The way I see Liberia

President Elect, there are detractors, members of the oppositions and folks that just clearly hate your guts for various reasons, all the same, they wish to see you fail and fall flat on your face. I can assure you that there will always be a fifth column amongst your choice of lieutenants. Every word utters from you will be scrutinized, analyzed and torn apart to find hidden signals. Your utterances should be clear and transparent; so that, the common man on the street will understand it directly from your mouth and not from your lieutenants’ mouths, mainly from your information minister trying to put a spin on it. (A black spade is just a black spade. It is not a red club). Take notice of a few of your immediate neighbors as I attempt to expose their modi operandi in this global town hut; moreover, I caution you and your entire administration not to fall short to their follies.

Sierra Leone: Right after the most bloody and senseless war of the century, which inflicted gruesome casualties on Sierra Leoneans; the war that was rained down by disgruntled Sierra Leoneans headed by Foday Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, on October 5, 2004 imprisoned an award winner journalist Paul Kamara, founder-editor of the daily For Di People, for "seditious libel." Journalist Paul Kamara had republished an article, which detailed a 1967 Commission of Inquiry into fraud allegations concerning the Sierra Leone Produce Marking Board, with which President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was then associated. Most recently, the security apparatus in Bo arrested and charged an opposition leader Mr. Charles Margai and his PMDC supporters during a peaceful march on the streets of Bo. It is shocking and disturbing to note, that the very sickening conditions that existed in 1991 that led the brutal and cruel former army corporal Foday Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to take to the bush, exist today under the watchful eyes of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and the Sierra Leonean government. The buck stops with you Mr. President and I know of many hungry mouths that go to bed in your beloved country on empty stomachs.

Cote d’Ivoire: The government has used the media under its control, particularly the state broadcaster Radiodiffusion Television Ivoirienne (RTI), as a powerful tool in the country's ongoing crisis. News blackouts are a practice of the government and the people have resulted to rumormongering as their source for news. The President Laurent Gbagbo has a militia group called The Young Patriots who allegedly destroyed buildings owned by the opposition newspapers Le Patriote and 24 Heures, and opposition party buildings have also been burnt and looted; moreover, local private citizens and foreign nationals have also been targeted. The Ivory Coast saw the separate killings of local reporter Kloueu Gonzreu and a French radio correspondent Jean Helene in 2003. With all of the lessons that Cote d’Ivoire could learn from Sierra Leone and Liberia, Ivory Coast is on a war path and is still a divided country at the beginning of 2006, even with a new prime minister in the person of Mr. Charles Konan Banny, former Governor of the Central Bank of West African States. The newly administration of Liberia must be discouraged to form any kind of a military styled youth group and most definitely must support free press. History reminds us that soon and very soon, such group ends up been a private army for the president.

Gambia: A veteran Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara was subjected to harassment and surveillance by the Gambian intelligence services when unidentified assailants in the capital, Banjul, on December 16, 2004, shot him three times in the head. He could have very well been assassinated by the members of the Gambian intelligence services or by the now-disbanded self-proclaimed supporters of the president. The shooting occurred two days after the Gambian National Assembly passed two draconian pieces of media legislation to suppress press freedom in that already tensed country, where the Gambia's independent press is regarded as enemy of the state. Journalists continue to face intimidation while their residences and the premises of the Independent newspaper are been burnt down if their articles are considered as biased reports against the president.

The former army sergeant coup leader Yahya Jammeh turned President has publicly threatened the lives of journalists and also called them fools. I have no doubt that the president ordered the assignation of Deyda Hydara and also sanctioned the present treatment against the media. The buck stops with you, Your Excellency President Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh.

Your Work Is Cut Out For You

I urge you to take a page from the jib-jab site. The jib-jab is a satirical web site of anything and everything. Have fun in being the president. Your greatest asset is your motherhood. Do not be like the buffoons who parade the corridors of their respective state houses and rule the very people they are to serve as subjects on their manors. Where do you begin? I am afraid I do not have any clue for you but let me just throw some of my concerns out there.

Big Government ~ Does Liberia really need all those many government ministries, public corporations, bureaus and agencies along with all the accompany ministers, directors, deputies, assistants and the list goes on.

Salary Arrears ~ Just as your predecessors were dogged for payment of salary arrears that were earned but not paid, you will not be so lucky for the problem not to be brought to your door step. Will you prioritize or will every profession be considered equal come time for disbursement?

Young Unemployed Youths ~ A mass number of young people remain jobless and largely uneducated. There is a dying need for ex-combatants to receive adequate training and be reintegrated into society. I believe one industry that could absorb our young could be agriculture. Let’s go to China and bring the experts and establish massive agricultural communities in all of the counties to produce agricultural produce for local and international consumption. We will definitely feed ourselves and not import our major staple food and almost everything we consume.

Infrastructure ~ I need not say more. I will share with you one of the definitions of the term. The basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the functioning of a community or society, such as transportation and communications systems, water and power lines, and public institutions including schools, post offices, and prisons.

Repatriation ~ Or better still, what is the plight of the IDPs, the internally displaced persons? According to the January 1, 2005 census of the UNHCR, there are 498,600 Liberians in Liberia that are IDPs. Liberia is sandwiched by Azerbaijan, 578,500 and Sri Lanka, 352,400. It is very difficult to ascertain the number of refugees who really want to be repatriated. Regardless of what the UNHCR does for our brothers and sisters in other localities order than Liberia, the nation should have some status and whereabouts of her citizens.

Security (National and Personal) ~ This is the one area that I have considered as a deep black hole for the past administrations, since the former army master sergeant coup leader Samuel K. Doe turned president’s administration, to the present Accra, Ghana peace deal Chairman of the Liberia’s transitional government, Chairman Gyude Bryant’s tenure. It was apparent that security, all aspect of security, took a big chunk of the Liberian budget.

One question I like to throw out there to all peace loving Liberians. Does Liberia need a standing army? The army, as Liberians know it to be, is a sign and sight of repression. Most of us have had intimidating and cruel experiences with army personnel. The overzealous paramilitary forces, by paramilitary forces I mean all other security agencies, carry out their duties or duties of the president with impunity and with the total disregard for all human rights. Some members of theses forces take the law unto themselves and arrest law-abiding citizens without warrants, and trumped-up false accusations on good and peaceful folks, and the like. Moreover, citizens who have been endowed with positions of trust order other citizens to be dragged out of cars and beaten and be thrown into prisons. We know what have happened in the past.

Rumors of coups and accusation of coup plotters are the hallmark of an unstable state. The national police force needs to be paid properly so that bribing will stop and we will all respect and obey the law. The proposed intercessory pray service for the election of the president elect that was scheduled to be held at the SKD Stadium was cancelled because of security reason. A local businessman, William Smith, purchased ten bags of rice for his workers. While he was on his way to his farm, he and four other members of his party were arrested and charged with engaging in dissident activities because he was found with the consignment of rice which was confiscated. Situations similar to the above cases happen a lot of times all in the name of security.

Law Makers First Order of Business ~ We accused the founding fathers, the past presidents, the past dictators, tyrants, thieves and the like for not exhibiting good governance; however, we still have their out dated legislation, their dictatorial decrees and their draconian laws on the books. Laws that siphon free speech, personal liberties, free press, etc. are still clouding the total freedom of Liberians. Those laws need to get out of the Liberian system and no new ones formulated to suit any tyrannical style of government.

Good governance and not the status quo ~ I believe you get my drift after reading some of the concerns of mine. The die is cast and Liberians just crossed the Rubicon. The wool that blinded the eyes of Liberians has been pulled away and Liberians now can see the difference and definitely they know the difference. We are free and we are all equal before the law. Neither the original undisclosed budget nor the latest disclosed budget for the inauguration in my view is adequate. No amount should be considered too big with all the economists on the team. My concern is, if money can be made available now, how come funds were not made available to pay salary arrears, to repair the roads, to supply electricity and water? Monrovia needs a face lift for the ceremony. Foreign guests who are coming have seen Monrovia as a war zone with all the ugliness of a war ravaged country and we need to show our guests such as Mrs. George Bush and Secretary Dr. Condoleezza Rice of USA, that we are a cultured and civilized people; therefore, no amount of money is too much to accomplish that feat. The spinners did not do any justice in the defense of the proposed amount by indicating the need to have children party throughout the country. Well, scrap the children party; if held, it will be chaotic at best. Keep it simple Madame President and govern with your grand motherly instinct.