What is politics anyway?

In our glorious nation politics is merely a game, a means of forwarding ourselves before others. There is no ideology behind anything, but pure powerstruggle. This is what doomed this country for the past fourteen years. And even before that. I mean seriously, we have more lawyers here than we have doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, and all other providing professions put together. Among all the nations of the world, I cannot name any other that does not have a productive middleclass.

This fact shames me, but that is what it is, a fact. We have become so used to other people coming here to set up factories and other production facilities to give us employment. Ever since the first settlers put their feet on these shores, we started depending on regular shipments from six thousand miles away. This dependency has spread to our whole society. Even today we still look to our government to bail us out of this mess. Even back then no one wanted to produce anything, but everyone wanted to become a trader.

The result was clearly shown in the past election, where we had (imagine this) 22 diferent presidential candidates from 22 differerent political groupings. I have not even bothered to check how many of these contenders were lawyers, but I can assure you that they were in majority. Our mentality has provided us with educated people who grow one ambition in their lives, to one day work for the government, legislature or the judiciary. Amongst these 22 different groupings, I have still not seen any real ideology presented. Why? Because our different parties were formed because of prominent people and who they knew, who they were related to and to how much money they could raise for their campaigns.

There has never been any political agenda here other than to try to get for oneself whatever possible.

Our present government has laid forward its proposed budget for just over 180 million dollars. I still have not seen one alternative budget proposal from our numerous opposition parties. Nothing. Suggestions like we should spend more on this or that. This is our view. NOTHING!

But we can sit down and complain. Let us be straight. Our people are suffering, but beware that there are limited resources that have to be distributed. It will never be the task of the government to feed us, give us jobs and all the rest. That part is up to us, us alone. We live in a very fertile country, but we cannot feed ourselves. In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty.

Roll up your sleeves and get to work.

I break my silence

Up till now, I have been quite content with the various developments in our country. When I am pleased, there is not so much to write about. Right now that is changing so fast that you can be sure to be hearing from me a lot over the next few weeks. Our "honourable" legislature is at this moment trying to change their own rules of engagement. It is just as bad as when their predecessors passed laws that entitled them to public property at the end of the transitional period.

When the race for office was on, when money and rice was used to buy votes in the various constituancies, all those that allowed their votes to be bought should be turning in their beds. These same men and women that they voted into lawmaking power are now showing their true colours. Let us not forget that not all of them are involved, but there is a worrying amount of these "honourables" that do not want their affairs to be subject to public scrutiny. The media reports of 600 cooks and 43 drivers in the employ of the legislature. Does not the Liberian general public deserve the right to transperency even here? They want to audit themselves? What an outrage. Here we as a nation are trying to crawl back onto our feet, and we have a bunch of scoundrels that want to place themselves above the law. One law that should be passed is the shortening of their tenure to four years. I can go on and on but I think you get the general picture. Especially, what message does this send to potential investors.

Here we go again

I thought that the days of closing newspapers went out the window with the rest of the sewage. But somehow, someone has decided to go back to the old ways and "close down" critical media institutions. Up till now it seems that the action is in the hands of the police. When will these fools learn that this is the wrong way of doing things. There is also a right way. If you do not like something that I have said or written, first of all you inform me. If there is no way to reconcile on the issue, you take your complaint to the courts and we meet there and contest the freedom of speech and opinion. If I have done anything wrong, I am punished. You do not go running and calling someone you know in the police to come arrest me and all the rest. But have a hard head and continue with this childish attitude, journalists have the sympathy of their fellow journalists. The repercussions of these kind of things have a strange ability to find themselves reiterated very easily in the foreign press and suddenly all of a sudden, our supposed donors get to hear of them. And these people start to take notice and think; but was not Mrs. Johnson here the other day telling us of the amazing progress that was being made in Liberia asking us to help. Then they might wonder and say but let us maybe wait and see, and not go rushing into things. I do not even have to bring up the foreign investors into the equation. When you praise a white chicken the next thing you know, it will just turn around and roll itself in its own shit, and not be as white and clean as before.

Storm in a glass

Damn, we like politics business oh! What! It has been over a month now that, and all over our various media institutions, and our honourable lawmakers at the various conference centers in the northern suburbs of Monrovia and elsewhere, are still voicing their different opinions of whether or not this person violated the constitution. Blah, blah, blah. According to X.x article of the constitution, this and this. According to the Supreme Court ruling, this and that. And we shouldn´t even mention everytime the Liberian Petroleum Refining Cooperation releases a finacial statement. Ooohh! You just see them creeping out of the woodworks, every last Tom, Dick and Harry voicing their "expertise" on what is wrong and right about this and that, and still getting the facts wrong. Don´t get me wrong, freedom of speech is one of the things I will defend to the end. What I am trying to say is that we need to build up our country and create jobs very urgently, but it seems that most of us are sitting around debating petitesses with such enormous energy. Egos are flying all over the place, our so-called legislators all want to demonstrate their newfound power. A lot of these voices being thrown into these debates are from abroad. Come home, do not just sit there. If you are all that, you should be here, helping. You who knows accounting, come home and demonstrate. You who know law, I am sure that the judicial could use your help. And it just goes on. But no one is interested, everyone wants a government job and as long as they are not given one, our businesses will remain run by foreigners. This reminds me of when in the founding of our nation, land was being handed out to each family that arrived. But still, almost four or five years after the beginning of the settlement, not enough food was being produced because no one wanted to farm. Everybody wanted to trade. It got to a point where some lazy asses just sat and waited for the next boat to come in with supplies. Please funnel your energy into something productive instead of wasting it on nonsense.

Unwillingness to help

Now this is exactly what I was talking about in my last post. The Millennium Challenge Corporation has for months been trying to get basic information for the evaluation of Liberias chances of qualifying for assistance from the Millennium Challenge Corporation from the various ministries involved. The figures availiable date from the days of the Transitional government. But of course, I am sure that the usual "whats in it for me attitude" in the same ministries has put an effective stop to any information gathering, which by the way is one of their primary functions. Once again, the Liberian people suffer at the hans of uninterested government employees. I will therefore repeat my call for the immediate flushing of all ministries up to the ministerial level as was done in the Finance Ministry. Go Ellen. Go get them.

Who blames the World Bank?

In these days of Davos, our people are wondering what the World Bank is doing for Liberia. I for one know what the World Bank wants to do for Liberia and these wishes have been expressed to the public. That is one thing. It is a totally different issue of implementing these different projects. Just imagine, a group of World Bank officials want to build a road, a market or whatever for us. In any other country, you would contact the appropriate ministry, set up a project group and go from there. Who does what. Budget. Implementation.

However, in our beautiful sweet land of liberty, when these proffessionals meet our middle level ministry officials who are only interested in how many bags of cement are needed so that they can go and collaborate with the Lebanese for them to get their share of exaggerated amounts of cement. These World Bank officials are tired of meeting our officials whose only interest is what they can get for themselves. Just imagine, you are sitting in a meeting with someone that you are trying to help. This same person, who is supposed to work for the improvement of Liberia and is on a government payroll for this exact purpose wants you to pay him to execute his part of any project. I do not blame the World Bank or any of the international donors for not wanting to just hand over large sums of cash to be misappropriated.

Until there is a genuine interest for those sitting in these desirable civilservant positions to work for the improvement of Liberia for all Liberians, then progress will be extremely slow. One way of remedying this is to repeat the example of the flushing out of the Finance ministry last year. There is too much old blood within the ministries. Start one ministry at a time, and sack the whole lot and find people who are interested and qualified to work at these ministries. For goodness sake!

Everything charkla oh

I can just sit and watch, and laugh at our "honorable" lawmakers. There are so many sayings that come to mind: he who plants it will reap it, as you make your bed so will you sleep and so on.

You may wonder why I am laughing, giggling so hard that tears are running down my face against my will. I am nearly weting my pants because the whole situation in our lawmaking forum is just hilarious. It reminds me so much of when I went to kindergarten ages ago.

Instead of sitting down and revising and proposing well needed laws, our "big men" go about playing politics among themselves.

This is my own theory of what has happened:

Manager and board of LPRC see to it to fill their own campaign coffers with the company´s money and therefore are able to "pay" for their seats in parliament. Certain people make themselves unpopular amonst their collegues, even embarrasing them most of the time. Certain people start dishing out moneys for votes to become the top man which of course happens. When push starts coming to shove, former paid backers conpire and certain checks are made public with a certain audit conducted by independent auditors. A certain "get our money back" task force starts investigating and all of a sudden, certain lawmakers start claiming to have received bribes. A certain lawmaker just happens to have recordings of other lawmakers accepting these bribes. This same certain lawmaker starts publicly pointing the finger at a certain other branch of government, crying foul.

If you ask me, someone fooled this certain lawmaker after watching a b-police film, to personally finance said bribes and make recordings as a last resort effort to stop any votes of non-confidence by trying to force an investigation into the matter of these self-induced bribes.

We are sitting on the edge of our seats, awaiting the next episode.

The moral of the story is, money spent should always have some backup, because when the receiver spends it, he forgets where it came from.

You see me so, I am a MAAAAN oh!

As we all should but probably do not know, the clothes do not make the man. Especially if they are stolen. Anybody can put on a gown or a suit, anybody can own a car or a home, or anything for that matter. That does not give you the right to look down upon anyone who does not own these things.

Recently, in our home, they are starting to round up all the rogues one by one. Right away everybody starts to cry foul. Now the very thieves are being held just were they belong, in jail awaiting trial. But no, they must not be put there amongst "common criminals". Maybe we should build special holding cells now for the priviledged that are reserved for those wearing suits and polished shoes. Stealing is stealing, so remember that the next time you decide to pocket those dollars belonging to the Republic.

That oldma can throw shovel oh!

Everywhere you look, the oldma is throwing shovel. When she go this way, she throwing shovel. She always has her headtie on. Even in the hot sun. Go for it Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, show these guys how to do it. All of them wearing coat-suits in the hot sun in the background. I have never understood the need to wear the tie, the jacket, the shining shoes in our country. Please be aware that the clothes does not make the man. Too many of our people look up to these jackasses in their three-piece-suit, while they dupe you, lie to you and convince you to vote for them. Beware of anyone wearing clothes that does not suit the situation. What do they want from you? What are they trying to sell?

When push comes to shove

About a year ago we had a ridiculous amount of contestants for the top seat in government. There were twenty two presidential candidates representing the same number of political parties. The amount of acronymns flying around the media alone made me disheartened. Why you ask? Because this was typical for our beloved country. Everyone wants to become president, no one wants to do the hard work. Of the numerous parties available at the time, what distinguished between the parties programs and ambitions. Basically nothing. In the end, the personal cults around the most popular politicians prevailed. Now, a full year later, the National Election Commision, in accordance with the constitution, is requesting annual reports and commencing inspection of parties headquarters.

All of a sudden, where did all the parties go. Have they disappeared into thin air? It looks that way, so come the next presidential election in five years time, beware of the false prophets and do not forget to ask about their ideology.

When the cat is away....

Once again, as soon as our president is out of the country the trouble starts. What trouble you say. The trouble where certain elements decide to start making their own laws to please their own purposes. For example a statement from Star Radio issued yesterday. "The government of Liberia says some members of the Liberia Marketing Association are planning to demonstrate against the restructuring of the association. A government statement issued, warned any group planning such demonstration to desist. The statement issued by the office of the Vice President warned that anyone engaged in such demonstration would face the full weight of the law." I would like to know which law is being threatened upon these potential demonstrators. Do we now have a law that states that it is illegal to demonstrate? Seriously, what this statement says is that "I am the Vice President, I can order the police to come and deal with all of you if you do not conform to my wishes." Is this democracy? Somebody please inform the old man that we are in the year 2006.

Call dirt dirt

This is the spirit we need in our country, people willing to stand up to these fat, good for nothing scoundrels that call themselves lawmakers. One in their midst, one of their own has revealed the dirt that is sitting on Capitol Hill licking their fat lips with all the grease running down. He told it straight and he called dirt dirt. They book your oh, your damn greedy bunch of yeenytwe. These are the actions that make people vying to invest in our country just turn around and leave in disgust. Imagine the legislature of a country summoning the managers of companies just to be able to coerce a few dollars for a smooth ratifying process. And then turn around and threaten suspension for the person responsible for bringing this to the attention of the public. These are not the old days my people, so start doing your jobs, and let these few investors get on with theirs so that hopefully their venture will produce employment opportunities for our people. Next time, if anybody wants to book these fat pigs wasting our money on the hill, play along, make sure you record anything that they say and reveal it to the world. Then we can impeach the asses and replace them with responsible Liberians.

I will flog you oh!

Welcome to the middle ages, right here in the middle of the twenty-first century. Her we are, stuggling to survive, trying to leave the past behind us. But yet, some of our officials who feel that because they are elected have the right to do as they please. Instead of showing empathy in everyday situations, some of our leaders feel that they have the right to order their security officers to administer immediate justice according to the gospel of that official.

This behavior is a reminent of old times and intended only to humiliate the victim grossly in the eyes of the onlookers. Is this where we want to be headed, back into the dark ages? Keep me out of it and prosecute these corrupt officials/officers. It sounds to me that punishment for these kind of breaches of justice should be punished by publicly whipping the said official/officer and disrobing them. I am sure this treatment would curtail future "Do you know who I am?" from blatantly exerting their dearly won influence. Imagine having to explain to potential investors in our country that sometimes public officials dish out personal punishment on whoever they want, because they feel that their "position" gives them that right. Shame on you'all.

The power of rice

Long ago in the forties, fifties and sixties, our beloved country was selfsufficient in growing rice. All rice sold in Monrovia was grown in the interior. Trucks carrying other imported goods would leave Monrovia and head out into the hinterland and sell these goods. The currency was rice. Without criticising the Open Door Policy in the early fifties, it incouraged foreign nationals to come and do business in Liberia. This is about the time when the Lebanese started establishing their businesses. Gradually, and especially towards the end of the seventies, we were importing most of our rice. Enough said about his.

Today, we cry foul when the price of rice fluctuates with the world market price. Why? Because there are only two importers of rice who supply the whole country. Past governments have tried to control the price of the commodity by basically dictating price roofs to those importing. This would have been fine if anyone was free to start a rice importing business, but that is not the case. Instead the commerce ministry also dictates who is allowed to import rice by granting/withholding licenses to import. What kind of psuedo communism is this? Why should I as a businessman import rice at market price, ship it all the way to West Africa and then sell it for less than I have bought it. Sure, if the government subsidised me, I would very well consider.

We need to open up the market and let anyone who is willing and able import the stuff. He who sells it at the lowest price will surely be able to unload his stock without difficulty. Stop the bullshit now and free up the right to import and then collect whatever tariffs you see fit.

Take your finger out of the cookie jar

Lo and behold! Our protectors and our saviours are the same people that steal from us as soon as they get the chance. Not being armed is one thing, not having any possiblity to call headquarters is another. Not being able to respond to our calls due to lack of transportation is something we all will have to live with in the foreseeable future.

But having police officers in full uniform stealing from us when entering our homes under legal actions is as low as it gets. Imagine having officers entering your home with a legal warrant to search your home for illegal substances. When they get through, your laptop, mobilphone, cash, televisionset, stereo and even your mattress are seized. Why? Because some lowlife so-called Police Officer feels that these things appeal to him and would fit beautifully in his own home.

Come on Mrs. Police Chief, are you not in control of your officers?

Shame on all of you'all.

Stop the whining

Our gracious ex-dictator is presently cooling off in a pleasant cell in the dutch city of The Hague awaiting trial. For the last few months and even quite recently a certain acronym justice/watch organisation has been crying wolf for very long. They say that he is being treated as if he already condemned and so forth.

It is time for these people to shut up. I am very sure that if you look a little closer to this watchgroup, that those behind it are former cronies to the man. I can tell you that the nonsense that was going on in Sierra Leone with all the liberty of visitors and mobile phone, the ordering of special dishes can only happen in our part of the world. Let me tell you this, Charles Taylor is not being treated any differently than any other person awaiting trial in the Netherlands. It is not a damn hotel or recreational facility. In Liberia, he would not even have a bed to sleep in. Get real.

Legislate this

The Liberian Constitution is basically a carboncopy of the American one, although without all the amendments. The 3 branches of government (Legislative, Judiciary and Executive). In Liberia, the Legislature is divided into the Senate and House of Representatives which are elected by the people and are in charge of passing the laws of the nation.

So far all is well. In theory. The problem is that too many of these represenatives of the people do not have the best of the nation at their hearts. This bugs me to the point that it is annoying. How can serious legislative work be done when every little bit of criticism towards the peoples' representatives is met by blatant ignorance? It seems that our almighty house has spent more time summoning anyone that criticises their actions and deeds. Is this what we elected them for? To carry on personal crusades against anyone daring to challenge their almighty power.

Just recently, a prominent member of our house approached the manager of the Liberian Petroleum Refining Company underboard for fifty grand. What kind of bullshit is that? Those days are over. Luckily, the manager told the said individual to go to hell and went public with the attempt. These are the kind of people that we are dealing with, and you know the best part. They are elected for a term of nine years.

Not to long ago, when the pay checks were to be disbursed to all the employees of the various lawmakers in accordance with the authority in charge of these things, our humble lawmakers started acting up. Instead of complying, our honourable men and women cried foul. I can imagine their cries, "Who dares to challenge my authority" "Do you know who I am?" and all the other crap that can come forth when they want to continue collecting paychecks for "ghost names" and playing paymaster to their own staff with all the powerplay that can muster. Wake up people, those days are over. This is a new era, and if you all don't like it just send me a summons, and I will come give cause before the House.