POLITICS-LIBERIA
New President Faces Enormous Challenges
Abdullah Dukuly
MONROVIA, Nov 26 (IPS) - Excitement runs high in the streets of the Liberian
capital, Monrovia, as thousands of residents rejoice over the announcement
of the country's first woman president.
With all the votes counted, the Election Commission said the former
banker Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, pulled nearly 60 percent of the Nov. 8 run-off
votes compared to the 41 percent of former soccer star, George Oppong Weah.
Weah has alleged that massive fraud marred the election, and called on
electoral authorities to investigate his claims before Johnson-Sirleaf was
officially declared the winner.
Supporters of Johnson-Sirleaf's Unity Party (UP) received the
announcement with spontaneous jubilation as they came out with portraits of
Johnson-Sirleaf stuck on T-shirts, earrings and necklaces in wild
celebrations.
Liberia's presidential election came more than 20 years after the country
emerged from a brutal civil war that claimed more than 200,000 lives and
displaced a third of the country's 3.5 million people. In 2003, when Liberia
was driven by warlords' battles, there were calls for a robust U.S. force to
establish order. It was a West African military and political group, the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that sent a 3,600-strong
force to Liberia, assisted logistically by a U.S. presence.
Forced out of power by rebels, Charles Taylor, the warlord who became
Liberia's president and fomented bloody wars that devastated the region for
more than a decade, accepted Nigeria's offer of asylum.
Taylor left behind a nation shattered by war, with the entire
infrastructure ranging from roads to water pipes rotted away or looted.
Morris Dukuly, a spokesperson for Johnson-Sirleaf, said one of her
immediate priorities was to get the government machinery functioning and
restore basic services to stimulate growth and foreign investment. Liberia
remains one of Africa's poorest nations despite its abundant natural
resources in gems, rubber, iron ore and timber.
After Taylor's departure, UN forces subsequently took over security.
ECOWAS also brought rival factions together to sign a peace agreement and
accept a two-year transitional government that shepherd the country until
the current elections. The election took place under the protection of a
15,000-strong UN force and was hailed by the international observers as
generally free and fair and in accordance with international standards.
None of the 22 candidates obtained 51 percent in the Oct. 11 polls,
paving the way for a run-off between Johnson-Sirleaf and Weah. The soccer
star, who pulled more votes in the first round of the election, cried foul.
His supporters - mainly the discontented youth, who idolised him for his
exploits on the soccer field, took to the streets of the capital in protest.
They claimed ballot papers were stuffed into the boxes by election officials
in favour of Johnson-Sirleaf who described the claims as absurd.
Political strategy played a role in the second round of the poll, said
Gray G. Dennis, director of the Monrovia-based Centre for Democracy and
Elections (CENDC). In the final weeks of the campaign, Johnson-Sirleaf
formed crucial alliances with party members whose candidates lost in the
first round, which narrowed the field of 22 presidential contenders to two.
"The Unity Party posted more campaign materials and got down to local
communities for a face-to-face campaign with the electorates," recalled
Dennis.
Liberia's new president declared Nov. 24 will take office in January.
Johnson-Sirleaf, who would be Africa's first female president, inspires
confidence as her track record shows, said a secondary school teacher
Stephanie Blamo. "She resigned her position as finance minister to protest
excessive government spending and has also refused to take a seat in
Liberia's Senate to protest fraud in the 1985 general elections," she said
Under the new leadership, Liberia can have a special relationship with
the United States, said Blamo. Freed American slaves colonised Liberia in
the 1800s, and their descendants constitute the minority group of the
population.
The new president faces considerable challenges. Many of the young people
who fought in Liberia's civil wars, in which hundreds of thousands of people
died, remain unemployed. "We'll try to get these thousands of the
war-affected youths into skill training so that they can earn incomes to
make them productive and constructive citizens again," Johnson-Sirleaf told
IPS Nov. 19 in the village of Korma, her ancestral home, about 20 kilometers
northwest of Monrovia. She had travelled there to thank the people "for
standing behind" her in her quest for the presidency.
Johnson-Sirleaf, a divorcee whose husband has died, has been known as
Liberia's 'Iron Lady' since she ran against President Taylor in 1997 and was
jailed twice, one for more than a year under the former dictator Samuel Doe.
A Harvard trained economist, she worked at the United Nations as Director
of the Africa Bureau of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), as a World Bank
official, and as vice president for the Equator Bank in Washington, D.C.
Johnson-Sirleaf once also served as vice president for Africa of Citibank,
one of America's leading financial institutions.
At home, she became in 1978 the first and so far the only woman to serve
as Minister of Finance.
Many Liberians see her election as a challenge. "The election of Ellen, a
woman, is a challenge to all Liberians. It is a challenge to the men who for
more than 158 years have governed Liberia," said Jestina Fergusson, a
businesswoman in Monrovia.
"It is a challenge to the men of Liberia. They should put aside their
gender bias, if they have any; role up their sleeves, put their hands to the
plough and make Liberia productive. Put aside the squabbling, and be an
example of gender cooperation for the entire world to see," said Andrew
Jackson, a student activist.
Johnson-Sirleaf's inauguration on Jan. 16 will make her one of Africa's
longest serving political opposition leaders that will have finally come to
power, along the likes of Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Abdulaye Wade of
Senegal and Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d'Ivoire. (END/2005)
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