On December 8-9, this year, there will be held in Liberia an International Conference on Education. This Conference is being held at a time when Liberia continues to be in a MESS with no solution from the powers that be. Speakers for the Conference are coming from Liberia, other African countries, the United States of America (USA) and countries where education is also in a MESS.
Education remains in a MESS in Liberia because of its orientation. Education in Liberia remains in a MESS because of its American orientation. Over four thousand years ago, we learn from the Greeks the expression: Know Thyself. this expression is most relevant because it is only when one knows oneself that one can solve one’s problems.
By: Togba-Nah Tipoteh
The main problem in Liberia remains longstanding and widespread poverty. This is the main problem because the people of Liberia say so when they conclude that they prefer Peace to War as heard in their chant: We Want Peace! No More War! Poverty is the pretext for violence, that, at times, leads to coup d’etat and civil war, The people of Liberia prefer Peace over War because of their experience with the 1981 Coup D’etat in Liberia that took the lives of at least 200 people, injuring many more and the Civil War in Liberia which took the lives of at least 300,000 people and injuring thousands of people, damaging billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure and leaving unrecovered the economy of Liberia at its pre-war level.
It is highly likely that the Speakers at the Conference will not present any solutions to the poverty problem because none of them has a record of presenting the solution to the poverty problem. In fact, the Convenors of the Conference are convinced that Liberia is headed in the right direction when 80 per cent of the people of Liberia say that Liberia is headed in the wrong direction (Afrobarometer, 2020).
The Truth of the Matter is that Liberia is headed in the wrong direction. Witness how the powers that be say that the financial resource rather than the human resource is the most important resource. Witness how the powers that be promote the source of poverty generation over poverty alleviation through the production of raw materials for export without any prioritization of Value Addition. Witness National Legislators having access to least LD150,000 a day and their foreign partners, in the commercial sector alone, have access to LD300,000,000 a day while nearly all the people of Liberia have access to at most less than LD300 a day (Annual Reports of CBL, LISGIS. MFDP, MCI, WB, IMF, ADB and UNDP).
The transformation of education in Liberia from MESS to BEST will take place when there is the continuation of the raising of awareness to get the people of Liberia to work together to change the UNFAIR electoral system into the FAIR electoral system. It is only through such change, within the Rule of Law, that persons with good records can be elected to take actions to promote Justice for All, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other country.