Gerald, Sirleaf’s Admission Opens A Bigger Question For Liberia: A Response To Gerald C. Koinyeneh’s FrontPage Africa Report

Gerald,
Your October 7 FrontPage Africa report on former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s admission that her administration failed to defeat corruption deserves careful attention.
Sirleaf acknowledged that her administration did not succeed in defeating corruption and that the problem persists. Your report also describes her call for stronger enforcement, greater accountability and more active citizen participation.
I agree that enforcement matters.
But I believe the discussion should go further.

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By Rev. Torli H. Krua

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How did Liberia develop a political system in which corruption became so difficult to defeat?
That is the question behind my newly published book, Exile by Design.
[The historical analysis from the original Version 2 continues here.]

THE BUSHCHICKEN RETURNS
This is also why I am announcing the resurrection of The Bushchicken News, operating from Boston, Massachusetts, a city central to the history of the American Revolution.
The choice of Boston is intentional.
The American Revolution raised questions about representation, political authority and the relationship between government and the governed.
More than two centuries later, Liberia must confront its own question:
Does political power truly belong to the people?
The Bushchicken will return as a platform for reporting, historical investigation, civic education and public discussion about Liberia’s transition from colonial-era political structures toward genuine popular participation.
I describe this objective as moving from Black colonization toward participatory sovereignty.
That phrase is an argument that should be tested through history and evidence—not a claim that Liberians should simply accept without examination.

GANTA: THE PROPOSED BEGINNING

The next step is Ganta, Nimba County, December 26, 2026.
There, we hope to begin what could become Africa’s first Sovereign Citizens Convention for Participatory Democracy.
The purpose is straightforward:

• constitutional education;
• electoral education;
• citizen participation;
• legislative literacy;
• public-budget literacy;
• Freedom of Information education;
• peaceful civic organization; and
• practical training in holding public officials accountable.
  “Sovereign citizens” in this context means citizens who understand that government derives its authority from the people and who exercise that authority peacefully through constitutional and democratic institutions.
  It does not mean rejecting government or the rule of law.
  It means understanding that the people are the source of legitimate governmental authority.
  Liberia’s 1986 Constitution provides the foundation:
  “All power is inherent in the people and all free government are established by their authority and for their benefit.”
  That sentence deserves to become more than a constitutional quotation.
  It should become civic practice.

A NEW QUESTION ABOUT THE UNITED STATES

The movement will also raise a constructive diplomatic objective:
Could Liberia become the first African participant in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program?
At present, the United States has 42 Visa Waiver Program countries, none of which is African.
Liberia’s FY2024 adjusted B-visa refusal rate was 79.38%.
Those facts do not establish that every visa refusal is discriminatory. Visa decisions involve individual circumstances and statutory criteria.
But the historical relationship between Liberia and the United States makes the disparity worthy of public discussion.
Liberia was established through an American colonization project.
Americans were able to settle there.
Liberia’s early constitutional documents referred to rights associated with U.S. citizenship.
Today, Liberians face substantial barriers to visiting the United States.
That is why I believe reciprocity should become part of the conversation.
Rather than simply asking why Liberians are denied visas, we should ask what a new relationship between Liberia and the United States could look like.
Could it include expanded educational exchange?
Could it include greater freedom of movement?
Could it eventually include Visa Waiver Program eligibility?
These are diplomatic questions that Liberia can pursue peacefully and constructively.

FROM BOSTON TO MONROVIA TO GANTA

The resurrection of The Bushchicken creates a symbolic and practical bridge:
Boston — Monrovia — Ganta.
Boston represents the revolutionary language of representation and liberty.
Monrovia represents the complicated history of American colonization in Africa.
Ganta represents the possibility of a new chapter centered on citizen participation.
The purpose is not to transfer American history to Liberia.
It is to encourage Liberians to examine their own history and exercise their own constitutional authority.
Mumbet’s example remains instructive.
She did not have modern technology.
She did not have a political party.
She did not have an international organization behind her.
She had the courage to use the legal principles available to her.
Liberians today have something Mumbet did not have:
A Constitution that explicitly says all power is inherent in the people, combined with modern communication technology capable of connecting citizens across Liberia and around the world.

A NEW DEMOCRATIC CONVERSATION

Gerald, your article says that Sirleaf urged citizens to use the Freedom of Information law and encouraged journalists to continue asking hard questions.
I agree.
But I would add:
Let us ask the historical questions too.
Why was Liberia created?
What purposes did colonization serve?
Who possessed political power?
Who was excluded?
How did those exclusions shape the republic?
And what parts of that historical structure remain visible today?
The answers should come from documents, archives, constitutions, treaties, legislative records, court decisions and testimony.
That is what Exile by Design is asking Liberians and Americans to do.
And that is what the resurrected Bushchicken intends to pursue.

FROM HISTORY TO PARTICIPATION

The goal is ultimately larger than exposing corruption.
It is about developing citizens capable of participating in democracy.
Liberia does not merely need stronger laws.
It needs citizens who understand those laws.
It does not merely need independent institutions.
It needs citizens who know how to hold those institutions accountable.
It does not merely need elections.
It needs informed participation.
And it does not merely need politicians.
It needs citizens.
The Bushchicken is returning from Boston to join that conversation.
And Ganta, on December 26, 2026, is proposed as the beginning.
Perhaps it will become Africa’s first Sovereign Citizens Convention for Participatory Democracy.

Perhaps Liberia can also become Africa’s first participant in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.
Those are aspirations, not accomplished facts.

But every democratic transformation begins as an idea before it becomes an institution.
Mumbet’s story reminds us that one person can challenge an institution that appears too powerful to change.
Liberia’s Article 1 reminds us where legitimate governmental power is supposed to reside.

All power is inherent in the people.
The next chapter is for the people to learn how to exercise it.

Boston to Monrovia.
Monrovia to Ganta.
History to participation.
Colonization to sovereignty.