Running For A Second Term

Some people are bent on promoting nothing positive about the administration of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Their only goal is to incite bad feeling amongst the people, majority of whom are vulnerable to lip service and the noise of empty drums. To buttress their whims, they are calling for the president to abandon any notion of running for a second term, forgetting big time, that the constitution of Liberia gladly gives Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf the option to run or not to run, whether detractors like it or not.

With this as a backdrop, it was just not me to sit and allow my stomach to swell from the bitterness being perpetrated by individuals the likes of whom the Liberian people have already had. I had to spew out what my guts were rumbling about:


Arthur David's letter to Frontpageafrica was good reading. As I was reading through I was also praying that he would give a few names...a few potential presidential names... that Liberians could ponder over from now until 2010. Arthur flipped in his mind's eye by telling himself that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf should go for a second term as president of Liberia. He then flopped when he began to suggest that the old ma should not run after 2010 but that someone else should be the next president of Liberia. Arthur did well by reminding us that the 21 remaining presidential candidates of 2005 have not, so far, shown the characteristics and zeal that would change the minds of the Liberian people. Those presidential candidates who scored 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 percentage points respectively in the 2005 presidential election would still maintain the same results come election day, 2010.

Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa in 1994. Besides the terrible social conditions of the majority of black people in South Africa, the country's economic status in the world was way up there. If Mr Mandela had to work hard to change anything it had to be the improvement of his people's social decadence. After five years, it was OK to turn over the reign of power to a younger and stronger generation. If everything in South Africa was as bad as is today in Liberia, Mandela would have gone for another term.

I am not a part of the present Liberian gravy train. I was never a part of any past Liberian gravy trains. I am bitter that I had to leave my country. Yet, I am of the opinion and strong conviction that it will be good for the country that the Old Ma run for a second term. Our country is in ruins. Our people are out of work. Monrovia is littered with electric generators huffing and puffing bad air into the lungs of our people. Those who want to be presidents of Liberia are not sharing the wealth they have with the people they want to govern. These presidential aspirants live in their gated homes, ride their huge SUVs as ordinary Liberians struggle to maintain their basic sanity.

Investors coming to Liberia at this time are doing so because of the security and investment climates they see under a democratically elected Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf..a person that they can trust. These investors are not prepared for the unknown. From what I have been hearing, some of those who want to see someone new as president are also advocating major changes in how Liberians see themselves. For example, there is this crazy notion out there that under a new administration, Liberians with certain names will have to abandon their names to make them more Liberian than others. Rodney Sieh, for example, will have to struggle trying to change from Rodney to Tappeh Sieh. Cooper Kweme would be known as Gongbay Kweme and so forth and so on.

These and many other funny and trivial changes would cause confusion and start the beginning of another chaotic situation that someone said could have occurred if a George Weah had been elected president of Liberia. That's how we missed the boat in 1980 when Samuel Doe was overwhelmed by the advice of people who helped to bring us to where we are today. The time we take to make sure that Sumo Nyama and Mydea Zoega are definitely from Bong and Bassa counties, we could be using that time wisely to bring investors to build the cities of Gbarnga and Buchanan.

If I were an investor I would avoid places where names and county of origin were more important than substance. If it will take serious Liberians...young and old..twelve years to come to their senses, then I would prefer a 77-year old Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to take us to that realization. We need someone..a president...who will transcend bitterness, sectionalism, and tribalism and bring our people together for a common purpose.

We cannot dwell on the past. Nelson Mandela did not dwell on the past. That is the most important characteristic of him that Liberians must inculcate and emulate. We cannot and should not force our first lady-president to run away from the huge task of trying to build a country and reconcile its population. The Constitution gives 6 years and talks of a second term. Is the second term 4 years or another 6-year? That is something Liberians need to look at. But for now, I feel very uncomfortable replacing my best hunting dog in the middle of a sure kill.

We all flip-flop once in awhile. There was a time when Nelson Mandela himself refused to negotiate with the South African Authorities. That was a big flip. Most of his colleagues in jail with him were upset when he decided to reconsider his stance, after 27 years. To them that was a major mistake...an ominous and deceptive flop. We all know what happened when the mind of Nelson Mandela changed for the good of society. If circumstances dictate that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf must run for a second term, what's the problem with that? Why can we let freedom ring and give the Liberian people the chance to decide for themselves? Why must some us go around inciting indifference and falsehood amongst a vulnerable people?

As for me, as long as the knight on the white horse continues to elude me, I am going to stick with EJS all the way to 2016.