Liberia: What the Elders Say

Our Elders of Africa say that to walk on the new mat any person has to sit on the old mat. The old mat is the mat on which the elders sit. Some people think that the Elders sit on the old mat and just talk but do nothing. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The Elders sit on the old mat to get the wisdom to use in taking peaceful actions to solve societal problems. It is this wisdom that tells people to sit on the old mat before sitting on the new mat.

Clearly, the continuation of the problem of poverty in Liberia and other parts of Africa today is due to the refusal of the powers that be to follow the wisdom of the Elders.

The Chairperson of the West Africa Elders Forum (WAEF) and former President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan and some members of WAEF arrive in Liberia. Will the powers that be follow some of the good luck in the wisdom of WAEF? Will the powers that be follow the good work of Jonathan, the Son of King Saul in the Holy Scriptures? Some people will say that only time will tell.

However, the Truth of the matter indicates the high unlikelihood that the powers will follow the wisdom of the Elders. The wisdom of the Elders tells us that poverty remains the main societal problem because it has become the pretext for violence, which, at times, takes on the forms of coup d'etat and civil war in West Africa and other parts of the world. The wisdom of the Elders tells us to put an end to violence by bringing a beginning to Justice.

It is only Justice that brings Peace. Knowing the reality in Liberia, people who love Liberia are raising the awareness of the people to motivate them to work together to bring Justice, the only way to make Peace is not the absence of war but the presence of Justice. 

The foregoing is the Message of the Elders of Liberia to the visiting Elders of WAEF. This Message continues to work well, as seen in the fifty second and fifty third Legislatures of Liberia. Due to the awareness raising, nearly all of the Legislators who sought reelection were not re-elected, as voters cried out: we put you there but when you got there, you forgot about us. This process is highly likely to continue in the upcoming election of October 2023. 

With a flawed electoral system. The awareness-raising continues. It is only through this awareness raising, using the Rule of Law, that there will be the transformation of the system of injustice which promotes the unfair electoral system that Justice will prevail to promote a fair electoral system. It is only through this transformation 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.