|
Posted March 14, 2007
The Missing Agenda - Reconciliation
By Samuel P. Ajavon, Jr. - Staff Writer
tagleparyo@yahoo.com
Speaking to
Liberians, particularly those in Liberia one gets the sense that changes are
occurring albeit gradually, which is good. No one expects Liberia to be
transformed in an instant especially considering what the society has
undergone in its recent past. Every Liberian feels proud of the leaps and
accomplishments that the leader, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf continues
to make in moving the society forward. Speak to a market woman from
waterside or Duala or Red Light and you feel the exhilaration when you hear
the words: “the old-ma doing well for the country.” Well in the sense that
Liberia has now begun to take back its rightful place amongst the polity of
nations, and perhaps due to the precedent set in democratically electing
Africa’s first female president, the country continues to take advantage of
the aura and the leverage held by it president amongst other leaders and
especially international financial institutions, to eliminate the colossal
debt burden and bring development once more to the people.
Although
development and reconstruction are important for the movement of the
society, there is one phenomenon that is absent from the total package
necessary for attaining lasting peace in the country and that is
reconciliation. When spoken of, many confine it to Liberia’s recent past
particularly the civil war. What occurred between 1989 to 2005 was a product
of the abuse, violence, misery, subjugation, disenfranchisement,
pacification and displacement that were committed at the formation of the
Liberian state and in its sojourn to entrench itself within the confines of
the territory called Liberia. As a result of these actions taken by the
government in Monrovia, a deep wound was created in the society that has
from time to time been attended to with a plethora of veneers by previous
administrations in an attempt to garner unity. Events of 1979 to 1980 can
simply be explained as an eruption and expulsion of the pressures that lie
deep in the wounds of the society, which should have prompted an urgency to
focus serious energies on addressing the divisions within. What transpired
between 1989 to 2005, one would surmise, are mere replications of outcomes
that resulted from pacification policies executed several decades ago,
pitting one group against the other or in other cases creating division
between similar ethnic groups
While the sincerity of
this government to ease the hardship and misery of the people of Liberia is
remarkable, there is an urgent need to begin addressing the question of
national reconciliation in a holistic manner, considering Liberia’s false
start. This may require the nation to internally ponder over those things
that have divided the society; seek and develop national approaches to
address divisive tendencies that still exist; and commit to a national
covenant placing the unity, tranquility and survival of the nation as the
highest priority above all other considerations for Liberians. This must be
a parallel accompaniment to reconstruction and development, as not doing so
only pegs this government with previous administrations that paid lip
service to reconciliation. Making reconstruction and development the
mainstay and the panacea for Liberia’s woes when the nation is encountering
an internal hemorrhage, particularly amongst social forces is a disaster in
waiting. Consequently, Liberia loses and all of the efforts by this
administration to bring development and reconstruction to the country would
be lost in moments, leaving Liberia’s infrastructure in ruins and her people
once more displaced.
|
