18 November 2008
Labor Minister Samuel Kofi Woods has called for the dismantling of the Liberian state.
Attorney Woods, a human rights lawyer and former student activist told commissioners of Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that what was now in place is a "caricature of a state and not a real state."
Mr. Woods demanded that the Liberian state must be dismantled and re-conceptualized, saying that the real Liberian state must emerged out of the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia.
"We can do this by reverting to those values which dominate. This state has failed to offer something of value to its subjects in return for their loyalty," Mr. Woods said when he testified Tuesday at the ongoing public hearings of the TRC at Monrovia's historic Centennial Memorial Pavilion.
He said Liberia will fail no matter who becomes leader if the fundamental of collective ownership is not put in place. All reforms, he said, will be window dressing, because according to him the country already has a faulty foundation that is cracking that cannot erect a serious state.
"We have a state characterized by discrimination, subjugation and coercion. Distributive justice became a prevalent issue with the introduction of a so-called modern system of governance, history of injustice which includes resource distribution, land, lack of access and mechanisms of redress of grievances and justice for the rich and elites."
Mr. Woods said that Liberia has a background like many other developing nations of a false start as a nation, a weak and in cohesive state, lack of legal certainty, lack of respect for the rule of law, the crisis of legitimacy, the crisis of identity, participation, authority and penetration.
He said the country has always been a two tier state which is characteristics of colonialism.
Woods said that the country's internal conflict was only characterized by loot, plunder, brute force and naked power and did not border on ideological descent or religious tolerance but was about innate greed and criminal gangs who have discovered the weakness and fragility of the nation state.
"They have determined that it was possible with the acquiescence of a gullible international community it was possible to legitimize crime and to use the system of governance to legitimize crimes."
Under the theme: "Understanding the Conflict Through its Principal Events and Actors," the ongoing hearings are addressing the root causes of the conflict, including its military and political dimensions.
The hearings are focused on events between 1979 and 2003 and the national and external actors that helped to shape those events.
The TRC was agreed upon in the August 2003 peace agreement and created by the TRC Act of 2005. The TRC was established to "promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation," and at the same time make it possible to hold perpetrators accountable for gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law that occurred in Liberia between January 1979 and October 2003.
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I stronly agree with Kofi on the issue. Liberia has failed to offer something of value to its subjects in return for their loyalty regarless of which political party in power. The leadership in Liberia in the past and now are all greedy and selfish. I call them recircle politicians or political postitutes.
However, in my opinion, the key should be re-conceptualized as Kofi rightly stated. There should be efforts to conceptualize the history and structure of Liberia but I don't know if dismantling the state could be the right way to start the process. What I do believe is that post-conflict elections do not necessarily lead to democratic rule (eg. Charles Taylor regimme) but seeking the interest of the people first should be the top priority of any government.
Chairman Mao once said,"every revolution consumes its makers". Truly this statement has come to fruition in Liberia. They are now ready to destroy themselves,( the so- called progressive forces of Liberia),after destroying every good thing there was and killing thousands of their fellow citizens through utopia politicing, and having acended to power without any means to govern properly, one of their diciples, Kofi Woods, the minister of Labour, who had failed to properly govern a small institution, has now come with a new theory to dismantle the nation, Liberia.What a shame and disgrace to the Ellen and her cronies. To dismantle Liberia for and to whom,Mr. Woods? Mr. Woods, the best you could do for yourself is to resign from the failed policy of your master. Mr. Woods, well meaning Liberians are reading your ambitious plan and goal, the presidency. This can no longer be achieved through rhetorical means but positive-pratical ideas instituted before hand.
It is quite a disgraced that one of President Sirleaf's cabinet members is calling the state of Liberia a failed state. He also called for the dismantling of the Liberian Senate. While many Liberians will not agree with his characterization of Liberia present status, he thus striked an important point that need to be considered. The present Liberian House of Parliament is a disgrace to any modern democratic state. Law makers who are at odds with one other for greed of power, corruption, gossips, etc can call themselves representatives of the people of Liberia. The legislative branch of government has failed liberia, while ministers and head of public corporations squander whatever help coming from abroad to help rebuild Liberia. What a shame this is to ordinary Liberians who can not even afford a cup of rice under the present prevailing conditions in the country. Recent audits by the Audit Commission is revealing disturbing findings of public funds intended for the development of the country been squandered by public officials at the detriment of ordinary Liberians. There's no government official including the president and close confidants that is not misusing public funds. Tell them Minster Woods. Let them know that issues that led to the crisis that engulfed the country with 14-16 years of Civil War are currently be perpetrated by those governing. Beaware that the Liberia might not result to wagging another war, but they can mobilize to unseat you corrupt leaders. Liberians, wake-up from your slumbers of ignorance and hold your government accountable.
Liberia is a state, failed or nay; a soupist state that has failed to constitute its captured sub-altern population into a NATION.
Regards.
Mr.Woods is correct to say Liberia is a caricature State.IT has never been a genuine nation-state.The reason is that it did not enter into a legitimate social contract with the people it claimed to govern.In order to govern, a state must enter into a social contract with the governed and obtain their consent explicitly for government. It must also keep its side of the contract by meeting the security needs of the governed in exchange of their loyalty, according to John Locke's Social Contract theory.When the freed American slaves came to this part of West Africa,they lived in the Hobbesian "state of nature", fighting constant wars with native inhabitants. They excluded the natives from the social contract the was suppose to govern the nation-state. They formulated pseudolaws to protect only their interest.Through out its entire existence, the Liberian nation-state has been in a state of nature with each group seeking to protect its own interest. There was no general will.There was nothing to bind us together as a nation of peoples such as a common language or a shared value.This continue into the April 12 fiasco and on to the national suicide called civil war.Can one Liberian point out the real reason for the slaughter of 250,000 people? was the war fought for an ideology,a religious difference? No.It was a scramble for greed and self interest,hence a life in a state of nature.I agree that in order to form a genuine state, Liberians need to dismantle the old false state and enter into a new Social Contract. Our constitution, a document of our social contract,does not represent the liberian socio-political need and reality and our economic interest. It is just a plaigerized copy of the American contract.The flag,the symbol that is suppose to represent our national ideas,is a shame. And our national motto only brought a group of foreign invaders upon our soil in search of their personal interest.We need a complete rebirth!
SLAM DUNK: Under my theory of soupism, Liberia is not a nation, and never has been. Au contraire, it is a territory that is occupied by soupist fake 'political parties,' soupist parties determined by one and only one policy; loot the treasury, and shop and invest in the West, and other silly phenomena!
The same holds for all West African occupied territories. Soupist to the core and beyond, these territories are really for grabs, the silly, imported and flimsy bourgeois rhetoric of "rights" notwithstanding.
Cheers from zone anti-soupist.
Once again, it took Mr. Woods to say, in simple terms, what no one has been able to say. I would take his statement farther to include the entire continent of Africa. Alcoholics do it, so do drug addicts, pedophiles and any other petty criminals and obsessive gamblers willing to start anew: the road to self renewal is to first honestly recognize one's current position and those decisions, along the way, that got one in that position. Even those of us who have dabble in and out church know, that the road to Salvation is the confession of one's sins. So why do we Liberians think that by ignoring our past and recycling those individuals back and into key political and economic positions is somehow starting anew is beyond me. Any novice architect will tell you that you cannot build a new house upon the rubbles of an old one and expect the new one to be sturdy. Self-assessment is very difficult, especially when the image in the mirror is not pleasing to eyes. But this generation and the one after it must honestly critique themselves because the lives and well being of future generations depend on it. We must not attempt to move a foot forward unless we genuinely confront our ugly past.