Dear Readers,
Travel down the ugly memory lane of history and you’ll see for yourself that everything that is playing out in Liberia today, played out yesterday, giving credence to the old adage: “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
Many of you who grew up in the 1970s and1980s recall a time of a people’s uprising under the guise of redemption, triggered by the belief that those languishing at the bottom of the economic ladder were deprived of a better way of life. So, the army led by Master Sargeant Samuel Kanyon Doe and his band of low-ranked military officers staged a bloody Coup d’etat that ended decades of Americo-Liberian rule. President William R. Tolbert was slain and days later, on April 22nd, thirteen members of his cabinet, accused of treason, corruption and violation of human rights, were stripped of what was left of their dignity and executed by firing squad.
The men were found guilty by a makeshift military tribunal – and barely given a chance to defend themselves.
On the cusp of the ’80 coup was a rice riot that signaled that the sign of the times was changing, the people. The price of rice was too high, conditions of living deprived many, pitting the ethnic majority against Americo-Liberians or Congos; thus, many were simply fed up.
Doe’s reign lasted nearly a decade, and in only a matter of time, he and his People’s Redemption Council began to exhibit the very vices or worse they claimed Tolbert committed: Corruption Treason, Human Rights violation and lack of good governance, following somewhat of a curse that has befallen Africa’s oldest republic since its independence in 1847.
Long before the coup and the riot of ’79, and the bloody civil war, Liberia had been through a similar, but not so devastating crisis, mirroring corruption, greed, nepotism, betrayal and cries of suffering and depravity. In a PBS documentary, “Liberia, America’s stepchild”, a former Liberian historian. Dr. Joseph Saye Guannu said, “corruption during Doe’s administration was more than corruption from 1847 to April 11, 1980”.
As far back as October 26, 1871, decades after independence, President Edward James Roye was removed from the presidency in what today’s folks would call a coup. Historians recall that the circumstances surrounding President Roye’s removal from power were murky and highly partisan. Roye was jailed for several months following his ousting and soon died under equally mysterious circumstances.
Making History, For All the Wrong Reasons
Dr Fred P.M. Van Der Kraaij, a veteran historian and economist who documents Liberia’s history on his ‘Liberia Past and Present’, blog, cites several sources regarding the death of Roye, documenting that Roye escaped from prison but was drowned while trying to escape to a British ship. “One author reports that the canoe in which Roye tried to make his escape capsized after which he drowned. The English money, which he had tied around his waist – thought to be the proceeds from the 1870 Loan – was taken from his body and stolen after his body was brought ashore (Huberich). Another author writes that the weight of the money around his waist was the cause of his drowning when he was swimming to a British ship (Banks Henries).”
Dr Van Der Kraaij cites other sources who say Roye died in prison, after having been dragged half-naked through the streets of Monrovia after his attempt to escape from prison (Karnga, Cassell). “Cassell denies that Roye was drowned though he confirms that he carried money in a belt when he tried to escape. According to him, Roye was savagely beaten after being brought ashore and robbed of the money he carried in his belt. The Liberian President William Tubman (1944 – 71) was among the many Liberians who believed the version according to which Roye was brutally beaten after his deposition. This story states that Roye’s (nude) body was dragged through the streets of Monrovia to a spot in Ashmun Street where he is reported to have died. This caused President Tubman to erect the new building of his political party, the True Whig Party, on this same spot and to name the party headquarters after the deposed President Roye, who was the first standard bearer of the party.
Historians point to Roye’s unpopular loans with Britain as well as fears from the erstwhile Republic Party that he was planning to cancel the upcoming presidential election were among the reasons for his forced removal.
More than half a century after the Roye debacle, the general elections of 1927 was poised to put Liberia once more on the map, in a negative light. The presidential election that year resulted in a victory for President Charles D.B. King of the True Whig Party, who was re-elected for a third term after defeating Thomas J. R. Faulkner of the People’s Party. But that was only a shade of what unfolded. That election is etched in history as “the most rigged ever” and remains enshrined in the Guinness Book of Records as the most fraudulent election in history. Sadly, despite there being fewer than 15,000 registered voters, according to the official results King received around 230,000 votes to Faulkner’s 9,000, theoretically resulting in a voter turnout in excess of 1,590%.
Echoes of History
More than a century later, on April 14, 1979, the rice riot occurred, just when the country’s economy was growing at an astronomical level from an annual rate of about two percent in 1961 to its highest rate of 7.3 percent in 1966 due to the rapid rate of economic expansion in Liberia during 1950s and 1960s.
At the time, Agriculture Minister Florence Chenoweth proposed an increase in the subsidized price of rice from $22 per 100-pound bag to $26, asserting 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 the Tolbert family of the president operated large rice farms and would therefore realize a tidy profit from the proposed price increase.
The minister’s decision was greeted with anger as the Progressive Alliance of Liberia(PAL) called for a peaceful demonstration to protest the proposed price increase and on April 14 about 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 enroute by more than 10,000 Liberians; causing the march to quickly degenerate into a disorderly mob of riot and destruction.
The day was marred by 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.
A month after the riots, the former President, characterizing the leaders of the demonstration as “wicked, evil and satanic men” who wanted “to bring chaos and disorder in the country with the eventual objective of overthrowing the Government,” told the New York Times in May 1979 in an interview, that the rice issue was merely an alibi, put forth by men “whose principal idea is to change our system of government” and leaving the regime no alternative but to assert its authority.
It was the first time, according to the Times, that President Tolbert acknowledged that he had authorized the security forces to fire into the crowds.
Exactly one year later, Tolbert’s reign came to an end in the coup of 1980.
These trips down memory lane are poignant reminders of Liberia’s painful past and each and every one of them- no matter how many years apart could well be in the present – day after day, month after month and year after year.
Languishing at the bottom of the economic ladder antsy Liberians constantly yearning for change, constantly hoping that someway, somehow a government will set aside the usual and norms and put country before self; that leaders will find reason and see opportunities to checkmate themselves and correct the errors of the past, right the state of affairs and steer the course toward the true meaning of real change.
Lacking all of this is a desire to prioritize the bread-and-butter issues that matter most to the poor and needy, to those still hopeful in the belief of a better tomorrow in spite of the failures of yesterday and today.
Promises, Promise, Promises
This is why many Liberians, realizing how the previous government of former President George Weah, had gone astray, turned to Joseph Boakai and the Unity Party, who rode on the backs of a “Rescue” mantra in hopes of rescuing Liberia from what many saw as a neglect of the people by the government under the reign of the former World Footballer of the Year.
In a statement in August 2023, explaining the “Rescue” mission, Mr. Boakai declared that his campaign was aimed at reclaiming the soul of Liberia, “It is decision time. We have launched our election campaign under the banner of the UP Alliance, which demonstrates a commitment to rally a broad cross-section of Liberians to work and achieve the promise of a better Liberia. We are, therefore, determined, filled with hope and aspiration for a brighter future for our country.”
In Boakai’s own words, the goal of the Rescue Mission’s Campaign was clear: “To make the case to the suffering people of Liberia who have endured so much hardship under the CDC government; and they now deserve better. The simple question all voters must therefore answer during this campaign and on election day is this: Are you better off today than you were six years ago? If the answer as we know is NO, then there can be no patriotic duty than a determination to democratically unseat this regime, curtail corruption, stop the relentless pillaging of the national coffers and usher in an accountable and responsible government. The rejection of Mr. Weah at the polls would also mean an end to fear over insecurity and unexplained mysterious deaths, an end to economic deprivation and social degradation of our people, an end to the poor state of health of our people, and the destruction of our youth by the drug epidemic in the country.”
After securing his victory, President Boakai in his inaugural message trumpeted that the historic vote by the people gave him the mandate to serve as the 26th President of the Republic of Liberia. “This mandate makes me the president of all Liberians within our territorial confines and the diaspora at large. The elections are over. Partisanship must give way to nationalism and inclusive governance. The march of time has brought us to this new beginning. We stand here today at the intersection of Liberia’s past and its destiny. This was a country founded in the early 19th Century on the idea of liberty. It was conceived as an experiment in liberal democracy: a destination of refuge for oppressed peoples of color to come and live in freedom and the pursuit of happiness. The various streams of the population would meet in fraternal embrace and claim to build their country based on equality, equal access to justice and equal opportunity. It was intended to be the city on the hill on the African Continent.” Some Liberians felt such a claim of building the country did not exist.
One year later, President Boakai and his Unity Party have fallen short on many of the lofty expectations Liberians had of them. Equally so, a lot of the promises made appear to have fallen by the wayside as Liberians continue to linger in poverty while officials of the government throw wealth and arrogance on the doorsteps of those languishing in hardship and poverty.
Like its predecessor, the UP’s government is being criticized for advocating partisanship over inclusion and going after anyone critical of the government. Police officers are routinely involved in reports of abuse of human rights and corruption seeping its way into the halls of many government ministries and agencies, including the office of the First Lady.
What remains uncertain is Liberians own readiness to do right by themselves, to checkmate their elected officials instead of constantly singing their praises.
What remains unclear, is why are many Liberians only concerned about the benefits they get today as custodians of state, blinded to the realities of those at the bottom of the economic ladder. The sad reality is that yesterdays’ “enemies of the state” are today’s overseers of government and today’s opposition have suddenly among the aging Tyrants, dictators and past overseers of bad governance – in a recurring circle that has seen Liberia go from worse to ridiculous, from promising to degrading, reliving memories of a past that is still haunting, still hurting in a nation still unsure of itself, unsure of what it wants, where it wants to go, how it wants to be defined – or what it really wants to do with itself.
‘Emperor Without Clothes’
For Liberia to rescue itself from its current predicament, President Joseph Boakai must rise against hatred, cronyism, and tribalism and reconcile the country – that’s first and foremost.
As the President delivers his second Annual Message Monday, the ruling Unity Party government he now oversees is on the verge of becoming a victim to Hans Christian Anderson’s “Emperor Has No Clothes” idiomatic phrase, wherein a vain emperor is tricked by two swindlers who promise to make him a set of clothes that are invisible to anyone who is unfit to hold their office. In reality, Anderson’s interpretation is that the swindlers are just pretending to weave the clothes, and the emperor ends up walking naked in a parade, unwilling to admit that he cannot see his own clothes. The phrase has since become an idiom used to describe a situation where someone is pretending to be something they are not, or when something is revealed to be a fraud. It’s a way of pointing out that someone is not as powerful or impressive as they claim to be, or of exposing a lie or deception.
The rescue mission is in trouble and is in urgent need of itself being rescued.
We have paid the price for standing up against greed, corruption and bad governance and have allowed our platform to serve as a marketplace of ideas for anyone to voice their dissent and speak truth to power. We continue to tread this path against mounting resistance from the government of the day and will never betray the trust and confidence you, our readers have shown us since we embarked on this journey.
The war was terrible – and Liberians, as they have always been, were quick to blame others for the problems of their own creation. Bodies of the dead were displayed at the US embassy, with many trumpeting slogans that Liberia’s granddaddy was abandoning his grandkids at the height of a civil war and failing to intervene. The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS intervened and was successful in bringing stability to Africa’s oldest Republic.
Today, in the absence of a court to hold accountable, those responsible for endless killings of innocent civilians, Liberia is once more riding a wave of similar events of yesterday, mimicking its complicated past and a deteriorating mindset of a people who are either refusing to learn from the past, or simple stone-cold to the unfolding realities and repercussions of the failure to learn from history and the potential implications for the country’s political and economic survival.
Liberia’s history has long been divided on tribal lines with Americo-Liberians running affairs for more than 100 years. The coup of 1980 changed that with the ascendance to power of the indigenous led by Doe. Many remain baffled that with both sides of the coin taking turns at the helm of power, why are things so consistently bad? Why have Liberians become so incensed with mediocrity, greed, corruption and ineptitude? Why are Liberians so insensitive to constructive criticisms? All these point to a recipe for failure. The lack of tolerance and the obsession with power have become a regular fixture for a nation always in neutral with and failing to progress while consistently wondering why? Why is Africa’s oldest republic with all of its resources so poor? What’s stopping governments past and present from putting the country over self?
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Ironically, some of the same faces who were around when the dictator Doe’s military regime targeted students, professors, and other intellectuals are standing by and seeing replica of the past show its ugly face; others victimize by the former government of President Weah, are also standing by idly embracing intolerance, corruption, greed, nepotism, tribalism and bad governance. Some Liberians are expressing their disappointment in some of the officials in the Boakai administration, who were advocating for human rights or social justice during past governments and now are silent or perpetrators in the violation of the basic rights of residents and showing no regard for the rule of law.
Current Turmoil Has Risks
Former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who herself came under fire during her reign as head of state, has been watching from the sidelines and recently offered her take on the unfolding developments in the government of her former vice president, particularly regarding the fracas in the lower house of the national legislature. “I issue this call to our entire Nation: to churches, businesses, political parties of every persuasion, tribal leaders, and most importantly, our young citizens. Even if you feel aggrieved or disregarded, your right to free expression is held sacred. At the same time, no individual or group in authority has the right to respond with violence. In these tense times, reason and dialogue remain our most powerful tools.”
For Sirleaf, countless Liberians have paid dearly–in life and liberty–to build, maintain, and safeguard peace, harmony, and democratic values. “The current turmoil risks eroding these hard-won gains. It threatens to worsen our already fragile economy and deter the international technical and financial support we urgently need.”
The world is changing. Donors like America’s adopted stepchild, under the reign of President Donald Trump are shutting their doors and suspending aid in most part, due to what they see as an unfair balance between how their taxpayers’ money are being wasted on flashy cars, houses and extravagant lifestyles of government officials while the country remains poor.
Liberia and Liberians, time is running out. No one will rescue Liberia but us. We need to change our mindset, our attitude and how we treat each other, how we govern, how we hold our leaders accountable. Our leaders must listen to the cries of the people who walked in the rain to have them elected. They must remember an old Liberian adage, “The hand that puts the flower in the hot oil, is the same hand that takes it out”.
In the rapidly changing world we live in, the lessons of history should and must guide us to do better. For too long, we have allowed a system of patronage to expose our vulnerabilities and the cult worship of rulers and leaders to keep the circle of impunity roving amid the lingering and recurring themes of mediocrity and ineptitude to unfairly define who we are.
In a speech given to the British House of Commons in 1948, a British statesman and former Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill said, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”
A hint to the Wise!!!!
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Source link : https://allafrica.com/stories/202501270470.html
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Publish date : 2025-01-27 12:38:06
