Monday, November 14, 2005
Liberians in US urge caution over poll controversy
By Jerome Hule
PANA Correspondent
New York, (PANA) - As the controversy over Liberia's run-off
presidential poll remains unresolved, U.S.-based Liberians have urged
the country's political actors to place the national interest first.
Liberian nationals in the U.S. have keenly watched the political
developments in their country, hoping the October general elections
would launch the country back to the path of peace and reconstruction.
Thousands of Liberians are in the U.S., most of them refugees from the
country's civil wars.
Torli Krua, who fled the first war launched by Charles Taylor's
rebellion in 1989, urged presidential candidate George Weah and his
supporters to avoid violence in their protest over the 8 November run-
off election, which shows that Weah's opponent Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
is poised to win the presidency.
Weah, a retired international football star, came tops in the first
poll in October that could not produce a decisive winner but has
trailed Johnson-Sirleaf in the run-off's preliminary results. Weah
has filed a complaint with the Liberian election commission alleging
electoral fraud against his opponent.
"People should go by the rules," Krua said, warning that Weah
supporters' street demonstrations last week could get out of control.
Tom Grupee, a businessman and former president of the Union of
Liberian Associations in America, said for a country that has been
through a protracted war, the resort to street protests was a cause
for concern.
"If Weah truly loves his country, it will be in the best interest of
Liberia and his political future to concede and avoid causing chaos,"
said Grupee.
Pointing out that international observers have concluded that the
election was generally free and fair, Grupee said even if the votes
from areas where Weah has complained of electoral fraud were
cancelled, the outcome would still not change in his favour.
With votes from 97 percent of the polling areas counted by Sunday,
Johnson-Sirleaf won nearly 60 percent, compared to Weah's 40 percent.
Kamina Panford, a Ghanaian and head of African Studies Department at
Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, also urged all
Liberian politicians to place their country's interest above anything
else.
The electoral commission, he said, should seriously look into Weah's
allegations of electoral fraud. But whatever is the outcome of the
election, he said, all politicians should accept the people's choice.
Panford said if Johnson-Sirleaf eventually emerges winner, she should
set up an inclusive government that has people from the opposition.
Besides having already offered to have Weah in her government,
Johnson-Sirleaf should also incorporate the concerns of Weah's
supporters, he advised.
He pointed out that the Liberian election has thrown up a challenge to
Africa's educated elite who have so far been unable to merge their
interest with those of the people.
"They also need to prove to the people that they can solve their
problems," Panford said.
Weah's strong performance in the first round of the poll was a strong
message from the grassroots that the educated elite have failed them,
he said.
While people have touted Johnson-Sirleaf's education and international
professional experience as an asset, as against Weah's lack of higher
education, Panford said the support Weah got from the youth and
grassroots showed that Weah had some credibility among the people.
The university teacher said Africa has relied so much on foreign-
trained experts to provide leadership since the emergence of the new
democratic era without asking how relevant these experts are to the
people's problems.
Whoever emerges president of Liberia, he said, should take as priority
national reconciliation and tackling the huge economic problems. He
said Johnson-Sirleaf was already on the right track by offering to
have Weah in her government.
In addition to national reconciliation, he said, the new government
must also rebuild the economy so gravely destroyed by the war. The
provision of roads, schools, hospitals, water, housing and jobs
should be taken seriously, he said.
In addition to these efforts, Grupee said the integration of the
Liberian youth into the mainstream of the society should be given
serious attention. Over the past 10 years, he said, most Liberian
children have not been to school with illiteracy becoming a major
threat to peace.
"The result of increased illiteracy is violence," he said.
Krua said the international community has to help Liberia deal with
the threat of warlords, who still maintain contact with their arms
suppliers and pose a threat to the peace and security of the country.
In this regard, he said the proliferation of small arms should be
checked while those who have committed serious crimes against the
people of Liberia, like the warlords, should be made to account for
their deeds at the International Criminal Court.
Krua said many Liberians living abroad are interested in going back to
contribute to the rebuilding of their country but that can only happen
when there is peace in the country.
Liberia fought a deadly civil war that ended in 1997 with elections
that produced former warlord Charles Taylor as president. Soon after
Taylor came to power, the country slipped back to fighting again.
With rebels poised to launch an assault on the capital Monrovia in
2003, ECOWAS intervened, leading to Taylor going into exile in
Nigeria and the appointment of an interim leadership led by Gyude
Bryant.
The current elections were meant to mark the end of war and the
beginning of another era of peace, reconstruction and reconciliation.
Copyright © 2005 PANA
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