The New Republic Liberia

“Fellow Liberians, we know that if we are to achieve our economic and income distribution goals, we must take on forcibly and effectively the debilitating cancer of corruption. Corruption erodes faith in government because of the mismanagement and misapplication of public resources. It weakens accountability, transparency and justice. Corruption short changes and undermines key decision and policy making processes. It stifles private investments which create jobs and assures support from our partners. Corruption is a national cancer that creates hostility, distrust, and anger. Throughout the campaign, I assured our people that, if elected, we would wage war against corruption regardless of where it exists, or by whom it is practiced. Today, I renew this pledge. Corruption, under my Administration, will be the major public enemy. We will confront it. We will fight it. Any member of my Administration who sees this affirmation as mere posturing, or yet another attempt by yet another Liberian leader to play to the gallery on this grave issue should think twice. Anyone who desires to challenge us in this regard will do so at his or her personal disadvantage. In this respect, I will lead by example. I will expect and demand that everyone serving in my Administration leads by example.”

The overpowering conviviality associated with the signing by the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) of a landmark contractual agreement with two of the world’s outstanding petroleum companies is certainly unparalleled, to put it into context, to the effect that officials of NOCAL and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf have given the agreement thumps-up, classifying it as the best that outsmarts previous contracts.

As the President and NOCAL officials have begun the acclamation in favor of the generosity of the agreement to the “best practices” so desired by the government to respond to emerging socio-economic problems coupled with environmental imperatives, so are others in the same token, whether they have a defined understanding of the provisions of the contract, glorying the negotiators that they have done justice to the country.

The aftermath of the brouhaha that engulfed the nation over the sending to jail, for three days, by the House of Representatives of former Montserrado County Grace Kpaan and the attending obstruction of the process by former Acting City Mayor Mary Broh is the resignation of the two controversial characters under circumstances that are wanting of multitude of other things.

Recently, Liberia came to a standstill when the House of Representatives took advantage of its “powers” to slam a three-day jail sentence against Madam Kpaan for adamantly refusing to adhere to orders past unto her and when “General” Broh, relying on whatever power at her disposal, moved in and threw a monkey range around the entire episode.

Today Liberia is pregnant with twins and triplet problems so nauseating and discomforting for the values and principles the founding fathers of the nation envisioned and subscribed to as embedded in our national status intended to streamline citizens’ interactions; involvements and undertakings and properly direct the course of the existence of the state.

There are mounting economic problems, there are problems of uncontrollable waywardness, there are problems of irritating lack of job opportunities, there are problems of seemingly sanctioned hooliganism, so to speak, there are problems of biting armed robberies, there are problems of troubling corruption, there are problems of lack of political will to hit the nail on the head, just to enumerate a few; that are confronting the path to national sanity and continue to scale Liberia’s ability to ride itself out of the depth of years of political, social and economic ruins, a period that enjoyed the benisons of political brutality, banditry and  absolutism and unchecked plague of corruption.

Liking these vexingly embarrassing developments that are tumbling Liberia and pounding it to the ground to the most topically  nightmare of the Mary Broh and Grace Kpaan Vs the National Legislature saga, points to where Liberia is headed; which certainly suggests that things are falling apart to the extent that the central is loosed and cannot hold again.

Countless reasons are propping up as per the view of people concerning these activities: that people are taking advantage of the democratic space to redeem the time and reclaim the years the locusts have eaten; that they are putting into practice something that eluded them for decades; that the true essence of the cherished newly born democracy is being tested and moreover that people are simply trying to camouflage under the mighty shadow of “affiliation with the presidency” to push their recessed agenda, not concerned about how it affects the nation and its the rule of law, the interest of the people of the nation, the economic-socio and political interest as well as the general good of all functionaries of statecraft.

Litany of developments that continue to shudder the foundation of the nation unarguably point to the truthfulness of the Chine Achebe’s book, “when things fall apart, the central cannot hold,” witticism because few days before the Mary Broh and Grace Kpaan et all brouhaha, it was sanctioned hooliganism that showed its head when youthful Liberians took to the streets, to the homes of their targets in the name of protection and advocacy. Before then, there was generic demonstration of power between the President over alleged damnation of members of the National Legislature by the president, coupled with myriad of streets protests emerging from dissatisfactions with government’s policies and programs as well as the issue of gay rights and advocacy.

For those who may think the trend of developments being witnessed in recent times confirm Liberia’s maturity and preparedness to root the values of democracy which guarantee basic human rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of association, and the rest, there is another side to the coin that when these things are condoned outside of the very law that allows them, then there is absolutely a cause to worry and to be concerned.

Have we reached to the summit of the problem where the central is experiencing too much heat to hold or stick together? The answer to the question is an overwhelming “YES” because those who have the teeth as the law allows to bit are only greasing it, thus creating enough bastions for lawlessness to take its course. There is no naysay about the fact that those who perpetuate this form of naked anarchy are ignorant of the law but that they choose to take advantage of the existing space of cronyism and nepotism breastfed by others.

So when things fall apart and the central does not hold again, lots of things bound to happen; among them, the ordinary citizens bear the brunt of the aftermath as we are seeing in today’s Liberia where millions are still coping with the affects of years of conflict engineered by some of the very things that are showing their ugly heads with no political will for actions, massive destruction including the loss of lives and properties, and many other bitterness.

We are reminding stakeholders, policy-makers, politicians to be cognizant of the fact that things are falling apart gradually, and it could be so catastrophic should they allow the central to loose its grip completely. What’s happening is like a sickness that undermines the effectiveness of the white-blood cells and therefore exposes the body to risk. The strength of Liberia which is the law is being undermined so steadily and very soon it could prove otherwise.

When things fall apart, the central does not hold it again, we warn, so let those who have the hammer use it to the best of their ability and spare Liberia another period of ignominy.