Before the time comes by Dr. Henry B.Fahnbulleh, Jr.
Before the time comes
Full Text Of Dr. Fahnbulleh's Message
The script is obviously not being adhered to and thus the outburst from the Chair person of the National Elections Commission (NEC) that the UN Special Representative is undermining the authority of the Commission. This would have been a laughable jibe if we were not dealing with the destiny of a nation and the future of a people who have suffered immeasurably over the years from the bankruptcy of a political class steeped in cynicism and arrogance.
The National Elections Commission was set up not to conduct an election but to orchestrate a process whereby the anointed one would be declared at the end of an elaborate charade. For this, it needed both the endorsement and financial support of the United Nations. Those appointed to this Commission were either sympathizers of the escapee in Calabar and thus allies of the current executive manipulators or fans of the lady politician who for long has dangled her UN connections as credentials for leadership of Liberia. What was overlooked at the time of the appointments was that loyalty in Liberia is very flimsy and that sooner or later those who were obsequiously dancing before the Executive to get a job on the Commission would switch their allegiance as soon as they were comfortable in their jobs.
The fact that the Executive had appointed factions from two camps underlined the desire to have one of two candidates elected and thus seal the fate of the Liberian people for the next six years in a system of avaricious accumulation and reckless corruption. But this was before the stake was raised and the corrupt practices of the present interim administration became an issue to be dealt with after the elections and the coming into power of a new administration.
The faction on the Commission tilting towards the LAP camp has been unnerved by the rapid erosion of support for its candidate due to the revulsion of the people at the scandalous corruption of this administration and being that the present executive manipulators are solidly promoting this candidate, the people’s rejection is becoming palpable. On the other hand, the lady politician with her UN connections has deftly used her status on the Governance Reform Commission (GRC) to expose the corrupt practices of this administration and thus increase her standing with those from the UN who would like to see more transparency and accountability in the governance of the country. The problem with her approach is that she runs the risk of alienating many who interpret her ambition as crudely opportunistic and see her condemnation of corruption as insincere.
This is because it is hard to explain why members of the GRC are being paid in U.S. dollars when the majority of Liberians in government are paid in Liberian dollars. Also, it is baffling why the UNDP would give the GRC half a million dollars when there is nothing concrete that this Commission has done to warrant such a huge amount. Are there other reasons for this lavish grant than the writing of periodic reports purporting to expose mismanagement and corruption?
Is it not obvious that the payment in U.S. dollars by the GRC which is charged with delineating the framework for good governance, efficient management and financial propriety has infected the body polity that members of the National Elections Commission also get paid in U.S. dollars and the Chairman of the interim government demands per diem in U.S. dollars even when he travels internally?
As for the struggle taking place in the NEC, it is obvious that her faction can only wait, see and report to her about the manipulations going on but is in no position to alter things in her favour.
The two factions are embroiled in a game of “rascal man dies and rascal man buries him” This is the context in which the UN Special Representative is being condemned. He is seen as leaning towards the faction that supports the lady politician and his utterances on many occasions have led people to believe that this is the case.
The problem with the Liberian electoral process is that it was designed to be run by Liberians with the UN assisting as a secondary partner. It should have been the other way round with the UN running the entire process and being assisted by Liberians. In a country where narrow political loyalties are prevalent and politics is the framework for all economic and social advancement, it is naïve to believe that Liberians can conduct an election without partisan bias. The political culture dictates that rewards are given afterwards for any crafty fraud which is then passed on as credible election.
The recent farce in 1997 is illustrative of this pattern where a commissioner ascended to the highest seat on the Judiciary after participating in the most ridiculous electoral skullduggery in recent times. There is no reason to believe that this time around things would be different.
The UN Special Representative senses that something is not going right for his preferred choice no matter what semblance of neutrality he puts on his queries. The Chair person likewise feels that others are out to upset the carefully written script and it is time to speak out. But why should we be concerned about the suspicion between these two camps/factions? The answer is simple: This is our country and we can already decipher the recipe for disaster!!
We can hold no brief for the UN Special Representative. He has spoken on countless occasions and embroiled himself in the pettiness of Liberian politics. He should have known by now the childish disposition of the many gossipers who parade themselves as opinion leaders in the country. He should have understood that political allegiance in a country without a defined nationalism is fleeting. This should not be surprising and the number of political aspirants for the presidency underscores this point. In Liberia, nobody follows conviction in the political arena because nobody sees the nation as a symbol of unity and honour.
One can argue that personal ambition and vain showmanship are two of the defining characteristics of the Liberian political class. Against this background, there will be one presidential candidate for each household by the time we get to the elections! This country suffers from a primitive political culture simply because its political class has never come to terms with its peculiar history of being the oldest independent republic in Africa but with the most backward political, economic and social structures imaginable.
How else can one explain the shamelessness of the present corps of officials who display wealth in the midst of scandalous poverty or the cynical ploy of stacking the NEC with cronies, relatives and lovers of friends or yet still the abominable practice of ritualistic killings in this age of computers and robotics? I hope the UN Special Representative is getting my drift?
He must be impartial and leave untainted by the slime that lingers in this polluted backwoods of political idiocy! Our people in Sierra Leone say that the way one comports oneself at a wedding will determine whether one is asked to sit at the high table or asked to go to the kitchen and wash dirty dishes!
As for the Chair person of the NEC, we still have to come to terms with her grouse. What is she complaining about when right under her nose the party of the interim chairman is breaking all the rules? Isn’t it obvious to her that people understand the pattern of manipulation and cannot be impressed by this posturing of indignation? If she really feels aggrieved, then she should resign! But can she? I doubt this very much.
She has a role to play and must continue along the path of righteous indignation in a game of pretense. The time for real indignation will come and that is when the people, revolted by the scheming and trickery demand to know the actual results of the process. She will then come to understand that the UN is there to oversee not only the electoral process but the survival of that chosen segment of the political class to which she belongs!
While this political comedy continues with political opportunists, pitiful philistines, a soccer dolt and erstwhile rebel propagandists fighting for political relevance, the key issues are being swept under the carpet. These issues are: Will there be a commission of inquiry to investigate the looting of the nation’s resources over the past ten years? Will all economic and financial agreements be revisited in the immediate future and those found detrimental to the interest of the people be cancelled? Will there be a war crimes tribunal? Will there be an investigation into Taylor’s financial holdings and possible confiscation of his ill-gotten loot? What role is Taylor playing in the present political process through his cronies? Why is there a need to spend two hundred million dollars on a four thousand man army at this juncture of the nation’s history?
If an army should be trained, shouldn’t this be done under the United Nations with preferably Indian troops who have no history of military intervention in their country’s political arrangements since independence in 1947? The agreement being negotiated with Firestone, does it deal with what is under the subsoil? And is it possible to revisit immediately the Maritime agreement, cut off the entanglements of Taylor and his cronies and discuss the possibility of increasing the monthly payment to the Liberian government to be use solely for providing dwelling places, health clinics and food for returnees and internally displaced people for the next four years? There are many more but these are paramount.
In line with the above issues, there is the question of political alliance to confront the unfolding drama of the politics of personalities. Over the past two and the half decades, we have experienced the gush of greedy and overly ambitious young men jockeying for political office in order to accumulate wealth by any means. They are prone to join any group, follow any individual or cut deals with any charlatan in order to get a job and loot recklessly. This explains the emergence of the many propagandists for rebels and bandits who are today dancing behind a political clown who feels that because one has the capacity to kick a leather ball, one can summon the ability to govern a nation.
This travesty of political participation if done in any other country would be considered a bad joke, but then in Liberia we have had many jokers and clowns in the political arena and thus the tragic state of our country. It is the mind-set of instant wealth and cheap political recognition that has brought forth the numerous hustlers who are willing to steal, kill and lie in order to become “honourable” ministers, senators, representatives, directors and security agents in a country of mass poverty, national neglect and wretchedness.
Apart from the greedy flunkeys with their narrow and anti-national agenda who can easily be bought because they are trollops, there are those who over the years have degenerated from serious activists espousing noble causes to political charlatans, readily following anybody who claims to be supported by powerful international individuals or institutions. The debate over the direction of the country as regards the interests of the popular masses has evaporated. Throughout these many years of struggle, we had assumed that these fellows understood that power was an effective symbol for change depending on which constellation of social forces held it at any historical juncture.
Thus in our country, we accepted the fact that only the alliance of the students, workers, peasants, progressive intellectuals and honest nationalists can provide the bulwark for that united front which can make power the defining instrument for popular empowerment and participation.
This was the leitmotiv of the heroic struggle waged by the popular forces that brought out the bestial reaction of the ruling group culminating in the massacre of April 14, 1979; the conspiracy of obstruction hatched by certain international circles to deny the popular forces political power through the military interregnum; and subsequently the unleashing of déclassé elements, wayward boys and political hustlers in rebel wars with the purpose of denigrating popular struggles and forcing the people to live only for today like barbarians in a state of nature.
The alliance being forged in certain quarters revolves around petty ambitions and compromises that have nothing to do with a national direction at a time when one is most needed. It is not surprising that there has been no serious debate around the fundamental issues mentioned and the people are being led to believe that politics is all about the strutting of personalities across the national stage battered by years of war, carnage and brigandage.
But this should not be allowed to pass! In a note to a friend recently, we dealt with this pathetic phenomenon and averred: “The situation with the emergence of all the jokers aspiring to be president has to do with that peculiar Liberian psychology of ‘big shotism.’ Everybody now feels that being president of Liberia is an easy task because Doe and Taylor did it. The presidency is not considered an office with monumental responsibility for social transformation but a job in which one makes money, seduces the women and wears expensive suits. We know that some of our militants of yesteryears have fallen victims to this virus.
I saw them in action during the Sawyer interim presidency and it was laughable but pitiful. It is no more a matter of conviction and commitment to the downtrodden but a struggle for jobs—no matter who gives them. We know that there is a major problem but there are also possibilities for genuine social transformation. There are many young men and women who are growing up, conscious of the betrayal and the prevailing injustices.
Our duty is to identify them, engage them in serious political debates and burden them with the task of leadership in tomorrow’s struggle. I believe that the progressive forces can win and begin the process of genuine reconstruction and social transformation. How and when is the responsibility of all of us who share a vision that has lingered through these many years of sacrifices, struggle and betrayal.”
This is the note on which we end: that the progressive forces, united in the zeal and determination that took them to the barricades in 1979 and forced the ancien regime to reveal its contempt for the lives of the people, can today win victory without these hollow alliances with those social forces that have always stood apart from the people and others that have wreaked havoc, death and destruction.
Thus the progressive forces, led by that vanguard (LPP, UPP, PPP and New Deal), though deflated and demoralized, can celebrate the martyrdom of the militants and cadres of April 14, 1979 by hosting a national conference to deal with the question of a national direction and place on the agenda of popular participation the issues of security, stability, discipline and development as the fulcra of the new order. This has to be done before the time comes in October!
Full Text Of Dr. Fahnbulleh's Message
The script is obviously not being adhered to and thus the outburst from the Chair person of the National Elections Commission (NEC) that the UN Special Representative is undermining the authority of the Commission. This would have been a laughable jibe if we were not dealing with the destiny of a nation and the future of a people who have suffered immeasurably over the years from the bankruptcy of a political class steeped in cynicism and arrogance.
The National Elections Commission was set up not to conduct an election but to orchestrate a process whereby the anointed one would be declared at the end of an elaborate charade. For this, it needed both the endorsement and financial support of the United Nations. Those appointed to this Commission were either sympathizers of the escapee in Calabar and thus allies of the current executive manipulators or fans of the lady politician who for long has dangled her UN connections as credentials for leadership of Liberia. What was overlooked at the time of the appointments was that loyalty in Liberia is very flimsy and that sooner or later those who were obsequiously dancing before the Executive to get a job on the Commission would switch their allegiance as soon as they were comfortable in their jobs.
The fact that the Executive had appointed factions from two camps underlined the desire to have one of two candidates elected and thus seal the fate of the Liberian people for the next six years in a system of avaricious accumulation and reckless corruption. But this was before the stake was raised and the corrupt practices of the present interim administration became an issue to be dealt with after the elections and the coming into power of a new administration.
The faction on the Commission tilting towards the LAP camp has been unnerved by the rapid erosion of support for its candidate due to the revulsion of the people at the scandalous corruption of this administration and being that the present executive manipulators are solidly promoting this candidate, the people’s rejection is becoming palpable. On the other hand, the lady politician with her UN connections has deftly used her status on the Governance Reform Commission (GRC) to expose the corrupt practices of this administration and thus increase her standing with those from the UN who would like to see more transparency and accountability in the governance of the country. The problem with her approach is that she runs the risk of alienating many who interpret her ambition as crudely opportunistic and see her condemnation of corruption as insincere.
This is because it is hard to explain why members of the GRC are being paid in U.S. dollars when the majority of Liberians in government are paid in Liberian dollars. Also, it is baffling why the UNDP would give the GRC half a million dollars when there is nothing concrete that this Commission has done to warrant such a huge amount. Are there other reasons for this lavish grant than the writing of periodic reports purporting to expose mismanagement and corruption?
Is it not obvious that the payment in U.S. dollars by the GRC which is charged with delineating the framework for good governance, efficient management and financial propriety has infected the body polity that members of the National Elections Commission also get paid in U.S. dollars and the Chairman of the interim government demands per diem in U.S. dollars even when he travels internally?
As for the struggle taking place in the NEC, it is obvious that her faction can only wait, see and report to her about the manipulations going on but is in no position to alter things in her favour.
The two factions are embroiled in a game of “rascal man dies and rascal man buries him” This is the context in which the UN Special Representative is being condemned. He is seen as leaning towards the faction that supports the lady politician and his utterances on many occasions have led people to believe that this is the case.
The problem with the Liberian electoral process is that it was designed to be run by Liberians with the UN assisting as a secondary partner. It should have been the other way round with the UN running the entire process and being assisted by Liberians. In a country where narrow political loyalties are prevalent and politics is the framework for all economic and social advancement, it is naïve to believe that Liberians can conduct an election without partisan bias. The political culture dictates that rewards are given afterwards for any crafty fraud which is then passed on as credible election.
The recent farce in 1997 is illustrative of this pattern where a commissioner ascended to the highest seat on the Judiciary after participating in the most ridiculous electoral skullduggery in recent times. There is no reason to believe that this time around things would be different.
The UN Special Representative senses that something is not going right for his preferred choice no matter what semblance of neutrality he puts on his queries. The Chair person likewise feels that others are out to upset the carefully written script and it is time to speak out. But why should we be concerned about the suspicion between these two camps/factions? The answer is simple: This is our country and we can already decipher the recipe for disaster!!
We can hold no brief for the UN Special Representative. He has spoken on countless occasions and embroiled himself in the pettiness of Liberian politics. He should have known by now the childish disposition of the many gossipers who parade themselves as opinion leaders in the country. He should have understood that political allegiance in a country without a defined nationalism is fleeting. This should not be surprising and the number of political aspirants for the presidency underscores this point. In Liberia, nobody follows conviction in the political arena because nobody sees the nation as a symbol of unity and honour.
One can argue that personal ambition and vain showmanship are two of the defining characteristics of the Liberian political class. Against this background, there will be one presidential candidate for each household by the time we get to the elections! This country suffers from a primitive political culture simply because its political class has never come to terms with its peculiar history of being the oldest independent republic in Africa but with the most backward political, economic and social structures imaginable.
How else can one explain the shamelessness of the present corps of officials who display wealth in the midst of scandalous poverty or the cynical ploy of stacking the NEC with cronies, relatives and lovers of friends or yet still the abominable practice of ritualistic killings in this age of computers and robotics? I hope the UN Special Representative is getting my drift?
He must be impartial and leave untainted by the slime that lingers in this polluted backwoods of political idiocy! Our people in Sierra Leone say that the way one comports oneself at a wedding will determine whether one is asked to sit at the high table or asked to go to the kitchen and wash dirty dishes!
As for the Chair person of the NEC, we still have to come to terms with her grouse. What is she complaining about when right under her nose the party of the interim chairman is breaking all the rules? Isn’t it obvious to her that people understand the pattern of manipulation and cannot be impressed by this posturing of indignation? If she really feels aggrieved, then she should resign! But can she? I doubt this very much.
She has a role to play and must continue along the path of righteous indignation in a game of pretense. The time for real indignation will come and that is when the people, revolted by the scheming and trickery demand to know the actual results of the process. She will then come to understand that the UN is there to oversee not only the electoral process but the survival of that chosen segment of the political class to which she belongs!
While this political comedy continues with political opportunists, pitiful philistines, a soccer dolt and erstwhile rebel propagandists fighting for political relevance, the key issues are being swept under the carpet. These issues are: Will there be a commission of inquiry to investigate the looting of the nation’s resources over the past ten years? Will all economic and financial agreements be revisited in the immediate future and those found detrimental to the interest of the people be cancelled? Will there be a war crimes tribunal? Will there be an investigation into Taylor’s financial holdings and possible confiscation of his ill-gotten loot? What role is Taylor playing in the present political process through his cronies? Why is there a need to spend two hundred million dollars on a four thousand man army at this juncture of the nation’s history?
If an army should be trained, shouldn’t this be done under the United Nations with preferably Indian troops who have no history of military intervention in their country’s political arrangements since independence in 1947? The agreement being negotiated with Firestone, does it deal with what is under the subsoil? And is it possible to revisit immediately the Maritime agreement, cut off the entanglements of Taylor and his cronies and discuss the possibility of increasing the monthly payment to the Liberian government to be use solely for providing dwelling places, health clinics and food for returnees and internally displaced people for the next four years? There are many more but these are paramount.
In line with the above issues, there is the question of political alliance to confront the unfolding drama of the politics of personalities. Over the past two and the half decades, we have experienced the gush of greedy and overly ambitious young men jockeying for political office in order to accumulate wealth by any means. They are prone to join any group, follow any individual or cut deals with any charlatan in order to get a job and loot recklessly. This explains the emergence of the many propagandists for rebels and bandits who are today dancing behind a political clown who feels that because one has the capacity to kick a leather ball, one can summon the ability to govern a nation.
This travesty of political participation if done in any other country would be considered a bad joke, but then in Liberia we have had many jokers and clowns in the political arena and thus the tragic state of our country. It is the mind-set of instant wealth and cheap political recognition that has brought forth the numerous hustlers who are willing to steal, kill and lie in order to become “honourable” ministers, senators, representatives, directors and security agents in a country of mass poverty, national neglect and wretchedness.
Apart from the greedy flunkeys with their narrow and anti-national agenda who can easily be bought because they are trollops, there are those who over the years have degenerated from serious activists espousing noble causes to political charlatans, readily following anybody who claims to be supported by powerful international individuals or institutions. The debate over the direction of the country as regards the interests of the popular masses has evaporated. Throughout these many years of struggle, we had assumed that these fellows understood that power was an effective symbol for change depending on which constellation of social forces held it at any historical juncture.
Thus in our country, we accepted the fact that only the alliance of the students, workers, peasants, progressive intellectuals and honest nationalists can provide the bulwark for that united front which can make power the defining instrument for popular empowerment and participation.
This was the leitmotiv of the heroic struggle waged by the popular forces that brought out the bestial reaction of the ruling group culminating in the massacre of April 14, 1979; the conspiracy of obstruction hatched by certain international circles to deny the popular forces political power through the military interregnum; and subsequently the unleashing of déclassé elements, wayward boys and political hustlers in rebel wars with the purpose of denigrating popular struggles and forcing the people to live only for today like barbarians in a state of nature.
The alliance being forged in certain quarters revolves around petty ambitions and compromises that have nothing to do with a national direction at a time when one is most needed. It is not surprising that there has been no serious debate around the fundamental issues mentioned and the people are being led to believe that politics is all about the strutting of personalities across the national stage battered by years of war, carnage and brigandage.
But this should not be allowed to pass! In a note to a friend recently, we dealt with this pathetic phenomenon and averred: “The situation with the emergence of all the jokers aspiring to be president has to do with that peculiar Liberian psychology of ‘big shotism.’ Everybody now feels that being president of Liberia is an easy task because Doe and Taylor did it. The presidency is not considered an office with monumental responsibility for social transformation but a job in which one makes money, seduces the women and wears expensive suits. We know that some of our militants of yesteryears have fallen victims to this virus.
I saw them in action during the Sawyer interim presidency and it was laughable but pitiful. It is no more a matter of conviction and commitment to the downtrodden but a struggle for jobs—no matter who gives them. We know that there is a major problem but there are also possibilities for genuine social transformation. There are many young men and women who are growing up, conscious of the betrayal and the prevailing injustices.
Our duty is to identify them, engage them in serious political debates and burden them with the task of leadership in tomorrow’s struggle. I believe that the progressive forces can win and begin the process of genuine reconstruction and social transformation. How and when is the responsibility of all of us who share a vision that has lingered through these many years of sacrifices, struggle and betrayal.”
This is the note on which we end: that the progressive forces, united in the zeal and determination that took them to the barricades in 1979 and forced the ancien regime to reveal its contempt for the lives of the people, can today win victory without these hollow alliances with those social forces that have always stood apart from the people and others that have wreaked havoc, death and destruction.
Thus the progressive forces, led by that vanguard (LPP, UPP, PPP and New Deal), though deflated and demoralized, can celebrate the martyrdom of the militants and cadres of April 14, 1979 by hosting a national conference to deal with the question of a national direction and place on the agenda of popular participation the issues of security, stability, discipline and development as the fulcra of the new order. This has to be done before the time comes in October!
posted by Plucky @ 4:50 AM
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