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Indeed, Not much has changed
By Tah-Kpongbo Gboyo
27 April 04
On the morning of Friday, April 2, 2004, as I rode to town to carry out my routine activities, I encountered a long procession of students from the Catholic-owned Don Bosco Technical School heading towards the St.
Joseph Catholic Church. Whatever the nature of the procession meant little for me, but by first inclination, I rated it as being quite orderly. Itincluded students who may apparently have come from as
low as kindergarten, up to and including the highest grade school levels. The procession showed that school is an orderly business. It even tried to get me to feel that at least, education is a serious matter in
Liberia. The procession primarily drew my attention because, only a few days earlier, teachers of the government-owned Monrovia Consolidated School System (MCSS) had vowed to stay out of classes until
protracted salary arrears and resettlement benefits were paid to them. Before that storm could itself find a precipice upon which to hang, students of the state-owned University of Liberia began arguments for
the reopening of that institution, which had been closed since April 2003.
As these claims were going unaddressed, presidential aspirant Charles Brumskine took up a scalding attack upon the transitional government, and raised the same issues. He cried for the reopening of the University
of Liberia, he cried for the payment of arrears owed civil servants, he cried about the insensitivity tothe plight of displaced and less fortunate Liberians, and he even complained about the lack of basic social
services. To wrap the case up, he also intimated that the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) wasdoing little to implement the disarmament process.
In summary, Cllr Brumskine said that not much had changed in Liberia since former president Charles Taylor was forced into exile. He frowned on the fact that “business as usual,” despite Chairman Bryant’s
announcement of its demise, was still on the prowl,instigating corruption, and rendering the poor people of Liberia even more hopeless.
As if she was awaiting Brumskine’s alarm, Taylor’s wife, then visiting Monrovia for the biennial convention of Taylor’s National Patriotic Party (NPP), told the press that nothing had changed in Liberia
since Taylor. One could easily understand Mrs. Taylor’s frustrations, but in any case she had simply repeated an obvious fact. Saying it is however no crime, and only serves to express the extent from
which people are aware of the deteriorating and condescending situation in Liberia.
Certainly, things have not changed, and that is even expressed in the circle of “political parties.” During the days of Taylor, he surrounded himself with what was then referred to as Collaborating Political
Parties. Instead of playing their roles as a meaningful opposition, drawing attention to lapses in the governance of the state, and preparing themselves to win political authority anywhere in Liberia, this
group became a kind of praise singing group for Taylor. The likes of David Kortie, Washington Broh, Rudolph Sherman, Napoleon Toquie, Hodo Merriam, etc... from such virtually nonexistent organizations as
People’s Democratic Party of Liberia (PDPL),Reformation Alliance Party, National Reformation Party… were around singing praises, even as Taylor continued his attacks on innocent Liberians, kept his
squander of state resources, and maintained his support for irregular activities in neighboring countries.
This ugly head of political opportunism is among the several things that have not changed since Taylor, and is omnipresent in the transitional government. Even when Bryant, by his actions to remedy the issue raised
by Brumskine and others, has acknowledged his shortcomings, these armed-chair politicians haveissued a statement of condemnation against Brumskine on claims of attempting to “undermine” the peace
process.
This latest comment comes as no surprise, because the very political parties had thought to “recognize” the“legitimate” leader of an opposing political party. As startling and proven in ignorance as that statement
was, the parties sought to assume the role of the Elections Commission. They even forgot, or perhaps do not even understand, that political parties are in rivalry with each other for political power, and would
only forge alliances or coalitions for the convenience. As such, there is certainly nothing wrong with a political party being opposed to another – as obvious as that is, a group of sycophants, passing as
political parties, simply to “justify” their share ofthe booty from government, have yet to understand
that.
Their action easily brought to light claims that Bryant and his cronies were gearing up to fight Brumskine. That is normal in politics, but in the instant case, where political parties will choose to
ignore the lapses in society, simply to lay claims to booty is, to say the least, disappointing.
Could these parties really be seeking political power? The action by these parties is one of the worst case scenarios that should be avoided if we are serious to make Liberia better. That political parties, with
clear mandates to better the lives of Liberia, are today working against the interests of the people certainly does not come as a surprise. This has been the modus operandi in Liberia for years.
Among the issues that Brumskine raised that have today become a bane for the “so called” political parties is the case of the disarmament. Not much has been achieved in this direction. If this continues, the
transitional government can be assured of a longerlife span, effectually keeping representatives of those political parties in office for a longer period.
Be reminded that these are political parties that weren’t able to prove that they were ever registered,as they couldn’t even get votes equal to the constitutional requirement of 3,000 citizens. More
than that, these parties (perhaps party leaders) have no clout to draw any number of electoral votes, have no capacity to independently analyze political issues,and at worst lack the requisite qualifications or
experience to acquire any of the jobs that they currently occupy.
Perhaps that could have been the reason for which the students got enraged and took to the streets. Here are students whose parents are still crying for salary arrears in excess of 18 months that the government has
shown no interest in paying. Here are the very students, whose teachers have walked out of the classrooms because their salaries have not been paid, supplies have not been provided for the schools, and
the government has shown no interest in the education of the youths. Here are the students again, anxiouslyawaiting a resolution of their situation, and here are so-called leaders of political parties challenging
another politician who has dared to challenge the government for paying lip service to education.
Mind you, nearly all of the parties that signed the condemnation have their chairpersons in the Transitional Assembly, where they are playing deaf to their role as party representatives, and want to
instead be referred to as County Representatives. Yet, they are here warding off someone who is raising
issues of concern for the people, who they claim to be representing.
No wonder then, the students felt constrained to take to the streets. They paraded from street-to-street, they blocked the normal flow of traffic, causing hundreds of business houses to close their doors (at
least partially). This was a signal enough to draw the attention of the authorities, which had prior to then shown little interest. Quite unfortunately, the students threw some stones, shattered a few window
glasses, frightened many persons out of the street, and ended up wounding a couple of innocent bystanders,
who could even have been sympathetic to their cause.
Though the students ran around Monrovia without arms,their latter action compelled UNMIL to intervene with their “Chapter Seven Mandate.” They brought out a large number of well armed soldiers, backed by armored
cars, to quell the rioting, and to prevent the students from reaching the Executive Mansion which, byLiberian standards, should be the last recourse for just about everything. At least for once, the students
provided the peace keepers a day’s work for the millions of dollars that the international community is pouring for the restoration of peace in Liberia.
Today, the students are in court, and the deputy Minister of education, Dr. Marcus Dahn, a one time political agitator and activist, thinks that someone has influenced the students. Certainly, the students
had destroyed their protest by throwing a few stones,but which real student would not think that the absence of his teacher threatens his future and would therefore seek some redress? Which student doesn’t
know that his parents are due more than a year in back pay, and dearly needs that money to settle looming obligations? Which student does not realize that the war destroyed her family home, and her poor struggling
parents deserve the same resettlement allowances that were paid to lawmakers [including those who destroyed the homes], Chairman Bryant and members of the Cabinet, the boards and heads of public corporations
[including chairpersons, who intend to run for public office, and are occupying their posts in violation of statutes]… This is just another round of finding thedull scapegoat again - that too has not changed.
This is a perpetual problem. Instead of killing the root of the problems, our leaders are still being superficial about finding the cure when conventional wisdom has determined that it is better to prevent the
disease.
Just a few months ago, when Taylor and Co. roamed Liberia, students were also brutalized and forced to flee Liberia, merely because they thought to differ.The courageous Augustine Ngafuan, including his band
of followers like Dorsla Facarthy, Losoni Sanoe,Boakai Kanneh, et al. are testimony to the insult,threats and brutality that the students were faced with. For arguing Abuja Accord at Taylor’s “Vision
2024” Conference, Ngafuan was nearly dragged off the platform, yet he maintained his grounds. When Alphonso Nimene came to the fore of student leadership, his company, including Karku Sampson, Urias Teh Pour, et
al had to bear testimony to the terror, simply for challenging the causes of the uprising. Eventually they fled to exile, returning now only that Taylor is
himself exiled.
In fact, students who represented certain tribal or linguistic groups were targeted, once their group was seen as being offensive to the regime. The case of Mandingo youth leaders like Losoni Sanoe, Varmuyah
Dulleh, Hassan Bility and others remain fairly reminiscent to the Liberian public. Even Mano and Gio youths like Dehpue Zuo and Wilmot Paye, etc. who dared to differ with the rest of their kinsmen, found it
hard to move about. Like their Mandingo brothers, many were haunted, others chased out of the country, yet others were imprisoned and tortured in the most
horrifying way.
Taylor may be gone and out, but things have really not changed, especially if the same stereotyping continues. Leaders still complain that someone is pushing some other person into something, as if the
one in protest does not realize that his rights have been trampled upon, and has the right to cry foul.
Aye Liberia, when will change come?
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