CHALLENGE BEFORE ELLEN JOHNSON-SIRLEAF

Jan 24, 2006 (Daily Independent)

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf would need to win the confidence of the international community for her country and its economy. That confidence is necessary for the attraction of foreign investors and foreign capital into Liberia. Considering the fact that almost all economies are falling over themselves to attract foreign capital, the tasks before Johnson-Sirleaf in this wise are legion. A corollary to that is the need to open the economy to hallowed principles of free and fair competition. We are not by any means pushing her to embrace unbridled open door standards that the Breton Woods institutions and westerners would readily foist on her. But she must eliminate monopolies and steer her government away from economic distress. Instead, she must pursue policies that will empower the private sector. Liberians of means, whether at home or in the Diaspora should be encouraged to invest their monies in Liberia. The economy must be freed and opened up to equitable competition. She must endeavour to prevent the slip ping of the economy to a few people or a particular class of the people. She must find work for the army of youths that are roaming the country.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf must hasten the building of essential infrastructure. Liberia is literally the darkest country in the universe. With no electricity, the industrial sector would be strayed. The nonexistence of roads would make the job of reaching Liberians outside Monrovia and taking her policies to the nooks and corners of Liberia most difficult. The long war years have exposed Liberia to severe health problems. The health sector will therefore pose a monumental challenge for her.

We would also add at this juncture that the problems of Liberia go beyond economics. Relevant issues in this respect include the need to stem the divide between the indigenous nations and the Americo-Liberians. Liberia cannot afford to return to the old politics of divide and rule. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf should realise that her mission is to pilot a salvaged ship and as such would require all hands on deck to return it to safe waters. If the runoff elections were anything to go by, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf would have to make conciliation a top priority. The runoff brought to the fore the polarised nature of the country. Whereas she got her strength from the Americo-Liberians and the elite class, her opponent derived his steam from the natives, the youths and former rebels. We agree that there cannot be two leaders at once, but we insist that she has the moral and political responsibility to win over her opponents. If the reports are true then it is gratifying to note that she has pledged to work towards reconciliation by bringing her former opponents into a government of national unity. Her undertaking to reach out to them and assure them the country is also theirs is welcome.

The fact that most of the former rebels are uneducated and prone to the manipulations of the clever rogues in the country makes the dangers of leaving them on the other side of divide most obvious. Most youths in Liberia had lived by the gun all their lives. Leaving them to the elements has the possibility of having some of them to recede to their old ways. Adopting their leaders into the mainstream power structure is one sure way of rehabilitating them.

One major assignment that Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf would need to pass is in the management of the country's foreign relations. She seems too eager to flaunt her romance with America. But we must caution her not to equate her personal history to that of her country. There is the danger of her ignoring who the true friends of Liberia were in those crucial periods of its history. ECOWAS in general and Nigeria in particular stood by Liberia when America and of course other western nations looked the other way. Sierra Leone suffered an eleven-year brutal war as a result of the Liberian war. Nigeria lost human and material capital in Liberia. It was Nigeria that sacrificed her national pride by accepting Charles Taylor to allow for the peace that ushered her into the State House in Liberia. Indeed the entire west coast has never been the same since the start of the Liberian civil war. Our candid advice therefore is for Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to take into account this sorry history of the sub region and accordingly be sensitive and responsive to the interests of the sub region in her foreign and diplomatic business.