ARTICLE 17 of the Liberian constitution guarantees the right of all Liberians to peaceful assembly. “All persons, at all times, in an orderly and peaceable manner, shall have the right to assemble and consult upon the common good, to instruct their representatives, to petition the government or other functionaries for the redress of grievances and to associate fully with others or refuse to associate in political parties, trade unions and other organizations.”
IN THE PAST FEW weeks, more and more Liberians have taken matters into their own hands, gathering at assembly points in fulfillment of their constitutional right to protest.
WHETHER IT’S THE doctors or nurses at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center or as it were Tuesday, students demanding their teachers’ salaries, it seems the George Weah-led government often come to terms with the realities, by succumbing to protesters’ demands after they make their voices heard, or as most would say, after the damage has been done.
THROUGHOUT LIBERIA’S RUGGED history, protests have been the norm, starting with dissent about the way things are – or the way many feeling disenfranchised feel, it should be.
ON APRIL 14, 1979, the Progressive Alliance of Liberia called for a peaceful demonstration to protest the proposed price increase. Some 2,000 activists began what was planned as a peaceful march on the Executive Mansion. The protest march swelled dramatically when the protesters were joined en route by more than 10,000 “back street boys,” causing the march to quickly degenerate into a disorderly mob of riot and destruction. Widespread looting of retail stores and rice warehouses ensued with damage to private property estimated to have exceeded $40 million. The government called in troops to reinforce police units in the capital, who were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the rioters. In 12 hours of violence in the city’s streets, at least 40 civilians were killed, and more than 500 were injured. Hundreds more were arrested.
THEN MINISTER of Agriculture, Florence Chenoweth, proposed an increase in the subsidized price of rice from $22 per 100-pound bag to $26. Chenoweth asserted that the increase would serve as an added inducement for rice farmers to stay on the land and produce rice as both a subsistence crop and a cash crop, instead of abandoning their farms for jobs in the cities or on the rubber plantations. However, political opponents criticized the proposal as self-aggrandizement, pointing out that Chenoweth and the Tolbert family of the president operated large rice farms and would therefore realize a tidy profit from the proposed price increase.
TRUE TO FORM, as it did after a recent protest of nurses and doctors, the Weah administration through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning confirmed that to date the MoF has paid more than 15,000 non-MCSS teachers for the month of August. The Ministry also noted that it is now in the process of speedily processing these teachers’ salaries for the month of September beginning Tuesday 15 October.
IN SEPTEMBER 1984, during the era of Samuel Doe, soldiers stripped, raped and flogged students while breaking up a protest at the University of Liberia.
LATE MINISTER of Justice, Jenkins Z.B. Scott, said at the time that police resources were “limited to a handful of soldiers who are ill-equipped to handle civil uprisings. Individuals were disrobed. There were some rapes. There were some floggings with whips,” Scott said.
TWO YEARS LATER, IN 1986, DURING the reign of Samuel Kanyon Doe, MCC students again took to the streets in violent form, demanding teachers’ salaries and threatening to disrupt private schools.
IN 2011, A SIMILAR violent protest involving MCSS students brought a convoy carrying former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to a halt in the same vicinity where Tuesday’s protest took place.
SIRLEAF, WHO WAS attending a program at the Monrovia City Hall, was forced to walk to her office from the City Hall as she heard the cries of protesting students, demanding answers from the Sirleaf administration regarding their striking teachers who were demanding salary increment. Sirleaf would later set up a committee to investigate the protest.
FAST-FORWARD TO TUESDAY, the adage that the more things change, the more they stay the same could have never been truer than it was yesterday. The script just keeps repeating itself into one sequel or variation after the next.
STUDENTS OF THE MONROVIA CONSOLIDATED School System(MCSS) felt the had no choice Tuesday but to ride down memory lane to the era of Doe and Sirleaf for a page about how to get government’s attention when things are not going their way.
IN THE CASE of the MCSS students, their standoff near the seat of the Liberian presidency which included blocking of the president’s motorcade was a powerful message that rang around the world.
THE STUDENTS, in the footsteps of the protesters of yesteryears, fought back teargas and live ammunition to ensure that their voices were heard. “They need to pay our teachers”, lamented Peter Togba, a student at the Mary N. Brownell public school on 12th in Sinkor. “We came to assemble peacefully but they decided to spray us with teargas,” lamented Togbah.”
TOGBAH, WHO was wiping off teargas from his body, as he spoke to an FPA reporter at the scene of Tuesday’s protest, said their protest was a way of letting the government to know that they were tired sitting in a classroom without teachers.
THE MCSS students have also threatened to disrupt activities at private high schools if the government fails to address their concerns.
TRUE TO FORM, as it did after a recent protest of nurses and doctors, the Weah administration through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning confirmed that to date the MoF has paid more than 15,000 non-MCSS teachers for the month of August. The Ministry also noted that it is now in the process of speedily processing these teachers’ salaries for the month of September beginning Tuesday, 15 October.
ACCORDING TO THE MOF, about 2000 non-MCSS teachers that did not receive their salaries for the month of August will begin receiving their salaries beginning this week. “The delay was attributed to problems they had with the opening of two separate accounts at commercial banks. For this reason, and as a means of fast-tracking their payments, a mechanism has been developed between the MFDP and the MOE to resolve this issue beginning this week,” said a ministry spokesperson.
WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW is why is it that the end always has to justify the means when it comes to Liberia? Why should students have to take matters into their own hands?
WHO WILL IT BE NEXT? The police? The army, the Executive Protective Service?
PERHAPS IT ALL DEPENDS which one will have the balls to show up on the street to get the government’s attention next.
THE TRUTH IS, it doesn’t really have to be that way.