Until Charles Taylor shattered the euphoria of Christmas Day 1989, ushered in a bush war that lasted more than a decade, and exposed Liberia internal contradictions, Liberia was presumed the “peace oasis on the West Coast of Africa”. Since that war ended, Liberians have been toying with the idea of turning a new page, of winning back the title it never earned.  But no treatment is guaranteed success unless the illness is correctly diagnosed. So, what went wrong? Monsignor Fr. Robert Tikpor of the Catholic Church in Liberia thinks he has the answer and he is challenging the government of Liberia and Liberian scholars. The Analyst sums up his 2010 Independence Day Oration.

 Fr. Robert Tikpor has emphasized the importance of unity in building a stronger Liberia, but first he said Liberian scholars and policymakers needed to commit to restoring the missing links and holding the bulls of ethnicity and sectionalism by the horns.

Sirleaf with Independence Day Orator Father Tikpor. (Photo Courtesy New Democrat)

The outspoken Catholic prelate made the observations when he delivered this year’s Independence Day oration, yesterday, at the Sanniquellie City Hall in Nimba County amidst running applause and approval. He spoke on the theme: ‘In National Unity, We Will Stand.’

“From the very foundation of this nation in 1847 to this day, July 26, 2010, Liberia has been beset with a few but, absolutely indispensable missing links,” said the prelate who, for several decades, has been speaking out against injustice in the Liberian society.

Fr. Tikpoh, who made his audience laughed when he said he was not sure if Liberia was any more a ‘glorious land of liberty’ as its citizens claim, noted that the missing links in Liberia’s quest for unity were the bonds of blood, of one language, and of one faith.

While the bonds of blood and language were achieved to some level and needed improvement by persistent national efforts to unite, he said, it was not necessary that the nation pursued the bond of faith as it was unlikely to work, having failed in other parts of the world.

But he said that did not mean that the nation could not fashion its brand of faith that could move every Liberian to build a spirit of patriotism equal to the force of common defense that forced the Founding Fathers to remain resolute in their desire for freedom and unity.

He was however quick to point out that fashioning a new faith was like ‘turning a new page’ and that both required conscious national efforts and recommitment.

Such national efforts and recommitment, he said, would require removing what he called the ‘debilitating factors’, which were likely to hinder their achievement.

He described the ‘debilitating factors’ as “insidious poverty”, which is promoted by selfishness, greed, and unceasing corruption in high places, and the “dwindling away of our natural resources”, which he blamed on the failure of the Tubmanist “Open Door Policy”.

The third debilitating factor, according to the Catholic priest, is sectionalism, which according to him forms the basis of Liberia’s political rivalry, class feuds, and so-called religious conflicts that he believed scarcely existed, if there was any such thing at all.

“Sectionalism could still be among us in disguise. Until we can weed it out from the soil it could raise its hateful head now and again to divide us and thereby rule us with an iron fist. How can we do this? That is the home-work I give to students of Liberian history, to ponder over until July 26, 2011,” he said.

Amongst what Liberians would do to overcome sectionalism, he said, were putting welfare of nation over personal carvings and wants, forging unity and democracy, and cultivating the spirit of personal integrity ‘as the most urgent human value’.

He said in order for the nation to keep track of the transformation basic to building a stronger, united, vibrant postwar Liberia, the Sirleaf Administration needed to appoint a standing national committee, which would oversee explosive national crisis and crisis formation within society.

“It would carefully examine any ethnic clashes that would tend to suggest that they are religious confrontations,” he said, falling short of saying who would comprise such a committee.

The longtime national critic was quick to point out that the appointing of the committee should not be an end in itself.

Apparently taking cue from hindsight, the Liberian prelate said such committee must have the means to respond quickly and forcefully to national crisis and have the free rein to report its findings to the citizens in the private media.

“It would be dangerous that the findings are not reported in the print or electronic media so that what went wrong in the case of the little eleventh grader, Korpu Kamara’s death, would not be repeated,” he said.