Liberia - the Pain Is Profound

opinion

For me, the building of transformational democracy in Liberia has wretchedly failed. There are multiple arguments to support this viewpoint. First, from the very onset of the election that brought President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to state power in 2006, and subsequently in 2012, it was apparent that Liberia was headed down the same old unceasingly failed paths that contributed to the wars that devastated the country for sixteen years. The war left over 350,000 innocent men, women, and children dead. Second, Liberia's much anticipated democratization effort started on a wrong footing-- it was simply a false start that reinforced Liberia's aged-old personality cult fixation.

The personality cult fixation refers to a self-absorbed-type of political leadership that is typical of Liberian politics-- often, the sitting president claims to know it all, rules to the exclusion of everyone else and expects to literally be worshiped. Third, it is now poignantly clear that Liberians guilelessly, if not erroneously assumed that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf would transform Liberia, into a modern democracy. Collectively, we were wrong! Liberia's problems were cavernous--they affected every Liberian political institution. Also, religious institutions, the family unit, and other core societal institutions were stained and remained polluted prior to, and during the warring years. Fourth, and finally, a societal decay of the magnitude such as ours, requires a holistic solution--our professed nascent democracy is deplorably floundering because serious institutional reformation is absent from our democratization equation. As previously stated, Liberia's personality cult admiration is back in vogue and the resulting failures are not difficult to think through.

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