Monrovia — Former Presidential Candidate and economist Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh has cautioned the United States government and the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) against sponsoring and sending international observers to monitor the ensuing presidential and legislative elections in Liberia without taking concrete actions against rampant corruption and pre-election violence that have engulfed the nation.
EISA, is an organization founded in 1996 in Johannesburg to "promote credible elections, participatory democracy, human rights culture and the strengthening of governance institutions for the consolidation of democracy in Africa.
Dr. Tipoteh is the Founder of the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA), a leftist pan-African political organization established in 1973.
According to him, the effect that EISA and the US government are sending to Liberia an International Electoral Mission and 200 persons Electoral Observation Team, respectively for the ensuing elections in Liberia, remain surprising and worrisome.
Dr. Tipoteh maintained that the surprise and worry come from the fact that, likely, the 2023 General and Presidential, supervised by the "corrupt" National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia will be unfair and lead to post-election violence, which, at times, take on the forms of coup d'etat and civil war, as experienced in Liberia.
His assertions were contained in separate statements released in Monrovia over the week end.
He recalled that already, Liberia remains the holder of the Guinness World Record for fraudulent elections, recorded in the election of 1928, when about there were 15,000 registered voters for Monrovia, but the record shows that 243,000 persons voted.
He stressed that these Electoral Missions to Liberia are coming to again observe a fraudulent and unfair election if corrective measures are not taken in a timely manner.
"Why would these Missions come to Liberia to observe the election when the likelihood of an UNFAIR election calls for correction rather than observation? These Missions are coming to Liberia at a time of many pre-election violent situations, many of which were reported by the government of the USA Department of State Human Rights Report."
Dr. Tipoteh named the case of the murder of the Daughter of former Chief Justice and NEC Chairperson Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott, the killings of fraud investigators in Monrovia, and the ritualistic killing of a two-year-old child in Bong County as some of the pre-election violence in the post-conflict nation.
He added that while Liberians are eagerly awaiting the outcome of investigations into these cases, the EISA and USA have resolved to send observers to monitor the elections without correcting the wrongs.
No fair election in the midst of corruption
Dr. Tipoteh noted that the surprise and worry are forthcoming when the Chief Sender of the Missions, the USA government, placed sanctions, due to corruption, on top Liberian government officials, realizing that it is impossible to have fair elections when there is prevailing corruption.
He said with the resignations of these officials and their political pre-election campaigning, it is highly unlikely that the 2023 election will be fair.
Focus on correction
"With the sanctioning, one would expect that these Missions would be focused on correction rather than observation. This expectation means that the Missions would be to take action to correct the bad situation rather than observe the bad situation. But these Missions coming to Liberia are for observation and not for correction."
Dr. Tipoteh emphasized that the coming to Liberia of these international election observers is not helpful in the struggle of the people of Liberia to prevent post-election violence.
He maintained that this "unhelpful situation means that the people who love Liberia have to continue to raise awareness through the rule of law to motivate the people of Liberia to take action to change the unfair electoral system into the fair electoral system."
He said it is only through this change that persons with good records will get elected to bring in the system of justice, which is "the indispensable ingredient for peace and progress in Liberia and in any other country."
Speak the truth
Dr. Tipoteh observed that the main work for any person who loves Liberia to do is to save Liberia by saving the lives of its citizens.
He added that the best way to do this is to speak the truth in ways that the People of Liberia can understand.
Dr. Tipoteh, however, attributed the prolong civil war fought in Liberia to the failure of those in power to speak the truth.
"Sometimes, speaking the Truth is considered as politicizing or engaging in scare tactics. But we know that Truth-telling is not politicizing or engaging in scare tactics because the failure of the powers that be to follow the Truth led to the coup d'etat and the civil war in Liberia that took the lives of over 300,000 people and injured many more people. So, the Truth must be told to Save Lives."
Dr. Tipoteh maintained that the 2023 elections will not be fair, while post-election violence is highly likely to take place.
He singled out the National Elections Commission (NEC) and the Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) as key stakeholders that would hinder the process.
Dr. Tipoteh stressed that without correct census taking; there cannot be fair election, because fair election depends on correct census taking.
He added that the current Population and Housing Census, which should have been started on October 24, 2022, but took place during November 11-22, 2022, is not correct because of several reasons.
He named the lack of training of many enumerators; enumerators scheduled for training did not know where training centers were located and enumerators scheduled for training paid their way to unknown training centers, only to be found at non-training places, without any refunding and lodging facilities as factors which render the outcome of the census inaccurate.
Dr. Tipoteh furthered that corruption allegations on the top three heads of LISGIS remained uninvestigated, while the United Nations Population Fund Agency (UNFPA), the main foreign partner/supporter of LISGIS, supports the announcement of the completion of the incorrect census that says: the population of Liberia has increased by 1.7 million people during the past 14 years, while the largest financier of UNFPA has placed sanctions on the government of Liberia, which includes LISGIS, because of corruption.
Crucially, he noted, that the United Nations Resident Represent Niels Scott, on behalf of International Partners, wrote to President George Manneh Weah in July 2022, indicating that the Population and Housing Census scheduled to be held in October 2022 must not be postponed for the census to be credible.
Dr. Tipoteh recalled that additionally, the partners made it clear to the Liberian Leader that the country would lose at least US$8.8 million if the census were to be postponed.
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"Therefore, it comes as a surprise that the same partners have endorsed the findings of the census that was conducted after October 2022, not forgetting that the Constitution of Liberia mandates the government of Liberia to conduct a Population and Housing Census every ten years. The last Census was held in 2008, 14 years before 2022."
Corrupt NEC
Dr. Tipoteh stated that the Government of Liberia has declared NEC to be corrupt, as heard in the statements made at the termination of the services of top LISGIS officials and at the 8th Edition of the Faith and Justice Network Intellectual Forum in Memory of Arch-Bishop Michael Francis respectively.
He felt short to state the names of particular government officials who accused the government of being corrupt.
According to him, the termination of the services of the top officials of LISGIS took place while the Head of LISGIS was on sick leave of absence.
Dr. Tipoteh maintained that the Head of LISGIS and his Deputies are also faced with corruption charges, while Liberians are awaiting the relevant Due Process in keeping with the rule of law.
"It is very difficult to expect that the government would push for Due Process of Law in view of the many cases of alleged killings and disappearances that have not been subjected to any Due Process. However, the only way for Due Process to take place is for the people who love Liberia to continue to work together to raise awareness to get the UNFAIR electoral system changed into the FAIR electoral system, through the Rule of Law, so that persons with good records can get elected to bring in Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and any other Country."
