Liberia: Correct LISGIS and NEC to Get Fair Elections

Population map released by  Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS)

 

 

The main work for any person who loves Liberia to do is to Save Liberia by Saving The Lives of the People of Liberia. The best way to do this is to speak the Truth in ways that the People of Liberia can understand. 

Sometimes, speaking the Truth is considered as politicizing or engaging in scare tactics. But we know that Truth-telling is not politicizing or engaging in scare tactics because the failure of the powers that be to follow the Truth led to the coup d'etat and the civil war in Liberia that took the lives of over 300,000 people and injured many more people. So, the Truth must be told to Save Lives.

The Truth is that 2023 will not be FAIR and post-election violence is highly likely to take place. This Commentary is directed at providing information for the prevention of violence. Through this Commentary series, NEC has been singled out because of its supervision of the electoral system. Now, the Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) is being singled out to continue the awareness-raising process, especially as the 2023 election is just around the corner.

Without correct census taking, there can not be a FAIR election because a FAIR election depends on correct census taking.  

The current Population and Housing Census, which should have been started on October 24, 2022, but took place during November 11-22, 2022, is not correct because of the following: 1. the non-training of many enumerators; 2. enumerators scheduled for training did not know where training centers were located; 3. enumerators scheduled for training paid their way to unknown training centers, only to be found at non-training places, without any refunding and lodging facilities; 4. corruption allegations on the top three heads of LISGIS have remained uninvestigated; 5. the United Nations Population Fund Agency (UNFPA), the main foreign partner/supporter of LISGIS, supports the announcement of the completion of the incorrect census that says: the population of Liberia has increased by 1.7 million people during the past 14 years, while the largest financier of UNFPA has placed sanctions on the government of Liberia, which includes LISGIS, because of corruption.

Crucially, the United Nations Resident Represent Niels Scott, on behalf of International Partners, wrote to the President of Liberia in July 2022, indicating that the Population and Housing Census scheduled to be held in October 2022 MUST not be postponed in order for the Census to be credible

. Additionally, the Partners stated to the President of Liberia that Liberia would lose at least US$ 8.8 million if the Census were to be postponed. Therefore, it comes as a surprise that the same Partners have endorsed the findings of the Census that was conducted after October 2022, not forgetting that the Constitution of Liberia mandates the government of Liberia to conduct a Population and Housing Census every ten years. The last Census was held in 2008, 14 years before 2022!!!

Additionally, the government of Liberia has declared NEC to be corrupt, as heard in the statements made at the termination of the services of top LISGIS officials and at the 8th Edition of the  Faith and Justice Network Intellectual Forum in Memory of Arch-Bishop Michael Francis. 

The termination of the services of the top officials of LISGIS took place while the Head of LISGIS was on sick leave of absence. The Head of LISGIS and his Deputies are also faced with corruption charges. The people of Liberia await the relevant Due Process according to the Rule of Law.

It is very difficult to expect that the government would push for Due Process of Law in view of the many cases of alleged killings and disappearances that have not been subjected to any Due Process. However, the only way for Due Process to take place is for the people who love Liberia to continue to work together to raise awareness to get the UNFAIR electoral system changed into the FAIR electoral system, through the Rule of Law, so that persons with good records can get elected to bring in Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other Country.