Liberia: Equal Access, Not Unequal Access
Some people wonder as to why I do not get tired, at eighty plus years of age, identifying societal problems and presenting solutions to the problems. I tell them that I do not get tired because with my knowledge and experience, I have an obligation to share my knowledge and experience. This sharing attitude comes from my background, from which I observe that societal conditions get better when knowledge is shared in ways that motivate people to use non-violent means to engage in actions leading to change for the betterment of society. This change helps people to have equal access to the market place and the voting place.
The persons who get elected to manage the State called Liberia are of the western orientation. They do not know Liberia's problems and, therefore, they can not solve Liberia's problems. From the days of the Economist Adam Smith, Founder of Modern Economics, who said in his book, The Wealth of Nations, that the best way for any society to move forward for the better is through the free enterprise system. This system is enshrined in the Constitution of Liberia.
But what is written is often not practiced. When the poor workers tried to organize themselves into unions in the late eighteenth century, the State of Great Britain crushed them through military action. The same was done during the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher regime. In the United States of America (USA), we observe unequal access due to white racism. Then there was apartheid in South Africa that was ended through the Revolutionary Leadership of Madiba Rolihlahla Mandela. Not going far and staying right here in Liberia, we find that nearly ninety per cent of the people of Liberia remain poor, while Legislators, who should be representing the poor people, have access to at least USD1,000 a day and their foreign partners, in the commercial sector alone, have access to at least USD2 million a day while the poor Liberians have access to at most less than USD2 a day (Annual Reports of CBL, MFDP, MCI, ADB, WB and the IMF). The reality of growing inequality within and among nations is captured by the French Economist Piketty (Thomas Piketty, Capital and Ideology, 2020).
These actions help us to realize that there are two types of scientists, two types of State managers, the bad and the good. The bad ones see logs passing through villages with dusty roads that make children sick and die; but these national decision makers say that the production of the logs for export is good because they satisfy their greed-driven interest. The good ones continue to call for the production of logs to be given Value Addition so that children can have locally produced chairs to sit in and not sit in foreign chairs and on the gravel floor. The Value Addition would be income generating with the boost in local skills and employment, bearing in mind that two-thirds of the children who should be in school are not in school, as seen in the UNICEF Annual Report for 2019.
No wonder State managers of Liberia were seen recently in a photo shoot with the white racist US Senator Graham and supporter of former US President Trump, boasting that the Liberian State has the support of powerful forces in the USA. With the lack of the correct understanding of Liberia's problems, it is impossible for these State managers to solve Liberia's problems. And so the bad beat goes on! Common sense tells us that when any person does not know his or her problem, he or she can not solve his or her problem!!
So, how does Liberia get out of the MESS that Liberia remains in? To get out of this MESS, those of us who have the knowledge and experience of knowing Liberia have the DUTY to share our knowledge in ways that motivate people to take non-violent actions to transform the electoral system from UNFAIR to FAIR so that persons with good records can be elected into public offices to bring about the needed changes. In setting the example of raising mass awareness relevantly, I went to the Supreme Court of Liberia (SCL), in the Tipoteh versus Korkoya Case to show that the National Elections Commission of Liberia (NEC) operates in violation of the Constitution of Liberia because Mr. Korkoya is a citizen of the USA. Up to now, after more than two years, the SCL says that it is not prepared to rule on the Case. Imagine!!! Not a single national leader, religious, political, business or government has given support to this Case!!!