My desire to see the presidency of Liberia rotated as per county every four years, is seriously becoming a past time and a passion. What are some of the advantages of each of the fifteen counties taking the responsibility of leading the nation every four years? Keep reading.

Liberians can untangle themselves from the old ways by initially changing the way we elect our leaders. We can rewrite our constitution to reflect some of the suggestions I made, making life easy for all of us.

 

We are a tribal people. We love to see our kind up there. Make that possible and the potential for conflicts reduces. The potential for military coups is eliminated.

 

We can modify the democratic process by blending it with what is good for our situation. Only America has a tribal reservation. Everyone else comes and assimilates into the American way. That is impossible in Liberia with sixteen diverse ethnic groups. And the war made things even worse.

 

Everything falls into place when each county in Liberia is given the chance to lead the nation for four or six years. This will surely give Liberians the chance to think about things other than politics.

 

I myself want to be president of Liberia. I will never be reach that goal with the present system in tact. With my mode of thinking, I may have a chance if my county thinks I am good for the country. My impact in the county must reflect what's ahead for the country. My ability to negotiate with Mittal Steel to bring the pork home, for example, will show how well I will do for the country as a whole.

 

With Wologisi in the spotlight, how well are citizens in Lofa County doing when it comes to benefiting from the huge revenue potential from their mountain? How are the sons and daughters making things happen for the people of Lofa? How are the negotiations going in Sinoe County with regard to the oil palm entities?

 

165 years of an unblended system has left us with no water, no light, no roads, no hospitals, no nothing. The war did not even help!

 

If I don't kill my own people, I can never be president. If I don't put those who disagree with me in jail or threaten to unleash tragedy upon my own people, I can't rule in peace.That is so wrong and evil. How does one even rule normally after such carnage and brutality? 

 

My mode of thinking is similar to that of the Vatican's. A Pope is elected, the people wait, white smoke comes from a chimney, the people see their new leader, and happiness returns to society.

 

Liberians need to rethink this whole thing over for the good of all of us and posterity. We can do far better than what we are doing at the moment.

 

5/3/13

 

 

 

There is a word in Afghan called Wahsta. Wahsta means that no matter what, tribal affiliation and loyalty will always exist. Here is the quotation and what I glean from it with regard to the ignored or negligent development most of the people of Liberia have experienced over the years:

"According to a tribal tradition, it is appropriate to treat different people differently; killing someone outside of the tribe is seen as morally acceptable. Such differential treatment is not seen as unjust but is an indication of loyalty and solidarity to one’s tribe. Nepotism or favoritism towards members of the group is expected. In Afghanistan this is known as “wahsta” [WAH-stah]. Wahsta is particularly common in the hiring of workers. In other words, if a farmer is looking for field laborers, for example, the family, tribe or clan would always come first."


I read the piece above and immediately realize that this is it. Liberians have had this for 133 years from one tribe or ethnic group or section of our society....the congau group or Americo-Liberians. Then in 1980, the Krahn group enjoyed, big time, this status. Even today when we mention how the Krahns were all over the place during President Doe's regime, they say da lie. Even the Krahn book-people vehemently deny this. They want us to prove it. Proving what is globally known is boring!

The democratic version of rule is fine, but for Africa, we must admit without eating the crab silently, that indeed wahsta will always exist. How do we unshackle ourselves from this phenomenon, knowing that we must live together as 16 different ethnic groups in fifteen counties in Liberia?

My simple take: If a Gola person is the president of Liberia, that person should make sure that the opportunity to excel is open to all Liberians. Like Tubman said, each tribe in Liberia will have the chance to govern. Each ethnic group should be given the prospect that one day its time will arrive. That time has come. The urgency is now!

Let's try allowing each ethnic group six or four years to run the presidency of Liberia. Excluding the Golas, Krahns, Congaus, who have their chance, in the next seventy-two years as of 2016, the rest of the ethnic groups or counties in Liberia would have had the chance to captain the ship of state. With this system in place, Liberians will no longer worry about one tribe killing members of another tribe while the others sit and watch. With this new system in place, the rest of the people will wave their fingers and say: No, no! Don't even try it! Don't start that foolishness again!

Let me see: If I represent my ethnic group or county as president of Liberia, do I appoint so, so Dan and Maan and Krahn and Gbi and Mandingo and Kpelle people to the cabinet? My cabinet must look like Liberia, and so the democratic way will always prevail. The presidency is what we are concerned about.

Choosing the President and Vice President: There is this huge drum on wheels with 15 crumbled sheets of paper representing the 15 counties of Liberia. At a gathering of citizens, the wheel is turned fifteen times. A fifteen-year old girl puts her hand in the drum and brings out a crumbled sheet.The president who has two years left in his/her term, opens the sheet and reveals the county of the next president to the citizens that have gathered. A county that has been chosen is not entered into the next round of choice.

If this is being done at the Centennial Pavilion or the Capitol Building, fifteen county flags are flown at full staff, side by side of the Liberian flag. When the county is chosen, all fifteen flags will be lowered. As the nation waits, the flags of the counties whose sons or daughters will lead the nation for the next four or six years, will then be hoisted by two fifteen-year old kids from the two counties. Examples: County of the President: Nimba. County of the VP: Margibi: Nimba/Margibi; County of the President: Sinoe. County of the VP: Grand Gedeh: Sinoe/Grand Gedeh. The flag from the president's county is hoisted on the right and that of the VP on the left of the Liberian flag.

The campaign to select the president and vice president of Liberia is now set to take place in just two counties! Electing the president on a rotational basis is the best way forward for Liberia.

Wahsta is a given in Africa. It's the culture. It's an ethnic/tribal thing. Let's knowingly keep it that way and reduce the stress.

I feel like I just drank a nice cup of Liberica Coffee on a cold January morning in Ganta.

Good research, Dennis Jah 

The condition of majority of the people in Liberia is not something to boast about. No conscientious Liberian can look at the living standard of the people and say with glee that all is well. What is then the way forward before 2017? Here is my take after it was suggested that the conditions at Belle Yalla were no different than the present conditions being experienced by majority of Liberians:

If after seven years of an Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf government, the Liberian people are still congregating at Red Light, at Duport Road Junction; if the pathways through Kakata, Gbarnga, Ganta, Voinjama, and perhaps many other town and cities are being blocked by people struggling to make a living after the war ended  almost ten years ago; if Flumpa is still dark and Toe Town and Barclayville have no pipe-borne drinking water; if a pregnant woman must ride on the back of a motor scooter from Saclepea to the Jackson Doe Hospital in Tappita, on a muddy, back-breaking road; if students are struggling with their Legislators for scholarship money and government officials are scrambling to Nigeria or Ghana or the United States to seek medical attention, how can most of us say with sane and conscientious minds that indeed, Belle Yalla was most notorious for being oblivious to human dignity?

 

We can help to change these conditions by reminding those in power in Liberia that they are not doing well for the people whose sons and daughter were displaced and or killed during almost fourteen years of a brutal war. Those in the Diaspora must make this known to the people of the United States whose taxes made many things possible for the new and old big shots in Monrovia.

 

Liberians in the Diaspora must muster the strength to gather en masse in Washington, DC, at the UN in New York or even in European Capitals to remind Liberia's partners that what is being done in Monrovia is far from being in the interest of the people who deserve better.

 

And lastly, and more importantly, I don't think it will be fair to the Liberian people for the UN to leave Liberia when Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's term to govern expires. Leaving Liberia will be like leaving the hen house exposed to the foxes. The UN cannot just protect Ellen and leave when she leaves the Executive Mansion in Monrovia.

 

What do I suggest the the UN do? The UN has accommodated with open arms, those who were most responsible for the atrocities in Liberia. These people are now representatives and senators; ministers and big shots in the government. (I don't know whether anything like this exists anywhere in the world.) Liberia must be a very bad lucky country.

 

The rain and snow that come from heaven do not water the earth for most Liberians. They do not bring forth the bud that gives rise to seeds for the farmers and bread to those in need. Our rains have been useless to us for more than a century and a half. The change we've been calling for has been very elusive.

 

The UN, with the help of the Liberian government, should come up with a retirement plan for the war lords of the land. Get them out of politics for good with a retirement plan, and supervise an election in 2017 that will bring in a new breed of Liberians that will preach and foster peace and commit to prosperity for all. 

 

The Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf era may not have prisoners at Belle Yalla or in Zwedru; freedom to speak one's mind may abound in the streets of cities and towns in Liberia; but corruption with impunity carries more evil than we can imagine. It sucks the life blood out of the country and those who are to inherit it.

 

We must cross our fingers and hope that the best for Liberia is yet to come.