Liberia: Senate Eyes Review of National Symbols, But…

Liberia is a country with a plethora of problems, but one stands out: the issue of national symbols, which many think is divisive.

One of such national symbols depicts a ship approaching a shore, a rising sun, a palm tree, a plow and a spade, and a dove bearing a white scroll. Above these is the motto: “The Love of Liberty Brought Us Here” — the most contentious issue. 

“They didn’t bring us — they met us here,” says Senator Prince Y. Johnson of Nimba County in 2011, referring to Liberia’s national motto. 

And 11-years later, after Senator Johnson’s statement, the Liberian Senate has announced a plan to review the country’s symbols, with a plan to foster an inclusive country that appreciates history.

The move by the Senate, according to Senator Stephen Zargo  of Lofa County, came as a result of Senate President Pro Tempore Albert T. Chie’s remarks at the University of Liberia recently, in which mentioned that “we also deem it most appropriate that during this Bicentennial Year, Liberia takes the final move to review some of our national symbols to reflect the true identity of our nation…”

Sen. Zargo, whose communication is being reviewed, called for, among other things, the seal of Liberia to be changed from its present state to the typical Liberia handshake in a circular field with the inscription: the Love of Liberty United Us.

“There is a need for Liberia to take a critical look at some of our historical and national symbols with a view of incorporating an all-inclusive country that appreciates history,” said Sen. Zargo.  “The Flag of Liberia must be changed from its present state to a flag of three stripes, Red, White and Green with a White circular field and a Black Star in it to symbolize the first Black Republic in Africa. The Green replacing the Blue, is symbolic of Africa and Liberia’s Green forest in the background.”

The Senate’s quest to alter Liberia’s national symbols is something that has been tried before and failed. The late President William Richard Tolbert, once upon a time, constituted a National Commission to give consideration to possible changes in the national motto, national flag, national anthem and the Constitution of Liberia. 

Tolbert’s Commission, established by an Act of the National Legislature, approved July 22, 1974, comprised a Chairman and fifty members with five representatives from each County and one from each Territory.

And President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in 2014 also endorsed the review of Liberia's national symbols through the setting up of the National Symbols Review Project, which was spearheaded by the Governance Commission. 

The goal of the Sirleaf commission was to undertake a comprehensive review of the country’s national symbols as a way to renew its national identity — one that will do justice to the nation’s rich ethnic, religious, and cultural diversities.

But like Tolbert, the Sirleaf attempt failed to achieve its goal.

Before then, several Independence Day orators have seized the occasion of ‘July 26’ to express their feelings about the usefulness and appropriateness of the country’s national symbols. 

One of the Independence Day orators questioning the validity of the existing national symbols was Dr. Abeodu Bowen Jones, some 40 years ago, during the Administration of President Tolbert.  Dr. Jones pointed out the divisive ideas that characterize the national symbols, even the national anthem.

A commision was then created to review and remove the objectionable parts, and the commission even submitted a report. However, nothing was done do implement its recommendations.

In 2008, another Independence Day orator, Dr. Sakui W. G. Malakpa, renewed the debate with his oration, entitled ‘Coping with the inevitability of change: our challenges, chances and choices.’ Also Dr. Elwood Dunn’s oration of July 26, 2012, ‘Renewing our National Promise’ reminded Liberians that “there have been social imbalance, cultural imbalance, and imbalance, a situation which does not reflect the country.

Dr. Dunn, while serving as the Project Coordinator of the Sirleaf commission to review the national symbols, noted that the present generation of Liberians knows less than their parents about the country’s history and founding ideals, and many Liberians are more aware of what divides us than what unites us. “We are in danger of becoming not ‘one nation indivisible,’ as our Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag says, but it’s opposite, ‘many nations,’ lacking a central core, a unifying ideal.

And Dr. Joseph Saye Guannu, a prominent historian, in 2014 said “The national symbol has outlived its usefulness. It was appropriate between 1847, when we became independent, and 1904, when the indigenous population became citizens. Nobody has had the courage to change it.”

Also, in 2009, Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended that a palm tree be used as the new national symbol, and that its motto be changed to “The love of liberty unites us here.”

And with the Tolbert and Sirleaf commissions not achieving their objectives, and calls from prominent historians leading to limited change, it remains to be seen how the Senate move will need to be altered. These symbols, for decades upon decades, remain unaltered and, despite their being considered divisive, there are others who see them as the ideal reflection of unity among the varying ethno-national sensitivities, as well as the tribal, religious and other leanings of the Liberian people.

So if the Senate succeeds – Liberia could be following the footsteps of other African countries that have revisited national symbols perceived as divisive, with varying degrees of success. In 1984, after a coup, Upper Volta adopted a new flag and a new name, Burkina Faso. Ten years later, South Africa adopted a new flag and national anthem to represent its new post-arpathied republic.

As Africa’s oldest republic, Liberia was founded by freed people of color from the United States of America, who came to its shores as colonists and adopted the seal at the Constitutional Congress in 1847.  And many of these symbols go back to the early days of the Colony of Liberia (1821-1847) and the creation of the independent republic of Liberia by the ‘pioneers’ — as they liked calling themselves — or ‘Americans’ according to the local people.

The country’s flag, nicknamed the “Lone Star” resembles America’s. It has 11 stripes representing the number of men who signed its Declaration of Independence, which was modeled in part after that of the U.S.

Meanwhile, Sen. Zargo, who like others advocate for change of the country’s symbols, is now calling for the country’s capital city, Monrovia, to be renamed indigenously, reflecting the time before the arrival of the settlers.