New Democrat (Monrovia)
Tom Kamara
23 October 2009
column
When an excited President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Tuesday stood shoulder to shoulder with her candidate, Clemenceau Urey, and declared that he was entering the race with resources, therefore with victory awaiting them, all before well-mobilized crowds that reminded one of the Soviet era state mobilization crusades, the message was evident: With power and money, all is possible in politics, regardless.
But if the launching of the campaign seemed an odd place for the candidate's political education, President Sirleaf did not think so when she instructed him:
"You have to be a servant of the people. You have to be trustworthy. You have to be committed. You have to be open to the people so that anytime some body comes to your office and say I want to see my Senator; we want that door to be opened to them. Doing so we will be able to support you, to encourage you in whatever you do. That's your charge "
Were the above qualities not considered before the candidate's nomination? It seems that the opposite is the case: Get there and see what you can do for hose who voted for you "
Many of the dancing and singing zealots, enticed with free drinks and T-shirts, in the crowd at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium hardly know the name Clemenceau Urey, for he has not been in the public domain, except during the 2005 elections when he made a failed bid for the Montserrado County senatorial seat. He is known as aloft and obscure man, reasons perhaps why the President read her scripts to as to what do if and when he wins. Being inward is not a vice once one opts for non-political, non-public service that demands no hobnobbing and robbing shoulders with members of the underclass, if not for anything but their endorsement needed for political power.
But now with the President on his side, urging him to be a man of the people if and when he gets the job, Mr. Urey was assured of crowds money could buy. Chaos broke out as people scrambled over drinks produced on his brother's, former Maritime Commissioner Benoni Urey's farm. Reports say market women, the Unity Party's claimed partisans, were herded to the launching of the Urey campaign, with some told by their leaders that they would not be allowed to sell if they failed to attend the party campaign launching for Mr. Urey. Indeed. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
All this reminded one of the now hated communist era, when the state, through its monopoly and control of resources, could boast of putting millions of people in the streets in hours as show of the leaders' popularity. Workers from factories, students, and all workers in countries in which the state was the paramount employer were commanded to attend rallies for the state. Now, in quasi democracies, the game is the same, although subtlety played.
But Mr. Urey was honest in his assessment when he said he was "blessed" to be with the President before the multitude, for without her and the state machine she commands, he would have stood there, probably alone. He said:
"When I look at myself today and I consider my life, people who know me and know my family know that I am blessed, that I came from nowhere and that I reached here today standing before the President of Liberia, other distinguished guests. All of you have come from all over Montserrado County to support me to be senator of Montserrado County "
The President's announced arsenal for the race-resources-require scrutiny within a democratic arena, for it is this arsenal that has made elections on the continent what they are-conflict ridden. From Kenya to Gabon, Niger to Zimbabwe, this arsenal has disfigured the democratic landscape, with incumbents, not making a difference between their personal resources and state assets thrown into campaigns, digging in until hell breaks lose.
It is this arsenal, as the President has made so clear, that has shot many members of opposition parties lacking the resources until they, too, get into power, jump in bed with the Unity Party, now commanding the resources, at least for now.
All this is disappointing, for had the President stood before the crowd to enumerate the virtues of her candidate and the programs he has for the electorate, she would have won some converts believing in service and the records of those who throw themselves forth for public service and therefore scrutiny. This is not the case here. That he is entering the race with resources is, and this leads to another question: resources for what and for whom? It implies that resources are the determinants for choosing public servants, regardless of the quality of these servants. Thus Al Capone, with resources acquired from drugs and killings, or crooked politicians, with resources acquired from plundering the public coffers as we have seen here so clearly, are better public servants than those lacking resources but armed with ideas and integrity. We see here the mindset that drove the war and dictated the politics from December 1989 to 2003 at work, with no intent to alter and they're with all the likelihood of falling in the same dungeon. If one commands resources by looting public property, as the warlords and their lieutenants did, those resources are legitimate arsenal for political campaigns. This represents a total rebuke of integrity and morality in politics and public service, values that determine the quality of a government or a leader.
"We have the money, so we will win", is the message the President is circulating for her candidate, not, "We want men and women of courage and character, of ideas and innovation, people who must depart from the ugly past and embrace a brand new future in which service to society and community are the key determinants to leadership." Visionaries and idealists change the world, not people who hate change and oppose new ideas, all tied up in their time capsule and relaying on money as an arsenal against all things.
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