(Liberia clocks 176 years today since gaining political independence on July 26,  1847. Yet, despite Liberia’s age, the nation remains one of the poorest in the world, plagued by rampant corruption and bad governance. The following is a short reflection piece I wrote back in 2019, as a call to reawaken our national consciousness. I have only removed sentences or words which I thought were superfluous).  

 

At 172 years, Liberia remains “a scar on the conscience of the world”. It’s a wound so deep that generations have had to grapple with different solutions in an attempt to heal it. Second to Haiti, which declared independence on January 1, 1804, Liberia became a bastion of hope and an Ebenezer of survival to the Black race in general and Africa in particular. But its nearly-two-century existence has been mired by chronic division, rampant corruption, failure of institutions, bad leadership, and moral crises of different kinds. A war has been waged on hope and love, truth and fairness, integrity and honesty. Within the political class, transparency and accountability are categorized as ‘enemies’ of Liberia’s growth, which is to say, the private accumulation of wealth. Justice no longer walks the corridors of our judicial system. Insincerity, injustice, cronyism, nepotism and favoritism are the rules rather than exceptions. Various sectors, including but not limited to education, health and infrastructure, rank amongst the lowest of the low in the world today. 

This is not what Kings Zolu Duma, Long Peter, and of course the powerful Mandingo ruler Boatswain (Sao Boso Kamara) bargained when they provided and defended the land that would later be called Liberia. This is not the Liberia that Hillary Teage envisaged in 1847 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, a document along with our Constitution which I think needs revisiting. This is not the nation that former President William R. Tolbert sought to heal and rebuild. The Liberia of today is a polar opposite of the one our forefathers had mentally conceived. And it certainly is not the kind of nation – whether in tastes or character –  that Welleh Didwho Twe, Tonia Richardson, Wewe Debbah, Swanzy Elliot, Michael G.S. Dolo, Wuo Gabia-Tapia, and Irene Nimpson, the first woman killed during the Rice Riot of April 14, 1979, clamored for during their lifetime. They all wanted Liberia to be an African example on the world stage. Regrettably, Liberia of today is far from the one that current social justice activists, advocates and patriotic journalists are yearning for. 

It’s time we decide to be different, to act differently. It’s about time Liberia breaks away from things that have kept her in chains and in the dark. The wanton disregard for our country’s history has led succeeding generations to repeat the mistakes of the past. For Liberia to bask in the sunshine of national transformation, we must understand our history, appreciate who we are, and remember those who dedicated their lives to the struggle for the realization of the Liberian Dream. But this cannot be achieved by hosting annual Independence jamborees, lavishly spending to appease political interests, while poverty has arrested the lives of the people; when many go to bed on hungry stomachs; when parents are worried about paying their children’s school tuition; when people are dying mysteriously; when rape and other forms of sexual violence are becoming acceptable norms of society; when about 40 percent of Liberian children are malnourished; when hope is scarce; and when deep hatred for and among ourselves runs down our spines.  

There must be behavioral change. The day we stopped thinking, that was the day Liberia began to plunge into her current stage of poverty, disease. and ignorance. We must begin to think again. To think is to know and understand oneself, and thus, finding the path to total mental and spiritual liberation. The French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes was right: “Cogito ergo sum” (“I think, therefore I am”). Socrates reminds us in his philosophical doctrines: “gnōthi seauton” (“Know thyself”). Francis Bacon did not fail to propound a similar doctrine in these words: “Seek ye first the good things of the mind and all other things shall be added or their loss will not be sustained”. 

History has demonstrated time and again that only when a people begin to think and act collectively can they burst out of their state of misery and agony toward a bright future of intellectual achievement and material prosperity. I’m convinced Liberia’s future is full of riches – a future that affords a decent life for every Liberian, a future for each Liberian. That future might seem utopian at the moment, but it’s calling out to us, and it’s morally imperative that all Liberians bring about that future. 

While we commemorate Liberia’s 172nd Independence anniversary, let us use the moment to travel into history, take a sober reflection and ask ourselves: What have we achieved for ourselves? What lessons can be learned? Where did we go wrong that has made this country the way – least developed, impoverished and divided? Do we want to keep on maintaining a kind of leadership that engages in service to the pocket instead of service to the public? What good can we show to the Black race? What examples should other African nations and peoples emulate from us? 

Like any Liberian of goodwill and genuine intentions, I want to see my country positively metamorphosed in all dimensions: political, economic and social. Since I was a child in primary school, the Liberia I saw then is the same as the one I see now. The Liberia that I read about in the pages of history books or on the marble slabs of monuments is just the same old Liberia I read about now – in newspapers, magazines, and commentaries. Nevertheless, I’m optimistic that in this generation, in this 21st century, Liberia shall become better. She will show to the world that despite the difficulties, she can afford to improve her life and give forms to her children’s dreams. 

 In our recent past, Liberia burned herself out in the ashes of self-destruction, but like the phoenix, she shall rise again to majestic heights of success. When this happens, it will not be a history of a 14-year civil war or the Ebola outbreak. It will not be a story about thieves and economic vampires stealing from and depleting the national coffers. It shall be a story and a history about patriots uniting to confront our common challenges. This is the fate that I walk with. This is the hope I hold in my heart. This is the thought I carry in my mind. It’s this Liberia that I dream about every day. 

To that Liberia of undeniable potential, Happy Independence Day!  

 

By Abraham M. Keita

July 26, 2019 (Published July 26, 2023)