These, the fleeing refugees, must be at the centre of sustaible  peace

The Need for Decentralised Governance in Post-War Liberia 
By E. Sumo Jones, Sr. 

LURD rebels at what used to be Voinjama
 Hospital

30 May 04

Introduction  

For quite sometime now, I have been seriously concerned about Liberia’s system of government since it became independent in 1847. In view of events past and now that have contributed to instability and ruin, a key question is whether the prevailing system of centralised rule needs to be changed into a truly democratic system in which all Liberian citizens would have the opportunity and legal right to equally participate in the political and economic decision-making affecting them, with specific reference to the political subdivisions in which they live.

Although the Liberian Government, from 1847 to 1980, remained remarkably stable, something was organizationally and functionally wrong with over centralist operation of the Government politically and economically. This over-centralised political machine affected the people, particularly those in the then "Provinces" now called Counties on par with the five original Counties of Grand Bassa, Grand Cape Mount, Maryland, Montserrado and Sinoe, where the immigrant settlers predominately resided. Until President William V. S. Tubman took office in 1944, the citizens of the Provinces, including the women of Liberia, were denied universal suffrage and, hence taxed without representation. 

For the 26 unbroken years (1944-1971) President Tubman served as President of Liberia, he did a lot to heal many of the wounds inflicted on the indigenous people residing in the new Counties by extending, including women, the right to vote and therefore be a part of the political process. This placed citizens of the “Provinces on equal footings with the old Counties above mentioned. President Tubman’s vision for national development was evident in his concrete acts.  He built roads connecting the hinterland Counties with Montserrado County, the seat of the Government. He erected public schools throughout the new Counties and, among other things, introduced a mass foreign scholarship program which enabled underprivileged students of the country to obtain scholarships to study abroad to achieve higher education in various fields of endeavour heretofore unheard of. He also enunciated the Unification and Integration Policy in an attempt to remove the social barriers that tended to divide the Liberian people. 

Despite all that President Tubman did for the welfare of the people, the country’s minority still enjoyed privileges and dominated political and economic life.  Economic and political sentiments in the premises were brewing in the hearts of those of the unfortunate majority who were, and are, still not being allowed to have their say in political and economic decisions taken by Government affecting them and their localities. The reason was and still is because all political and economic decisions affecting their economic and political lives come from Monrovia, the capital. People of the provinces outside Monrovia were and are still compelled to carry out centralised decisions without question even if they are apposed to them for their own economic and political needs.  However, because of President Tubman’s ingenious and astute political leadership which, to a large extent, favoured the welfare of the majority of the underprivileged people, they tolerated the dissatisfaction embedded in them, and nine years after his death in office, a shocking and a sudden political instability in the form of a brutal coup de tat came to the surface during the administration of his successor in office, President William R. Tolbert, Jr., who was his Vice President in the one party system of the True Whig Party that partly contributed to President Tolbert’s assassination and the overthrow of his Government. 

It is my candid opinion that the over-centralization operation of our Government was one of the principal contributing factors that largely led to the instabilities that suddenly led to the coup de tat of April, 1980 and have continued to this day by one civil war after another exacerbated by multiple warring factions.  

It is therefore timely that we pursue another tested and tried system of government, which is decentralization of governance. Therefore, the new democratic government of post-civil war Liberia should be initially decentralized on political and economic bases, because this system, among other things, will create a condition conducive for political and economic growth, progress and development of the country. Then, too, this system of government is hardly prone to civil wars manned by drafted and indoctrinated rebels whose majority fighters are drugged and under aged child-soldiers composed of nothing but children of indigenous people 

I have undertaken this exercise in conjunction with the continual search for a lasting peace and political stability as a result of the persistent and senseless civil wars that are wiping out our innocent, unarmed and non-combatant citizens and looting our economy and, worse of all, have reduced our beloved nation to nothing but a laughingstock today  and have demoralized its great historical name and credibility and robbed it of its rights and status in international organizations  that our government was a founding member of such as the UN, etc. 

DECENTRALIZATION 

The 18^th century French political Philosopher, Montesquieu, once wrote that governments are likely to be tyrannical if they are responsible for administering large territories. It was his opinion that the administration of such large territories does develop in an organizational capacity characteristic of unrestrictive governments whose powers are unlimited and absolute  

I believe that it was partly because of this fear that influenced the decisions taken by the Americans and the Swiss respectively to provide for a federal and a canton system, which have divided the functions of those governments between Washington, DC., and the State governments and between Berne and the Provincial governments. In this respect, one can clearly see the soundness in my suggestion that the Liberian government be decentralized initially, politically and economically, as local governments are truly representative of the interests of their citizens and are also capable of responding to their needs. 

POLITICAL DECENTRALIZATION OF LIBERIA 

In view of the fact that the governments of Liberia have for too long functioned under over-centralization (which limited all the decision-making powers to Monrovia in the hands of a single individual, the President, with the people of the various political subdivisions of the country, especially the people of the original new Counties of Bong, Grand Gedeh, Lofa and Nimba changed from the name of Province to County, having little or no opportunity at all, to make decisions affecting them and their areas as above mentioned) it cannot be over emphasized to state that this centralist system needs to be brought to an end. There is need for the introduction of a decentralized system of governance to prevent any further political instability responsible the killings of so many innocent people. These unfair practices have brought the economy to a total collapse as a result of looting and have also reduced the infrastructure of the country to nothing but rubbles. This transitional period is the most opportune time to start organizing .the decentralization of the ensuing government of 2005. The decentralization program suggested should be one of the major undertakings of the Liberian National Transitional Government (LNTG), which was established to lay a firm foundation for a truly functioning democratic government to-be in 2005. 

Because Liberia is not only small in size but also sparse in population, it should now be reasonably divided into a number of Counties of sizes that will make a decentralized system politically and economically feasible. The decentralized political subdivisions of the country should still be called Counties and the heads of the Counties should now be called Governors instead of Superintendents and they should now be elected by their people instead of being appointed as is the case now. 

ECONOMIC DECENTRALIZATION

In other that the respective Counties may be capable of making rapid progress and development on competitive basis, the economic system of the government should be decentralized in order that, among other things, the Counties may be competent to produce, distribute and consume their wealth. 

In this respect, revenue sharing, as I proposed in my welcoming address during the True Whig Party’s Convention in Voinjama, Lofa County, in 1975 when I was the Superintendent of the County, should be one of the principal objectives of the decentralization of the government. Revenue sharing is a conscious effort to transfer a greater share of that authority, which is decision-making power, to the political subdivisions and localities. By so doing, it is assumed that the real power of individual citizens of the Counties will be enhanced. 

Revenue sharing also causes the national government to transfer budgetary allocations to County and general- purpose governments with minimum strings attached. 

Revenue sharing also expands the sphere of decision-making and helps equalize fiscal capacities of rich and poor Counties. 

Therefore, the Counties should have the power to, under the decentralized plan, levy, their own excise, corporate and income taxes. 

As a former Superintendent of a County, I now give the readers some of the practical and principal shortcomings of the over-centralization powers of the former Government which I experienced during my tenure of service that motivated my undertaking to write this paper designed to decentralize the government of Liberia in order to do away with those undemocratic practices. 

With the exception of budgetary provisions that the Government of Liberia makes for only personnel services, supplies and equipment for the Offices of the Superintendents of the new Counties, the rest of any financial needs of the new Counties are (were) not provided for in the annual budget. On the other hand,  all budgetary needs of the 0ld Counties, including the office of the Superintendents, are provided for in the budget. In other words, the Superintendents of the new Counties are not authorized to make budgetary requests for any other budgetary needs of their Counties but that of their offices, personnel services, supplies and equipment. The new Counties’ Superintendents are (were) expected to make their people to undertake self-help development projects for such things as building the Superintendents’ offices as well as the County Commissioners’ offices by collecting money from their people ninety nine and half percent of whom are unemployed 

For an example, the Telewoyan Hospital, the office building of the Superintendent and local government offices, the office buildings for the County Commissioners, the two guesthouses and the County Hall, were constructed solely at the personal expense of the Lofa County people with not a single penny from the Government of Liberia. We had to go out, with authority of the Government, to our people employed by Firestone, Liberia Mining Company, Bong Mining Company, Lamco, Lofa Government employees in Monrovia and the inhabitants of the County and appealed to them for contributions from their pay checks which they gave wholeheartedly because of love for their County. Just take into consideration that the people of those political subdivisions pay their taxes to the central Government while the national revenue is not equally shared with them for other needed and indispensable infrastructural and other development projects. 

On the political centralization issue, where the people of the new Counties are excluded from decision-making rights of matters affecting their areas, I now give the following practical or case examples as personally experienced by me while serving as the Superintendent of Lofa County: 

1. In 1972 or thereabout, it became necessary for us to construct a new Telewoyan Hospital, because the make-shift one was not conducive to installation of certain modern medical equipment to be donated to us by some foreign Institutions. When the central Government was notified and requested by us to build a new Hospital, we were, instead, authorized to consult with our people with the view of collecting money from them to build the Hospital. In the process, I went around the country and appealed to our citizens employed and unemployed to make voluntary financial contributions for that purpose out of which we received a grand total amount of about $265,000.00.I then convened a County- wide meeting for us to select a citizen of the County to award the contract to who must have made his or her quota of financial contribution to the funds raised. We unanimously selected a citizen of the County and awarded the contract to him. As we were awaiting the plan for the Building from Monrovia, we received a letter from the central Government in Monrovia delivered in person by a gentleman not a citizen of the County in which letter, we were notified that its bearer was the chosen Contractor having the building Plan and I was ordered to show him the site where the Hospital was to be built. This decision was taken by the central Government with absolutely no reference to us, the Superintendent, members of his Council and the people of the County. Because I thought that the Government awarded the contract to the gentleman because it did not know that had already chosen a contractor, I took the risk of replying the Government’s letter and informed it that we had already awarded the contract to a citizen of the County who was a competent builder before receiving the letter as a result of which, the gentleman was not shown the site. The gentleman concerned left in anger for Monrovia and I subsequently received a telegram from Monrovia ordering me to show the building site to the gentleman or resign as Superintendent. I immediately complied with the directive from Monrovia by showing the site to the gentleman who is now deceased thereby causing me to refrain from mentioning his name in this Article. We observed from the copy of his contract given to us that he charged a sum of $222,000.00 thereby leaving a balance of $43,000.00 from the $265,000.00 raised in our account.

2. As if awarding the construction contract to someone from without the County with no reference to us with funds not owned by the Government was not enough, the Government again ordered the County to give the remaining $43,000.00 to the Lutheran Church to assist it in erecting a girls’ Hostel on the campus of the Lutheran Training Institute (LTI) which was already under construction. Before we could give the amount to the Church, its representative declined to accept the grant with the excuse that they had already budgeted adequate funds to build the Hostel. The central Government, in the face of the Church’s refusal to accept the $43,000.00 and the County not being, at least, consulted to be deprived of its badly needed funds, we were, again, ordered to let a local authority of the Church have the $43,000.00 to be deposited into his account until such time that the Church stood in need of the amount. We, again, complied with that order and have yet to know what ever was done with that money that the County’s people sacrificed to pay for a particular development purpose which amount we did not intend to be deprived of without our prior consent.

3. Without any reference to the people of Lofa County, including me, their Superintendent, Japanese Company was authorized by the central Government to conduct a feasibility study on The Wologisi Mountain located in Voinjama District of Lofa County. The Company conducted the study and reported to the central Government that it would take advantage of a contract to mine iron ore in the Mountain which we learned from certain individuals connected with the Ministry of Lands and Mines then that has the largest deposit of iron ore including all iron ore mining deposits combined in Liberia. The company therefore proposed to prepare a contract in which it would undertake to build a super highway from the Mountain directly to the Freeport of Monrovia through a shorter route instead of the Lofa /Bong County rural highway where huge pipe lines would be installed through which the ore would have been blown directly from the Mountain to any ship at the Port in Monrovia instead of building a train tract. The counter position of the Government to the Company’s was that it, instead, built a seaport in Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County and constructed a train track from the Mountain to the Port in Robertsport. Because the Company notified the Government that it could not build a seaport nor build a train track because it would have cost it thrice the anticipated amount of dollars to build the highway and install the pipe line, the Government rejected the Company’s reaction as a result of which, the Company pulled out of Liberia without the opportunity to mine the ore in the Mountain. Lofa County lost the golden opportunity of travelling on a very much needed super highway that would have been built shortening the distance of travel to Monrovia on a better road for the people if only they had been given the opportunity to participate in the making of the decision to object to the Japanese proposal to build a super highway in their County to Monrovia without which the people of the County have to go all the way through Bong County, which is a long and a roundabout rout  for them to and from Monrovia.

Those are but a few of the numerous decisions that the Government took  in matters affecting the people of the County without involving them in making those decisions. A decentralized system of government will not be capable excluding the people from participating in decisions taken by Government that would affect them and the areas in which they live. 

CONCLUSION 

As I have outlined above, the suggested decentralization of Liberia now is timely and politically and economically sound. It is also politically and economically progressive and feasible for implementation in order to safeguard against some of the serious political and economic problems the country and its people in the political subdivisions, mainly of the new political subdivisions of the country have encountered in the centralist government’s policies instituted in the past and now. 

A well organized decentralized government established on truly patriotic principles, will have no room for breeding of political instability because the people of the various political subdivisions will have equal interest and stick in the government and will not cooperate with those who will deprive them of their human rights and rob them of their peaceful and tranquil lives When the people of a country enjoy equal opportunities and equal democratic rights from their government, they will not allow war mongers to take comfort in their areas. . Oftentimes, those who succeed in enjoying the support of the people of political subdivisions to destabilize a government take advantage of the dissatisfied emotions of the people deprived of their democratic rights by promising to give them rights denied to them. 

In order that the new system may work smoothly and effectively, in the best interest of the people, zero tolerance for dishonesty in government, mismanagement of public funds and deprivation of the human rights of the Liberian people must be instituted. .

Liberians should no longer place excessive power into the hands of the President and a handful of people in Monrovia, especially one whose sole objective is to operate Liberia and its people like his personal property with no regards for their prior involvement. in decisions the Government takes affecting them  

The decentralization of the government to-be will not accommodate tyrannical and dictatorial rule of the country by any individual or a group of individuals the people may democratically elect to the highest political office of the land. Empowering of the people in the decision-making process and revenue sharing will certainly contribute to political stability of the country and the economic wellbeing of the masses of the people 

NOTE The Government gave the sum of $400,000.00 each to the new Counties of Bong and Nimba respectively for development projects representing its contribution to the rotational annual celebration of the Independence Day of the country hosted by each County in interval. The new County of Lofa did not receive the grant when its term came because the former Government of the True Whig Party was deposed in 1980.I decided to mention this note in order to clarify that on certain occasions and for special programs, the central Government did grant the political subdivisions of the country non-recurrent budgetary allocated funds for development purposes which included the New Counties. 

Lofa County hosted the True Whig Party Convention in 1975, the very first time that the Convention was ever hosted by a County other than Montserrado since the Party was organized in 1869. The Government renovated only the old Voinjama unpaved Airfield and graded the streets of the City. The True Whig Party, by policy, gave the County only $3.50 per delegate from each political subdivision which amount was given to feed the delegates. The County lodged all of the delegates free of charge to the Party. Even though, at the time, the Government was operated under a one-party system, it avoided using public funds to pay for the expenses of its Convention. 

The massive development projects undertaken by the people of the County with prior approval of the Government to be completed on time for the Convention were the County office Building which houses all public offices in the County including the offices of the Superintendent and two Guest houses which were all funded by the people of the County with no subsidy from the Government.

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