"Some animals are more equal than others"

During the years I have often reverted to this novel by George Orwell, Animal Farm. For those of you who have never read it, I can summerize it as follows: The animals on a farm oust its "owners" the farmer and his family and take over the day to day running of the farm. Very soon, the revolution is hijacked by the pigs on the farm that start to oppress all the other animals. Not long after, the pigs start dressing up in the farmers clothes, eating his food and drinking his wine behind locked doors. The other animals peek in at the windows at their nightly feast. This describes the events in our country once again.

Anybody can start a political party...

... but that does not mean that it is a good thing. Now, in our beautiful country, it seems that as soon as some people learn to write their names on a piece of paper that they qualify to become politicians. And do not give them small government job because then you nah spoil it. When you go look, they will force their crowd of boys to join their new party. Before you go look, some obscure, never heard of group will step forward and endorse them. That is when the infighting starts for who is who in the party. Egos get stepped on. All this, and no one has yet proclaimed a political doctrine, not to mention registered the party with the National Elections Commission. The common denominator here is the blown up egos, crowd of boys, no political doctrine other than opposition. So after a while you have the same amount of political parties as you have egocentric maniacs. The next step is these weird coalitions with just as strange acronyms. When you go look again, the infighting starts again over the different posts in the coalition. You all see the pattern here right.

The answer is blowing in the wind

L$205.1281/US$1.00 How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly Before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, and how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, and how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Lyrics from Blowing in the wind, Bob Dylan.

Supply of money

L$190.4475/US$1.00 When a country prints new bills, they are usually meant to replace older damaged notes. It is the job of the Central Bank to collect the old bills and destroy them and infuse the new ones. If you do not replace defunct currency, but just adding to money supply, you undermine the currency. We saw this in the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. In Zimbabwe, Mugabwe thought he was smart and started printing money to be able to pay govenment employees. In Venezuela today, Madouru is doing the same thing. In the short term, you may seem to solve a problem, but very shortly after, the currency is soon not worth more than what it actually is, paper. At this stage, when a country issues more money than it has backing for, you get increased inflation. Inflation is the increasing of prices, or really the decreasing of the value of the currency. In Weimar, Zimbabwe and Venezuela the printing of "new" money just kept on and on. This caused HYPERINFLATION. In the end, to buy a loaf of bread, the equivalent amount of money had to be carried in a wheelbarrow. Luckily, we are not here yet, but the tendencies seem to be ther. Wake up now, and smell the coffee.

Supply and demand

L$187.6225/US$1.00 The more demand for any product, the more will be the price of it. The less the supply of something, the more the price. These are the two major facts in economic theory. The important lesson here is that to solve the problem you have to supply more of the scarce product. Or find a way to decrease the demand of the scarce product. There is unfortunately no piece of legislation that can do anything about this. Solution: Find a way to make the flow of US dollars into the country increase. Produce things that can be sold abroad to bring in foreign currency.

Our neighbor

L$182.6281/US$1.00 Meanwhile in Sierra Leone. After eleven months in office, the new Sierra Leonean president has put measures in place to encourage a boost in agriculture. They have also implemented a central govenment account for the collection of revenue. These measures have gained approval from the IMF and World Bank. Things are looking up for our neighbors, for us, not so much. We are concentrating on building mansions for ourselves.

Momentary lapse of reason

To all my people out there, the time has come to appraise our lives up to this point, and decide the nature of our future. Let it be known that only we can promote our own destiny, anything else is a myth. The future is in our hands so it is up to us what to do with it.

On that positive note, I would like to appeal to my fellow countrymen/women to desist from giving up this power to imaginary forces. Look back in retrospect and check who you voted into legislature. What have they done for you lately? That bag of rice or promise of one for a vote for them is long gone now. While they are amassing wealth in their dubious ways, and planning how they can take you for a ride come the next elections, it is up to you to think of Liberias future. Find someone you can trust and petition them to represent you. In fact, why should you not be able to step up to the plate yourself. The opportunity is there, so seize it! That is what democracy is about. God had nothing to do with it.

Hopes are forever high, but discouragement is just under the surface

Yes, sitting here in limbo, wishing for miracles to happen. That is just about how I feel. What is so hard for us to realise? If I line my own pocket from government coffers, how will the rest of my people prosper? Is it so hard to understand this? This incoherent selfishness is exactly what has driven our sorry excuse for a nation to conflict time after time.

Many questions there, but the only answer is to urge those in charge to dutifully carry out their individual tasks with the betterment of all. In varying degrees, this seems to be a worldwide problem, so we are not going to solve it here or today.

Sometimes I wonder wether democracy really is for Africa or more specifically Liberia.