President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has told the Liberian people and the international community at every given opportunity that Liberia is facing enormous challenges but that her administration is fighting tooth and nail to rebuild the country with the assistance of foreign economic partners and friendly governments.

She blamed the lack of liquid resources and an inherited dysfunctional economy for the headaches. But the leader of the opposition Liberty Party, Charles Walter Brumskine, says these are not all to Liberia's trouble. In his view, Liberia's undoing is that an "imperial presidency, with no vision, is running the nation aground. "Who is telling the truth?" is the question analysts are asking. - The Analyst Staff Writer reports.

Opposition Liberty Party (LP) leader, Charles W. Brumskine, says the Sirleaf Administration does not only lack vision but that it has adopted a imperial presidency thereby threatening Liberia's progress and political transition in 2011.

He is therefore calling on "real" opposition political parties in the country to harness their political strategies and leadership skills in order to win the presidency; and for the first time since 1878, change head of government from one party to another without violence.

Expectation: Lack of Vision, Imperial Presidency

He said the Sirleaf administration came to power promising to be a trailblazer government, but that four years on, it was clear that it has betrayed the people's hope.

"We had all hoped that this government would have been our real transition government, one that would take our country from poor governance to good governance, from a culture of impunity to accountability, from corruption to honesty in government, from abuse of the rights of people to upholding the rule of law. But that is not the case!" Brumskine said last Saturday when he served as keynote speaker of the Margibi County Convention of the National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL).

The case, he said, was that the government has no vision for leading Liberia into the 21st Century, adding that that was why after four years in power, the average Liberian still could not "afford food to eat". He said the government was preaching poverty reduction, but that it failed to provide the enabling environment for Liberian entrepreneurs and job-seekers to join hands with foreign businesses to exploit the nation's mineral and forest resources so as to benefit the communities where the resources were located.

He said Liberians saw where this kind of offhandedness led the nation in the past and that therefore a visionary government should do everything possible not to go down the same route. "Yes, we need foreigners to invest in our country, but we also need to make sure that Liberians benefit from foreign investments and that the people receive their fair share of the returns from the exploitation of Liberia's natural resources. Poverty reduction in the midst of rampant corruption is impossible," he said.

He accused President Sirleaf of personally stabbing poverty reduction in the back by seeking "to destroy Liberianization" through the submission a bill to the Legislature to repeal the Liberianization Act. The repeal of the Act, he said, would expose to and put Liberian petty business owners in direct competition with foreign business people in the sale of ice cubes and cold water, all in the name of free enterprise system.

"The President is saying that Liberians should not be protected in their business dealings in their own country," he said, noting that that was unlike the US where the government protects domestic businesses against foreign competition through huge capital infusion. Instead of seeking to destroy Liberianization in order to establish free enterprise system, he said, the administration should have sought to enable Liberians to get into trade and commerce by establishing a credit guarantee loan system, whereby commercial banks could easily lend funds to small and medium-size Liberian businesses.

He said with 60 to 70% of Liberians making their living off of subsistence farming, the government should have considered ways to improve agriculture in order to provide substantial boost to the economy and help reduce poverty, but that it chose to do nothing.

Another area where the government was underperforming but claiming success, he said, was education.

"The President travels abroad, informing the world of free and compulsory education in Liberia...the true story is that parents still cannot afford to send their children to school, and those children who are fortunate to find their way into schools, are without adequate education facilities.

"The President's lack of vision for our country is taking us backward in a dangerous and reckless way. It has been four years since the Presidential and Legislative elections that brought this government to power, but the government has failed, refused, and neglected to hold municipal elections," he said.

The LP chairman emeritus did not say what connection was there between improved standard of living and municipal elections but he noted that about 70% of rural Liberians have been denied the right to elect their own leaders - clan and paramount chiefs - even as President Sirleaf sought and obtained the right to appoint city mayors. Without providing any link between lack of vision and impropriety in public service also, Mr. Brumskine said the true story of Liberia's backwardness was that "corruption in government was worse today than it has ever been".

"This government is characterized by any and every form of corruption. The culture of impunity is sanctioned and the imperial presidency is alive and well," he said, according to analysts, adding a third fundamental dimension to the leadership question.

He said the evidence of President Sirleaf endowing herself with the powers of an imperial president could clearly be seen in the manner in which she has been sidestepping the Supreme Court's opinion regarding the appointment of city mayors.

"Even after the Supreme Court granted the President the authority to appoint City Mayors, requiring that her nominees are confirmed by the Liberian Senate, the President feels too big to submit her nominees to the Senate for confirmation. Submitting to the rule of law would diminish the imperial presidency. So the President, without any authority under the law, appoints 'Acting City Mayors' and tells them to do what she wants them to do, the unconstitutionality of her action notwithstanding," he claimed.

He said instead of listening to the cry of the people and making adjustments, government spokespersons were pointing to precedence set in Liberia's dark political past and claiming that the nation was better off now than then.

"But even if that were correct, one would be constrained to ask the President and her people, why was war brought to our country? Why were 10% of our population killed and our nation destroyed during the war years? Why were Presidents Tolbert and Doe killed? Why did the President and her government endorse the sending of President Taylor to the Special War Crime Court? Our government cannot repeat the ills of the past, condemn past governments, and pretend to be different," he said.

UP Winning Plan and Opposition Counter Strategies

The LP founder who said he agreed to address the NDPL convention because it was in line with their 'mutual desire to change the course of our nation' praised the party for being a 'trailblazer' - first to win a popular election in 1985 and first to invite a political leader outside its rank and file to address its convention. With such enviable record, he said, the NDPL and other well-meaning opposition political institutions that have not yet been wooed over by the ruling Unity Party (UP) have the obligation to the people of Liberia to harness their resources, energies, and skills to wrest the presidency from UP at the 2011 polls.

This coming together as one opposition force, he revealed, was necessary because UP was planning to retain the presidency comes 2011 even though it was cognizant of its dismal economic and political performance. He said UP's confidence of retaining the presidency comes 2011 was based on its 5-prong theory of electioneering in Liberia. First, he said, the party Was confident that it would be returned to power because there would be no coordinated opposition to its campaign and concrete contradiction of its policy goals.

Second, he said, the party has put together pro-government opposition political parties in order to frustrate the campaign efforts of "real opposition political parties". And third, that LP was ensuring that there would be no free, fair, and transparent elections by refusing to cooperate for the restructuring of the National Elections Commissions (NEC).

The fourth and fifth theories, he said, were the party's belief that voters can be bribed and that the international community can be misled through massive public relations efforts into believing that the government's performance is in line with expectation. But he said the opposite could contradict each and every one of those theories if it came together with one purpose: to win and rebuild the country.

"The challenges of opposition political parties are, therefore, to come together, keep the government in check, serve as an alternative voice for the people, engage the international community, especially members of ECOWAS, create an enabling environment that would help us develop simple, unambiguous, and transparent rules for conducting elections in Liberia, ensuring a democratic and peaceful transition of power from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to our Liberia's next President," he said.

He said even though the coalition and solidarity he was seeking were aimed at unseating the President at the polls, capturing political power should not be the sole, end-in-itself reason for coming together.

"We must come together not because President Sirleaf is the worse President Liberia could have at this time, because we all know that the 2005 elections could have produced a much worse President. We must come together because we believe that together we can do better. The opposition cannot afford to behave as badly as the Sirleaf's government, and expect the people to agree that we are a better alternative," he warned.

For example, he said, opposition political parties could not continue to select candidates for elective offices in smoke-filled back rooms, without the participation of partisans, and complain about President Sirleaf unilaterally appointing government officials to positions that should be filled by the vote of the people or not holding elections at all.

"Whoever an opposition political party or a group of political parties put forth as a candidate for an elective office should have been elected by the voters of their respective parties, and not selected by the hierarchy of a political party," he said, prompting observers to wonder what, under Brumskine's new doctrine of partisan leadership decision-making, should happen to the presidency obsession of party "founders" and "chairpersons for life" who are also chief patrons and financiers in most political parties.

While that question simmers - as does the question regarding who is telling the truth between President Sirleaf and Mr. Brumskine regarding conditions in Liberia - the LP chairman said the opposition stood ready to make history.

"With 2011 in sight, we must resolve to make history by doing something that has not been done since 1944--honorably retire a Liberian President in a constitutional setting. But more so, Liberians must cause national leadership to change hands from one political party to another without violence, which has not been done since 1878, when Anthony W. Gardiner of the True Whig Party succeeded James Spring Payne of the Republican Party, as President of Liberia," he said.

Full text of a speech by Charles Walker Brumskine, Political Leader, and Liberty Party on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at the convention of the National Democratic Party of Liberia.

Mr. Chairman and National Officials of the NDPL

Officials of the Margibi Branch of NDPL

Honorable Guests, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

Fellow Liberians

Thank you for the honor bestow upon my party, the Liberty Party, and me by inviting me to serve as the keynote speaker at your Party's County Convention. My presence here today evidences not only the relationship between two political institutions, but also a mutual desire to change the course of our nation. Your party is the trailblazer of our time--the first, under our new dispensation, to win political power in our country, as the result of democratic, popular elections; now the first to invite the leader of another major opposition political party to serve as the keynote speaker at your Convention. My friends, we look forward to working with you in the years ahead, for as it is said in the part of our country from where I hail, "To plat a new mat, you must sit on the old mat." I thank NDPL for leading the way, as we together mull the state of our nation, the challenges that lie ahead, and the urgent need for political cooperation in the interest of our people and our country.

We had all hoped that this government would have been our real transition government, one that would take our country from poor governance to good governance, from a culture of impunity to accountability, from corruption to honesty in government, from abuse of the rights of people to upholding the rule of law. But that is not the case! The truth is that this government has no vision for leading our country into the Twenty-First Century, and that is why after four years in power, the average Liberian still cannot afford food to eat. The true story is, today, eight Liberians out of every ten still cannot find one dollar ($1.00) to live every day. The true story is that corruption in government is worse today than it has ever been. This government is characterized by any and every form of corruption. The culture of impunity is sanctioned and the imperial presidency is alive and well.

Most Liberians must find work and make our living by doing "one-two one two." Even those Liberians who have jobs are finding it difficult to make ends meet with their pay check. We cannot join hands with foreign businesses to exploit our iron ore, our forest, our land, and our diamond and gold resources, which provide very little benefit to the communities where the resources are located. We did this in the past, we must learn from our mistakes as we negotiate new contracts and mineral development agreements. Yes, we need foreigners to invest in our country, but we also need to make sure that Liberians benefit from foreign investments and that the people receive their fair share of the returns from the exploitation of Liberia's natural resources.

When the Sirleaf Government first talked about poverty reduction many thought the government meant that the lot of the average Liberian would have improved over the last three years. But now we know that the only people whose poverty is being reduced are those "big shots" in government who are stealing all the money that could have been used to help reduce the poverty of poor Liberians. Now everyone understands what we have said all along that poverty reduction in the midst of rampant corruption is impossible.

The President and her government talk of poverty reduction on the one hand, while the President seeks to destroy Liberianization, on the other hand, submitting a bill to the Legislature to repeal the Liberianization Act. The President is saying that Liberians should not be protected in their business dealings in their own country. In the great United States of America, the largest economy in the world, the showcase of free enterprise, the government infused about a trillion dollars into their economy, protecting their financial institutions and their people against the effects of the global economic downturn. But in Liberia, our President and her government would have the Liberian petit traders fight with foreign business people to sell ice cubes and cold water in the name of free enterprise.

Liberians need to get into trade and commerce in our country, but the President and government has failed to establish a credit guarantee loan system, whereby commercial banks can easily lend funds to small and medium- size Liberian businesses. 60 to 70% of Liberians are subsistence farmers. Yet after four years in power President Sirleaf and her government has yet to develop agriculture program that would help the people make the transition into the monetary sector of the economy. The President travels abroad, informing the world of free and compulsory education in Liberia. While back in Liberia, the true story is that parents still cannot afford to send their children to school, and those children who are fortunate to find their way into schools, are without adequate education facilities.

The President's lack of vision for our country is taking us backward in a dangerous and reckless way. It has been four years since the Presidential and Legislative elections that brought this government to power, but the government has failed, refused, and neglected to hold municipal elections. About 70% of our fellow citizens, who live under customary law, have been denied the right to elect the leaders who would serve their interest--paramount and clan chiefs. But even worse, the President has sought the legal authority, unlike any other president in the history of our country, to appoint city mayors.

Even after the Supreme Court granted the President the authority to appoint City Mayors, requiring that her nominees are confirmed by the Liberian Senate, the President feels too big to submit her nominees to the Senate for confirmation. Submitting to the rule of law would diminish the imperial presidency. So the President, without any authority under the law, appoints "Acting City Mayors" and tells them to do what she wants them to do, the unconstitutionality of her action notwithstanding. The President, her surrogates and spokespersons justify the President's behavior by alleging that the same undemocratic and ill practices obtained in the past. But even if that were correct, one would be constrained to ask the President and her people, why was war brought to our country? Why were 10% of our population killed and our nation destroyed during the war years? Why were Presidents Tolbert and Doe killed? Why did the President and her government endorse the sending of President Taylor to the Special War Crime Court? Our government cannot repeat the ills of the past, condemn past governments, and pretend to be different.

But against this background, the dismal performance of this government, the president and her people say they will win and they must win elections in Liberia. They are not stupid, they know better, they know that they are not doing well in the administering the affairs of our nation. They may be too far removed from reality to understand the suffering of the Liberian people, but they are quite aware that the vast majority of Liberians are fed up with them. So why are they still talking about winning elections in Liberia? They have a five-prong theory in support of their claim:

The government is aware that opposition political parties in Liberia hardly ever come together, and when they do, the relationship never lasts.

The government puts together a coalition of pro-government "opposition political parties" for the purpose of obstructing the effort of real opposition political parties, as they sing praises to the government and the ruling party.

The government refuses to cooperate with opposition political parties in the restructuring of the National Elections Commission, ensuring that elections in Liberia are not free, fair, and transparent.

The government believes that the voters can be bribed with the spoil of the ruling party's loot that they have accumulated since they came to power.

The government spends sufficient of the Liberian people money on international public relations in an attempt to disguise the facts of things on the ground--corruption subsisting in a culture of impunity, the absence of good governance, with the return of the imperial presidency, among others.

The challenges of opposition political parties are, therefore, to come together, keep the government in check, serve as an alternative voice for the people, engage the international community, especially members of ECOWAS, create an enabling environment that would help us develop simple, unambiguous, and transparent rules for conducting elections in Liberia, ensuring a democratic and peaceful transition of power from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to our Liberia's next President. But we must come together not simply to oppose President Sirleaf and her government, or because there are individuals in our respective parties that desire to occupy the seat that she now holds, their qualification and preparedness notwithstanding. We must come together not because President Sirleaf is the worse President Liberia could have at this time, because we all know that the 2005 elections could have produced a much worse President. We must come together because we believe that together we can do better. The opposition cannot afford to behave as badly as the Sirleaf's government, and expect the people to agree that we are a better alternative.

For example, we cannot select our candidates for elective offices in smoke-filled back rooms, without the participation of our partisans, and complain about President Sirleaf unilaterally appointing government officials to positions that should be filled by the vote of the people or not holding elections at all. Whoever an opposition political party or a group of political parties put forth as a candidate for an elective office should have been elected by the voters of their respective parties, and not selected by the hierarchy of a political party. With 2011 in sight, we must resolve to make history by doing something that has not been done since 1944--honorably retire a Liberian President in a constitutional setting. But more so, Liberians must cause national leadership to change hands from one political party to another without violence, which has not been done since 1878, when Anthony W. Gardiner of the True Whig Party succeeded James Spring Payne of the Republican Party, as President of Liberia.

My friends, what we advocate for goes beyond who is president or who gets any other job in government. We are fighting for a new and better Liberia. A Liberia where all of us, regardless of our tribes, what part of the country we are from, our religious beliefs, our ages, whether a man or woman, or what political party one belongs to, can live in peace, as we strive to make a living, and have the same rights before the law, as we pursue our individual happiness. This is bigger than you; it is bigger than me. It is a fight that cannot be won by a few. We must do it together, as I assure you that together we can do better!

May God save the people and bless our nation! THANK YOU.