According to media reports, the Unity Party will be holding its convention in early July to select its slate of candidates for the 2017 elections.
Vice President Joseph Boakai had appeared to be the front runner in what would have been a two-horse race between him and former foreign Minister Toga Mackintosh Gayewea. But from all indications Vice President Boakai is set to clinch the nomination now that Dr. Mackintosh has bowed out of the race.
But Vice President Boakai’s quest for the nation’s top job has not been and will not be an easy ride. His surprise announcement that he had accepted a petition from the people of Lofa County to contest the presidency as successor to President Sirleaf came as a shock to many particularly the President herself and those in her inner circle.
It can be recalled that President Sirleaf had declared on several occasions that both she and the vice president would retire together but his acceptance of the petition from his people of Lofa to contest appeared to have flatly dismissed any suggestion whatsoever that he was ever in concurrence with that declaration or that he has since had a change of heart.
And according to insider sources since he (vice President Boakai) publicly accepted the petition, President Sirleaf has been agonizing over his decision because it ran counter to all her preferred options for a successor trusted enough to protect her interests after she leaves office.
And therefore the announcement by her trusted aide Toga Mackintosh Gayewea to challenge the vice president immediately stoked concerns in certain quarters that he had been primed into action by President Sirleaf all in a bid to place Boakai’s quest on hold.
And to be sure, President Sirleaf had earlier declared that if Vice President Boakai really wished to succeed her then he should be prepared to “fight for it” to go for it, a declaration which seemed to confirm the worst fears of supporters of Vice President Boakai that he did not have the support of the President on this score.
But some key supporters of President Sirleaf have claimed that the President has not supported his cause because he has surrounded himself with so called enemies of the President some of who have run to the fold of the vice president simply because they had been dismissed or had fallen out of favor with President Sirleaf.
As presidential candidate, and front-runner the man, Joseph Nyuma Boakai will be sure to attract to his following people of all persuasions particularly when it is clear to all and sundry that President Sirleaf has only about 18 months left to complete her term of office.
Amongst them will include, well-meaning individuals, nationalists, opportunists, sectionalists, tribalists, political hustlers and others of every color and hue.
In such a mix of political and other persuasions, he must be prepared to set his own agenda and not allow others to do it for him and he must be prepared to take hard decisions if he is to succeed. But that is far down the road yet, for now he will have to work closely with President Sirleaf to ensure a smooth and peaceful transition.
ruth be told, after faithfully serving as her (President Sirleaf) principal lieutenant for the last eleven years, who would be better placed, other than Vice President Boakai, to succeed her? As should be expected there will be changes in the makeup and composition of a post 2017 government under Joseph Boakai.
Some individuals will definitely have to part company while others may retain their posts while yet others may find themselves shifted into new but maybe perhaps less desirable portfolios. All in all, a change is going to come and it will do well for those concerned to prepare themselves to accept the inevitable.
But if vice President Boakai’s quest is raising fears even within some Unity Party circles, there are reports that there is virtual panic within opposition circles with some political leaders desperately seeking to form alliances while some, as laughable as it sounds, are reported to be consulting “marabouts” all in a bid to ensure success at the polls in 2017.
Some, being so sure of winning, have drawn up cabinet listings and even imported suits and dresses for the would be inaugural ceremonies while, for others, the vilification of the vice President has become a full time preoccupation. And to be sure they have enlisted wittingly or unwittingly, sections of the local media particularly those of the electronic media in the vilification campaign.
When for example, the Press Union of Liberia held its annual celebration of World Press Freedom Day in Voinjama, Lofa County recently, scores of journalists trooped to Warsonga town in Foya District as well as to Foya town itself all for the singular purpose, it appeared, of exposing what is obviously the underdevelopment of Lofa, particularly Foya District and Warsonga and laying blame on the Vice President for such chronic lack of development.
But such is the sorry state of affairs of journalism in Liberia today where most journalists simply cannot write, read, pronounce and enunciate properly, let alone do research. And it is so unfortunate that many see themselves as accomplished journalists but, when reality steps in, they find themselves wanting.
Little wonder why the national discourse in the local media is weak, disparate and dwells mainly on personalities rather than real issues. Rather than discussing party platforms, and issues such as reconciliation, peace building, the economy etc, they are discussing party personalities, other trivia and blaming Vice President Boakai for underdevelopment in Lofa’s Foya District.
Foya District in Lofa County like Jaedapoe District in Sinoe, Karluway District in Maryland and Todee District in Montserrado County are all resource rich but are yet poor, wretched, underdeveloped and their people largely uneducated.
This is obviously a consequence of years of official neglect, political and economic exclusion and marginalization by successive governments all of which have adopted and pursued exclusionist national development agendas that have promoted highly skewed development and rising inequality.
As far back as 1974 for instance the Ministry of Planning was reporting that only 2.5 percent of the then population of 2m was accounting for over 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, (GDP).
Further, for example, the 2007 Liberia Demographic Health Survey report postulated that out of the then estimated population of 3.2 m people 47 percent consisted of young people below the age of 15 years while another 49 percent consisted of people between 15 and 64 years.
Out of this, 56 percent of females and 39 percent of males had never attended school while only 25 percent of females and 26 percent of males had some primary education and only 5 percent of females and 13 percent of males had completed high school.
In the face of these dismal statistics how can any well-meaning and self-respecting journalist blame Vice President Joseph Boakai for the development woes of Lofa County including Foya District and Warsonga?
Another clear example of such low level, gutter type media reportage is the blame attributed to vice President Boakai for the closure of the STAR Radio simply because he had served as Chairman of its board.
For the benefit of the Public it is important to underscore the backdrop and circumstances leading to the founding of STAR Radio and its subsequent closure. STAR Radio was borne out of the idea that following over a decade of civil conflict that witnessed the destruction of infrastructure and institutions including those of the media, the Liberian people needed to have a viable, independent and reliable media outlet that would educate and keep Liberians informed about issues and unfolding developments both locally and globally.
With the active involvement of civil society organizations and with support provided by USAID and the Swiss based Hirondelle Foundation and Radio, a Board of Directors was constituted comprised of civil society actors including Women activists Etweeder (Sugars) Cooper, Hawa Goll Kotchi, Krubo Kollie Human rights advocate Kofi Woods and Mr. Joseph Boakai who served as Chairman while Human rights advocate and lawyer Tiawan Gongloe served as Legal counsel and with Mr. James Morlu as its manager, STAR Radio was born. But its life was to be cut short, virtually snuffed out during the tenure of Charles Taylor as President.
Taylor had previously and openly declared that STAR Radio would never see the light of day under his administration. And he made sure to actualize his threats by shutting down the radio station.
Its staff was hounded and its lawyer Tiawan Gongloe was subsequently detained and brutally assaulted while in Police detention, an act which prompted the intervention of the U. S. Ambassador. He was released from detention and flown to the U.S. for medical treatment. And so the life of STAR Radio came to an untimely end.
During the transitional period under Chairman Gyude Bryant attempts were made to resuscitate the radio station but by then the Foundation Hirondelle as well as USAID had withdrawn support and the Gyude Bryant led Transitional government lacked the resources to support the station on a sustained basis.
As a result its management ran into such immense difficulties that even meeting its payroll was extremely challenging. What made matters worse was the resignation of its Board chairman in 2005, having accepted to serve as running mate to President Sirleaf, thus leaving women activist, Hawa Goll Kotchi in charge as acting chairperson.
It is unfortunate though that Benefactors of STAR Radio did not have an exit strategy that would have enhanced sustainability. Today unlike then there are so many independent radio stations that provide space for the public to air out and they have in a way filled the void created by the demise of STAR Radio. It is however troubling that media standards are falling but so too are the standards of our high schools and universities.
Presidential candidate Joseph Nyuma Boakai must draw lessons from this. Given the zero sum nature of politics in Liberia where the winner takes all, each party will be doing its utmost to best others and; slander, vilification, lies and the propagation of half-truths will characterize much of what we are likely to read or hear on the air waves during the run up to elections.
As crucial as the impartiality, integrity and competence of the Electoral Body (NEC) are to the upcoming elections and given the current dismal state of affairs of NEC, how much about NEC are we reading or hearing on the air?
The NEC is indeed in crisis and needs a drastic but timely overhaul in order to ensure that elections will be peaceful and credible. It is my understanding that President Sirleaf has been holding consultative but separate meetings with NEC Commissioners with the view to getting things back on even keel.
This is commendable but she needs to do more and do so with a stronger sense of urgency. NEC Chairman Jerome Korkoya is incompetent, very corrupt and under his leadership standards at the NEC have fallen drastically.
Standards have fallen so low to the point where there is a perennial and critical shortage of water to flush toilets. Female employees are seen daily crossing the street to LBDI to use their rest rooms. Further, it is an open secret that Chairman Korkoya and some of his colleagues are not on speaking terms let alone are they holding regular meetings or consulting each other. And he has been spending big with little to show for it.
The latest voters roll update, for instance on which he spent 2m U.S. dollars netted an insignificant 100,000 new voters and lasted for 45 long days. Additionally, for the very same exercise, Chairman Korkoya rather than purchasing vehicles for the use of the Commission, instead spent over 1m U.S. dollars to rent vehicles. As a result, Elections Magistrates are without vehicles and they have been complaining about the lack of other resources to effectively discharge their duties.
To be sure the Magistrates have even penned their concerns on paper expressing fears that given the current spate of things, the conduct of free, fair transparent and credible elections in 2017 may be imperiled if nothing is done to meaningfully address the situation at hand. Yet, Chairman Korkoya has remained completely impervious to their concerns.
Recently in Buchanan when one of the Magistrates accosted him about the situation, he angrily retorted that he has the power to hire and fire whoever and will not hesitate to do so when and where needs be.
But it should not be forgotten that since the 1997 Chairmanship of the late G. Henry Andrews who presided over the elections that brought Charles Taylor to power there has never ever been such a spate of complaints, and disputes leading to court as the country has now seen under the tenure of Jerome Korkoya.
During the last Senatorial by-elections the Commission (NEC) was awash with rumors that one of the candidates had presented him a brand new Ford Suv which he had accepted.
More to that he was accused of fixing the results in several counties including Bong and was reportedly seen in Gbarnga with Senator Jewel Howard Taylor on the day of the Polls.
It was also alleged by NEC insider sources that his Executive Director Lamin Lighe had conducted special training for poll workers at his private home and had at the last minute effected a rotation of Elections Magistrates. And so it was by no means surprising that disputes over elections results did occur.
Painfully and regrettably, the local media is playing host to a variety of other concerns and appear not to give a hoot about ongoing developments at the nation’s foremost integrity institution.
Regrettably also is the fact that none of the Political parties are raising these issues. According to NEC insider sources, Chairman Korkoya has been providing subventions (bribes) to the leaderships of some political parties in order to ensure their acquiescence and silence on crucial matters concerning NEC.
As the saying goes Town Trap is not for Rat alone, so must Presidential candidate Joseph Nyuma Boakai beware that although the coast is now all clear for him to clinch his party’s nomination, the race for the presidency is by no means over neither is it a foregone conclusion that owing to the benefit of incumbency he is going to win the Presidency in 2017.
A poorly led corrupt and incompetent NEC presiding over elections is as potentially dangerous as a razor blade-it is sharpened on all sides and can even cut whoever wields it.
The elections are to be preceded by a referendum on a number of critical national issues including that of the bogus Proposition 24 to declare Liberia a Christian state.
Just considering the fact that a proposal that was, according to the record, a minority view that came from not more than 5 Electoral districts was cunningly and surreptitiously placed on the final list of issues to go for referendum should sound a warning bell.
Just as the integrity of the Constitutional Review Commission was compromised so too it is nigh possible that the integrity of the NEC, especially under the corrupt and incompetent leadership of Jerome Korkoya, and the entire 2017 elections results could be compromised also.
And that spells or signals trouble down the road if the situation is left unaddressed. Realistically can this referendum be held before the elections? It must not be forgotten that as required by the Constitution, the NEC has not yet demarcated constituencies based on the (Article 80 d) constitutionally required threshold of 20,000 persons per constituency.
During the 2011 elections this provision of the Constitution was violated and it appears likely that such may also be the case in 2017. Then also Voters registration is yet to commence and that has to be complemented by Voters education which also has not commenced.
At this point it is still unclear whether two-thirds majority of both Houses of the National Legislature have concurred with the Proposals expected to be submitted to referendum and; whether there has been sufficient public education and awareness on the issues and why they matter.
Further, this situation is made even more difficult by the constitutionally imposed constraints of time (Article 91) which require the referendum to be held no sooner than one year after the concurrence of the Legislature.
With the drawdown of UNMIL now complete, all it would take to derail the entire process is perhaps a single protest from any of the contending parties against the elections results. It could then possibly mean a vote recount or even annulment of the elections results, the installation of a transitional government and perhaps a pipe dream ending to the quest for the presidency and the presidential ambitions of candidate Joseph Nyuma Boakai.
John H. T. Stewart, [email protected], Contributing Writer