Justice is the only option for Peace. Peace is not the absence of violence. Peace is the presence of Justice. Violence is not an option. If violence were an option for Peace, then the people of Liberia would not have experienced coup d'etat and civil war. It is due to this experience that the people of Liberia continue to say: We want Peace! No more war! It is on account of this experience that the people of Liberia declare: Liberia is headed in the wrong direction (Afrobarometer, 2020).
Liberia just finished with the October 10, 2023 General and Presidential Election. Liberia is now preparing to go into the second round of the October 10th Election. National leaders continue to call for Peace when Peace is not the absence of violence and violence continues. Action to stop and prevent violence is taking place by the action of only the people who love Liberia and this action explains the reality of the relative calm being experienced, especially during the October 10th Election. Ironically, some political leaders continue to call for one round victory and promote violence while issuing statements condemning violence. Witness this irony with the the rock-throwing, the verbal attacks, the disappearances, the injuries, the murders and the mock burial after the signing of the Farmington Declaration against violence by twenty six political parties.
The continuous awareness raising is working well. Witness the results of the October 10th Election as announced by the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia. Most of the National Legislators of the 52nd and 53rd National Legislatures who ran for re-election were not re-elected. My Commentaries brought out this fact and predicted that the same fate would befall Legislators of the 54th Legislature. My prediction came true as seen in the results announced by NEC, with 99.9 % of the votes counted, although the final announcement by NEC has not been made yet. My prediction is that more Legislators from the 54th Legislature will not be re-elected. The voters are saying that they elected them but when they got in the Legislature they followed their ((Legislators) own interest instead of the interests of the voters. The information about the action of the Legislators formed the main part of the awareness raising. It is this awareness raising that will get persons with good records elected from the October 10th Election and the elections ahead.
Looking at the Election, we can see prevailing that there is the Rule of Outlaw, instead of the Rule of Law, with top government officials under sanction being elected in the October 10th Election. This Election shows complete disregard for the Magnitsky Act of the United States of America (USA). This Act indicates that the USA government will not give money to any entity that promotes the election of any person under sanction. However, the powers that be in Liberia continue to promote the election of persons under sanction. There is irony here because in the midst of corruption, the powers that be promote the election of government officials under sanction, not forgetting that the government of Liberia is out there with hat-in-hand for money, including budgetary support, from donors, principally the USA, having the number one economy in the world.
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As Liberia goes into the second round of the October 10th Election, what can be done to move Liberia from the wrong direction to the right direction? This move will happen as the people who love Liberia continue to work together to raise awareness to motivate the people to take action, through the Rule of Law, to transform the prevailing unfair electoral system to the enduring fair electoral system. It is through this transformation that persons with good records can get elected to bring Justice, the Only Option for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other Country.
