After reading Mr. Rufus Darkortey's article titled
"Liberia Needs A National Development Plan - Not A Presidential Plan", I got
to thinking. Mr. Darkortey is right in saying we need a national development
plan. A national development is a vision and a road map for where a nation
is headed economically and developmentally. It is a plan that defines the
nation's social, economic, and development agenda as well as in ensuring
that all people participate in the definition and implementation of this
plan.
To expand on Mr. Darkortey's article, Liberia needs a
development plan that should empower local governments; what I call a
"bottom up" approach to development. All current and future national plans
would give greater autonomy – and by autonomy I don't mean simply electing
or appointing figure heads - to local governments to make critical decisions
affecting local people. We need to equip local governments to create and
expand their tax base, thereby creating economic opportunities and more jobs
for those outside of Monrovia; in other words a gradual decentralization of
government operations.
Urban Centered Development and Centralization of
government operations
Those of us who are history and public policy buffs know
for a fact that the so called "development" on the continent is an urban
centered development created by our former colonial oppressors, whose
intentions was not to see Africa develop, but rather to create a home away
from home. If an interior community saw a railway or paved road, it was
due to the extraction of valued raw materials in that community.
Agricultural and rural development was not of any importance to Europeans.
They were only interested in rural development to the extent that it could
add value to their bottom line. Investment in infrastructure in African
urban centers was done to facilitate the creation of an environment that
would make Africa's exploitation more accessible. If one scans the
continent – or even look in our own back yard - for communities outside the
capitals that are somewhat developed, you would see that all these
communities with basic infrastructure had valued natural resources, or
something of value Europeans wanted access to, so they created the necessary
infrastructure.
In the case of Liberia, when the settlers arrived it
became a clash of two cultures. Instead of embracing the natives of the
land, the settlers who were hated, dehumanized, and subjugated by whites in
America, looked down on the natives as inferior, unintelligent savages to be
isolated, Christianized or "civilized" to fit into this new country
(Monrovia) within a country. Now, we had a group of settlers - who knew
nothing else but what they had been negatively programmed to believe about
themselves, the inferiority of their brothers and sisters on the continent,
and the so called superiority of the white man - immigrate to a country of
people who looked like them, with an economically functioning society,
(although not as sophisticated as what the settler's were used to seeing in
America) and completely isolated these people by denying opportunities to
them. One would assume that these individuals would have settled in
Liberia and worked hand in hand with the Native Liberians. But instead they
embraced the very system that led to them being in Liberia, as superior,
while shunning and treating native Liberians with contempt and labeling them
inferior "uncivilized savages". This lack of cooperation with the natives,
and the distorted sense of privilege and superiority complex of the settlers
drove them to fortify Monrovia, and from that moment of fortification,
development and government operations have been centralized in Monrovia to
the detriment of counties, cities, and villages in Liberia. This system
not only isolated local people, it also denied them economic growth and
other developmental opportunities.
Nationally imposed development plans and barriers to
growth at the local level
Our national development plans – be it presidential or
not – have never been inclusive. National development in Liberia has been
exclusive to Monrovia, and even if some of the development trickled down to
the local level, it's been piecemeal and one size fits all type of
development. In Liberia, we have managed to create many departments and a
ministry dedicated solely for creating not only economic opportunities for
local inhabitants, but also ensuring that so called "development" is
somewhat evenly distributed outside of Monrovia.. Despite the creation of
all these entities, our rural counties and villages have become charity
cases.
The paternalistic attitude towards local government
management and development has left our local governments and their
administrators ineffective and inefficient and lacking in innovative
strategies for the improvement of their communities because, they are all
compel to wait for directives from the national government; specifically the
Ministry of Internal Affairs before undertaking major projects. Local
government administrators are oftentimes nothing more than pseudo leaders
unable to make critical economic decisions or develop comprehensive plans
for their counties without major involvement from the ministry of internal
affairs.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs was created to oversee
the affairs of local administration in all the political sub-divisions of
the country. Some of the functions of the Ministry include designing and
implementing development projects and the transformation of rural
communities into viable towns and cities. It also provides supervision and
manages tribal affairs. The creation of the this ministry and other
government departments dedicated to local growth and development have not
lead to a proliferation of economic growth or infrastructure development at
the local level. Due to these national entities historical ineffectiveness
and inefficiencies, they have become more of a barrier to economic growth
and infrastructure development for local governments in Liberia.
Nationally imposed development plans for local
governments have not worked, nor is it working for us. These plans are
oftentimes less helpful then anticipated, and can easily infringe on local
governments' autonomy and become a liability in the struggle for local
economic growth. We have a situation in Liberia where local governments have
very little control or authority in the planning and implementation of
economic development plans and programs. Development plans should not be
created in Monrovia by people who have not even traveled extensively in
these counties. This process of national economic planning should involve
generating and discussing lists of problems facing the local governments,
prioritizing the problems, formulating specific goals in response to the
problems, and establishing plans supportive of local efforts.
A national development or economic plan requires the
involvement of local authorities. Local authorities can play a major role in
this effort by ensuring more effective and accountable local infrastructure
and social service delivery for the poor, and improving the dialogue among
the national government, citizens, their communities, civil society and the
private sector. Too often, however, sub-national levels of governments are
not involved in consultations on poverty reduction strategies or economic
and infrastructure development policies in Liberia. Nor are they given the
mandate or institutional and financial capacity to plan and deliver local
development interventions such as social services, local infrastructure,
local economic development initiatives and natural resource management.
Decentralization and local government Capacity
Building
I realize that our local governments are weak in terms of
capacity, and local administrators lack the skills for capacity building..
Be that as it may, the national government needs to begin a gradual process
of decentralization and capacity building.
By transferring a range of powers, responsibilities and
functions to local Governments which include decision-making, raising and
allocating resources, providing a range of services to the population, and
planning and budgeting for improved service delivery, would enhance local
administrators' ability to create economic opportunities for Liberia's rural
poor.
In response to the fact that many local governments do
not have the capacity, both at the political and technical levels to
effectively execute decentralization if it happens, the Ministry of Internal
Affairs in conjunction with local administrators, civil society groups, and
other relevant government agencies should:
