has no base to leapfrog, to consolidate and present themselves as a united front.
HOWBEIT THE SPILLED MILK, THE announcement of result has begun by the National Elections Commission and when all the results haven’t been fully given, some have gone on to claim victory, declaring that they have already won and perhaps, there is no need for the NEC to announce results.
THEY HAVE GONE ON TO SUGGEST THAT should the results not sway in their favor, the Sword of Damocles would be unleashed on Liberia. On Social media, they are stoking fears, fear of our brutal past.
AMONGST THEM INCLUDES YOUNG AND overzealous journalists. However, some appears to have forgotten what stoked the genocide in Rwanda and led to the death of over 800,000 people in less than 90 days.
IT BEGAN WITH RADIO JOURNALISTS AND fast forward to October 2017 in Liberia, it is beginning with very young journalists associated with some of the leading political parties.
PRIOR TO THE GENOCIDE, A POPULAR radio station called Radio-Television Libre des Milles Collines, and further known as RTLM, predicted that “a little something” was going to happen in April. RTLM was well known for rabble-rousing broadcasts, promoting the murder and torture of innocent Tutsis.
GOING EVEN FURTHER, RTLM FREQUENTLY broadcast fabricated reports – one of which even went as far as claiming that a Nairobi-based human rights organization had discovered a plan to kill Hutu politicians and start a reverse-genocide on the Hutu ethnic group.
TODAY, THEY ARE BEHIND BARS IN TANZANIA, Rwanda, Den Haag, The Netherlands, and some other countries on the continent. This should go as an instructive lesson to these young partisan journalists who are selling their souls to politicians for thirty dirty pieces of silver that from afar, the world is watching.
THE MANY FACEBOOK POSTS OF FEAR and frivolous remarks that NEC should keep the peace because first round is won, is tantamount to act of online violence and could send supporters amok.
HISTORY AND POSTERITY ARE never kind to those who forget it.