Heritage Newspaper :: Liberia

For me, the building of transformational democracy in Liberia has wretchedly failed. There are multiple arguments to support this viewpoint. First, from the very onset of the election that brought President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to state power in 2006, and subsequently in 2012, it was apparent that Liberia was headed down the same old unceasingly failed paths that contributed to the wars that devastated the country for sixteen years. The war left over 350,000 innocent men, women, and children dead. Second, Liberia’s much anticipated democratization effort started on a wrong footing— it was simply a false start that reinforced Liberia’s aged-old personality cult fixation. The personality cult fixation refers to a self-absorbed-type of political leadership that is typical of Liberian politics— often, the sitting president claims to know it all,

Liberians have a custom of overlooking media reports. Many Liberians brush off media publications that tend to give early warning signals as mere speculation. A case in point is the several reports over the months that flagged potential security threat on Liberia’s border with Cote d’Ivoire.  Several media reports, especially by the Chronicle, that pointed out that training of dissidents, who could target both Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia, was taking place at the Liberia-Ivory Coast border were overlooked by authorities.

As I walked the raining streets of Monrovia recently, I was attracted by electronic gadgets displayed in a transparent glass window of a business center. I decided to enter the business center to “check out” some of its items, and probably reminisce my visits to a few high tech stores in other “developing” countries. However, when I walked into the high-tech store, I was bombarded by a few customer service representatives: “what do you want?” “Look at this TV, it is good ooo!” “I say, I say, you wan this set, I can help you?” The demands by the customer service representatives were overwhelming, and made it almost impossible to walk through the store. I looked at the customer service representatives on my left and on my right. Ahead of me, one customer service representative was also signaling me to look at another item. At that moment, I stood momentarily. Probably, not momentarily, but for a few minutes to hopefully take a deep breath and also consider my options.

Researchers have put forth several suggested approaches towards strengthening democratization with direct conflict prevention and peace-building objectives and monitoring of elections. The media is considered as important in ensuring that democracy operates properly. Discussion of the media's functions usually focuses on their "watchdog" role by their scrutiny and discussion of the successes and failures of governments. The media can then inform the public of how effectively its representatives that is the government have performed and help to hold them to accountable.

A member of the Independent National Human Rights Commission of Liberia (INHCRL) recently singlehandedly hosted a press conference to inform members of the Fourth Estate that plans were afoot to transfer people who bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Liberian conflict to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. It is believed that supporters of former President Charles Taylor, who has been found guilty of aiding and abetting 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague for his role in that country’s civil conflict, want other Liberian warlords to join their Godfather in The Hague so that he would not singlehandedly pay the price for heinous crimes committed during the Liberian conflict.  Accordingly, they have  embarked on a campaign to convince Liberians to agitate for this.