29 October 2008
The phrase often indiscriminately used in acknowledging the birth celebration of friends, relatives and loved ones is "Happy Birthday". Granted; everyone's birthday is a happy day for the parents, if not the community and the larger public.
However, it is not true that anyone's lifetime is happy-time, be it for the parents, the family or the public.
The birth of some can be a total catastrophe for others. History is replete with countless cases of men and women whose births brought untold sorrow to their relations and the wider public.
However, there are those who are distinguished and destined to live their lives for the benefit of others.
The list of this category of mankind is acutely short.
Today, as President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf celebrates her birthday, and a lot of "Happy Birthday" greetings would be flying here and there, the Analyst Staff Writer delves deep under the pleasantries, finding out reasons why the President's Natal Day is worthy of all the celebrations and adorations.
"Madam President, I have come to respect you and admire you because of your courage, your vision, your commitment to universal values and principles."
Those are words uttered by George W. Bush, President of the United States, the world's sole superpower and a leading voice of the free world.
Pres. George Walker Bush is widely considered a no-nonsense world leader, very hateful of and intolerant of dictators and tyrants. He's fearless, and tells despotic leaders and nations what they are in their faces.
It was Bush who branded North Korea, Iran, Syria, and other radical nations as "Axis of Evil." And these are industrious or semi-industrious countries having vast amount of resources, some of which could be useful to the United States.
Yet, he chastises them without shrink and respect. But this is the same man, George W. Bush, who adored President Sirleaf with these words: "I respect and admire you."
This contrast in favor of Ellen and Liberia could not have been a result of charm. Bush, by his records does not flatter. In fact, there is nothing in Liberia that pet words would unlock.
ndeed, the Liberian woman who is celebrating her Birthday today must have done great things to advance the cause of not only Liberians but also all peoples of the free world.
Yet at home, some citizens assert: President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf celebrates her 70th Birth Anniversary today; so what? Skeptics and optimists, detractors and supporters are debating that subject question today, and the debate might linger on for some days to come.
Whether or not the debate ends sooner or later, and whether one party wins the debate or not, it might take only God the Father and the wisdom of a truly neutral observer to see and acknowledge the myriad reasons why Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's birthday is a reflection, an inspiration and a blessing for many here in Liberia, Africa and the world.
Tracing Honorable but Tortuous Route
That Ellen, born on this day of this month some 70 years ago, reached the pinnacle of international prominence and managing to remake Liberia and finds its place in the community of nation is no accident.
In other words, her three scores ten years of existence on Planet Earth is not a sojourn of milk and honey, even though she is an offspring of an elitist family and ethnic hegemony.
Her intrinsic quest to spend her life for the good of others subjected her to horrendous treatments. The prevalence of social inequalities in Liberia particularly during the youthful days of Ellen drove her more and more to seeking ways and means to break the back of the pandemic.
Not consumed by the parochialism of the day, where the Americo-Liberians to whom she holds one-half of her family affinity played the dominant and privileged role, Ellen identified with the impoverished majority and allied with activists who sought better living condition for all Liberians without discrimination.
But her power and desire for comprehensive social, economic and political change in the country was not without solid educational background, as the economist-turned-politicians studied both in Liberia and the United States.
Untypical of most Liberian girls, her tender marriage at age 17, did not inhibit her academic and intellectual pursuits, because having graduated from the College of West Africa she moved on to the United States where she earned a masters degree in Public Administration.
Probably thinking that a foothold on the state bureaucracy would be an eye-opener in the general quest for social, economic and political equality, Ellen upon return to Liberia accepted an appointment in the True Whig Party government of President William R. Tolbert, Jr.
But the True Whig Party, well entrenched and psyched in its exclusionary rule, would hardly pay heed to the counsels of the likes of Ellen who were opting for a more inclusive and just society.
The only option left for the emergent activist was to quit government in order to concentrate on other honorable measures and strategies necessary to bring all Liberians aboard the Ship of State regardless of social, religious or political backgrounds.
Backed by an elitist background and sound educational training, others would choose to take on private ventures or take lucrative jobs elsewhere; but Ellen did not. Even when the Truth Whig Party, which she served as Finance Minister, was dethroned in a bloody coup, Ellen did not shrink.
Along with her male activist counterparts, Madam Sirleaf rose to the challenges of the day, which included but not limited to the new political regime's perpetration of social injustice, political marginalization and human rights abuses.
As probably the only female to tower in active politics in Liberia, it was not long when Ellen was noticed by the notorious eye of the military junta, which was on opposition elimination spree.
Having already been imprisoned under dehumanizing conditions by the junta, she thought the second brutal encounter with the regime would end the crusade of liberation to which she so much dedicated herself. A good warrior recoils briefly to fight the next battle.
Thus, Ellen found sanctuary in East Africa and other regions of the world. While in exile in the early and mid 1980s, Sirleaf rendered consultancy services to various international institutions and served as Director of Citibank in Nairobi, Kenya.
Those assignments did not however deter Ellen from the politics at home, particularly the network of opposition collaboration amongst homeland and exiled activists and politicians.
When the People's Redemption Council Government mustered the courage under severe international pressure to announce the lifting of the ban on politics, Ellen was one of few Liberian exiled and targeted activists who defied all odds, returned home and participated.
Her participation in the elections, as her participation in most political activities, was not done on silver platter. She was bruised. The Doe rulership put her under house arrest.
She was also once sentenced to ten years in prison but served the sentence briefly before fleeing back into unwilling exile. Madam Sirleaf is one Liberian woman and one Liberian politician who has sought something worthwhile to do while forced out of active politics.
And democratic politics eluded the country for several years in the aftermath of the military insurgency launched by the National Patriotic Front of Liberia in 1989.
Beginning the early 1990s, she got a prestigious job with the United Nations, serving as Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, an equivalence of Assistant Secretary General of the UN.
This international placement gave the Liberian female exile adequate latitude and advantage to keep the Liberian conflict on African and world agenda throughout the duration of the war.
While the conflict was raging, Ellen, amongst other things, was networking with various Liberian and international groups, shuttling all over the world to find lasting solution to the woes that were being visited upon her people and nation.
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