A Reflection and Response to the Deep Fragility of Our Nation Liberia
Since April 27, 2015, when a group of well-meaning Liberian professionals, delegation and other individuals from around the world, including a small Liberian Government delegation, met in Washington DC, just ten minutes from the historic Davis Hotel, under the banner of The ALL Liberian Diaspora Conference, where the conception of Liberia as a future colony was conceived by twenty seven powerful Caucasian American men on December 21, 1816, we think it is prudent to share our thoughts on Liberia in wake of the current state of affairs—necessitated by deep corruption scandals, insensitivities, insecurities, uncertainties, and unresolved conflicts only frozen by the presence of the international community.
The current situation in Liberia contextually mirrors the biblical narrative of Moses and the Exodus. In his encounter with pharaoh, Moses and his people are confronted by the societal threats that hovered over the Hebrew community forcing him to finally take a stance for his people. Accordingly, in Exodus Chapter 9:1, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”
Moses and his people were faced with the corrupt and draconian rule of a society that dehumanized them. For the people, it was the hard fact of a derisive culture—that miserably subjugated them on a daily basis. Ironically, Moses himself, understood the affectation of two worlds of Egypt—the powerful and insulated society where he himself once benefited from the largesse of the vampire state vis-à-vis the world of the marginalized, wherein the dysfunctional state continuously preyed on the blood and resources of the fragile and marginalized people.
Liberia in our analysis immeasurably fits this perplexing depiction and is the core of this article. The pharaonic aspersion herein, is in reference to an entire socio-cultural context of Liberia gone awry and currently ranked very low in many international indices such as Transparency International Report, The United States Department of State Annual Report and now Global Witness and its latest allegation of massive corruption in Liberia. Nevertheless, these allegations with documentations of other massive corruption scandals are not new to the Liberian people as frequently reported by the Costa Show, Front Page Africa, The Daily Observers and other well-meaning Liberians—such as the current John F. Kennedy Medical Hospital scandal, the Central Bank loss of millions of dollars, NOCAL and its collapse, unethical concessionary contracts, depletion of the natural resources, the National Port Authority and massive container scandals, and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few Liberians that lack professional and moral aptitudes for genuine nation-building after a decade at the helm of political and economic power.
Shockingly, with the pending Liberian General and Presidential Elections of 2017 in the horizon, and with so many unresolved issues that led to the Liberian civil war nearly 25 years ago, there is a need for Liberians from home and abroad; and beyond ethnic, religious and political persuasions, to demand a full and fair investigation of all massive corruption scandals; and with a reasonable timeframe involving all branches of the Liberian Government before the General and Presidential Elections, to be led by an independent commission of trusted and ethical individuals drawn from the various sectors of the Liberian society, tasked to investigate and mete economic justice on behalf of the Liberian people before 2017.
Finally, any failure on the part of the Government of Liberia to implement such mounting demand and findings by such taskforce, the people in conjunction with civil society organizations ought to use the people’s power by peacefully demanding the shutdown of the state power through enduring peaceful protests such as sit-ins, demonstrations, go-slow, and any symbolic activities that highlight an anti-corruption agenda till the Ellen-led Government submits to the will of the people. Liberia is the only place we know as our home, no matter where we may find ourselves. For the sake of Liberia, the time is now…our people must go further in freedom and progress because we can’t wait any longer!
Artemus W. Gaye, PhD,
Dr. Gaye chairs The All Liberian Diaspora Conference (ALDC) based in Chicago, a Liberian premier run think tank of professional organizations and individuals outside of Liberia, tapping into the vast social, cultural, religious, political, economic, scientific, and educational fabric of Liberian Diaspora and its seminal relationship with the homeland of Liberia. Since 1999, he continued to serve on the Advisory Board of Africa University Development office in Nashville, TN. He is the President of the Prince Ibrahima and Isabella Freedom Foundation and co-organizer of the 300th Anniversary celebration of Natchez, MS (The African Heritage) and 200th Anniversary Celebration of Liberia’s Colonial History. He can be reached at [email protected] http://www.thealdc.org/home/ (773) 647-0721