Who
Will Lead Liberians to the Promised Land in 2005?
By Syrulwa Somah, PhD.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Syrulwa Somah, Executive Director of
the
Liberian
History, Education & Development, Inc. (LIHEDE), and an Associate
Professor
of Occupational Safety and Health at NC A&T State University, was
the
Keynote Speaker at Cuttington University
College
student general assembly. The Meeting was held at the Old Road
Campus of the College. Below is
the full text of Dr. Somah's address:
Dr. Henrique F. Tokpa,
President, Cuttington University College,
Dr. Saaim Naame,
Vice President for
Academic Affairs, members of the faculty, students, members of the
Press Union
of Liberia, distinguished quests, madames
et
messieurs, my fellow Liberians, ladies and gentlemen:
My brothers and
sisters, it is good to be with you this afternoon at
this
student assembly, especially for allowing me to speak to you on a few
things
that really “catch my heart.” It has been 15 to 24 or more
years since I
visited Liberia
or some of you saw me. But God has a reason for everything. Many things
have
happened in our country and in our lives since. But thank God we are
still
alive to come together as we are doing here today, to reflect some
thoughts on
our common problems as a people. I am happy to be home, and I am happy
to see
all of you. I know that God has a purpose for each of us in this life;
otherwise, we wouldn’t be here today. I believe God spared
our lives so we can rebuild our homes, our families, our towns, our
villages,
our schools, our cities, and our country. But it will not be easy. The
challenge is great. But if our God was able to lead the children of Israel to the Promised Land from
captivity in Egypt,
He is able to unite all Liberians to rebuild their country and to live
in peace
as brothers and sisters.
God didn’t come
down from heaven
to lead the children of Israel
to the Promised Land. Instead He counted on the children of Israel,
the men, women, and
children of the Hebrew people, led first by Moses, and then by Joshua,
to
follow His direction to the Promised Land. Today, in Liberia,
we need good leaders such
as Moses and Joshua to lead us on the path of unity, peace, and
reconciliation
so we can together rebuild our country. We ought to be tired of being
slaves in
our own country. It is time that we think long and hard about the kind
of life
we want for our children and ourselves tomorrow. We have to be firm in
our
desire to see total peace and stability in Liberia, otherwise we will
continue
to guess about the kind of life we want to live if we do not work
together and
choose the best leaders for us.
In
the task of
choosing our
leaders, we must be mindful in the description of who we choose. That
is to
say, what kind of leader we really want? I know we
all
want good leaders, but who do we consider good leaders? What
characteristics of
a good leader do we want? Well, you know for the children of Israel,
not only did they produce
their own leader, but their leaders were their servants and not their
masters.
Even when God referred to Moses as a servant of the people, Moses
became
humbled and said, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before
nor since you
have spoken to your servant …” (Ex. 4:10).
You will
note that
Moses
considered himself as God’s servant, not God’s leader of
the Hebrews. It is
stated that more than thirty times throughout the Bible, Moses is
referenced as
God’s servant, or “the servant of the Lord.” What is
important in this
description is that all great biblical leaders have this title from the
Almighty God: Joshua, Samuel, David, Caleb, Job, and even Israel
is
called as such. This is also one of the names and titles given to the
coming
Messiah in which Jesus describes Himself as a servant of the people
(Mt. 12:18;
cf. Isa. 42:1)
Brothers
and sisters,
in our
modern society, the word servant is not a very pleasing word to the
ears. Many
of us hold the word or title of servant generally in very low esteem.
We think
if you are servant of the people than you don’t worth a salt. But
that is not
what the word “servant” means before God. It means you are
your brother’s
keeper. It means you will not give your brother or sister something
that you
wouldn’t use yourself. It means you are willing to sacrifice your
own happiness
for the happiness of your friends and relatives, and the good of the
country.
If you are such a person, you are not only a good servant of the
people, but
also a good leader of the people.
Today in our nation,
there is a
general misunderstanding about being servants of the Liberian people.
Every
person in authority in Liberian thinks he or she is master and not
servant of
the people. But every leader is a servant of the people because without
the
people one cannot be a leader. A leader is chosen by the people so he
or she
could serve their best interest and not to work against their interest.
Liberia
is undergoing very troubling times and we need a servant of the people
to lead
us in rebuilding our lives and our country.
Like the Hebrews, we
in Liberian
must know that we are blessed. Our nation is blessed with the
earth’s finest
climate and fertile soil for agricultural enterprise, for growing
bananas,
rice, cassava, Malaguatta pepper,
mushroom, coffee,
kola, mango, okra, palm oil, papaya, rubber, and much more. Iron ore
tops the
list of Liberia’s
mineral wealth, making this country one of the leading iron exporters
in the
world of Barite, cyanite, diamonds, gold,
graphite,
and manganese. These are key avenues and opportunities for wealth
generation in
Liberia,
which could be used to the benefits of all Liberians.
Liberia is also
endowed with
abundant natural resources, with forests covering nearly 14 million
acres,
including 230 species of useable timber such as Mahogany, Walnut, and Makere; while wildlife such as elephants, water
buffalo,
lions, leopards, chimpanzees, and eagles are plentiful in Liberia.
But none of these natural
resources has the value of a grain of sand, because of our greed and
our
collective failure in developing our human capital, and our dependency
on
foreign theories. Had our national leadership promoted our heritage and
instituted good governance, as opposed to power being wielded by a few
and
knowledge confined to a few, our nation would have had the hand and the
brain
behind it to make great inroads in the socio-economic developments of
our
country. But here we are rich but poor at the same time.
Unlike the
Hebrews
who relied on
their customs and traditions to develop the Promised Land, the
westernization
of Liberia
swept our feet from beneath us only to have our technological
achievements
deliberately trivialized. Day-in and day-out many Liberians and their
foreign
friends deliver our natural resources to foreign nations to meet their
development aspirations while Liberians die from hunger, malnutrition,
and
other calamities.
In essence, the finest climate means nothing; the fattest soil has no
value;
the richest mines of Liberian mountains are worthless; the safety and
cleanest
harbors that border our nation are of no value when we are ignorant of
our own
origins and capabilities. As we have seen, Liberia, with 43,000 square
miles of
good soil naturally blessed by the tropical sun, with millions of
beautiful
people, is without the resources to feed her people, clothe her people,
provide
protection, and send in experts to run her government and write books
on her
history.
Liberia is like a big
balloon that
moves with every touch and every breeze. We hold our presidential
debates next
door in places we are rejected as a “step child,” just to
let “big mom” know we
are children on our best behavior. We crawl our knees to “big
mom” so she can
select our biblical Adam for us. We just don’t seem to know who
we are. We are
never confident in who we are and what we are doing unless people from
the
outside tell us what is good or what is not good for us. We are like
that
stepchild always seeking attention.
In the book of Genesis 1:1-2, we a see a compelling story again that
can help
us with the concept of self-consciousness. For some unknown events the
earth
became formless as darkness covered its surface after God’s first
attempt at
creation. For some strange events, the earth became dark and formless
which
surprised God but He was not discouraged. He made His second attempt at
creation for six to seven days and saw that everything was good.
However, God
had another problem at hand. He wanted someone to name these things He
had
created. Therefore, God decided to make an Adam to name all of the
animals,
trees, rivers, birds, reptiles, and creatures that fly, crawl, swim,
and run.
So God created Adam and he began to name God’s creatures.
“This is a fish, this
is snake, this is a bitter ball, this is a bird” and so forth.
But we are not
Adam and we are not in the Garden of Eden. We live in Liberia
and we are Liberians. We
cannot create a Liberian Adam, and we do not need a Liberian Adam. We
need a
good leader: A leader who will respect us and work hard to improve our
living
conditions.
In other words, in the coming elections in 2005, we need to elect the
person
who like Adam, can name those things that are dearest to our hearts and
our
nation. We need to select a leader who will take our country back from
the
hands of those people who can’t stop behaving like children. To
steal our
money, they bring war to our country, they destroy our country, and
then they
laugh at us. To confuse us, they totally devoid national education of
indigenous culture for books like Don and Peggy, Snow White, at the
elementary,
to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (most famous was Tom Sawyer); Romeo
and Juliet
and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; Rip Van Winkle, King Arthur's Round
Table and
Jonathan Swift on the national level.
We barely read about
any tribal
hero, folktales and legends of our culture. Beowulf and Hercules were
our
heroes and stories about the Trojan War saturated our thinking.
Children
learned more about the Presidents of United States, capital cities,
social
studies and languages of Western countries than their own country.
These
western stories though compelling but are irrelevant to the Liberian
culture
and society. And it seems to me that our present predicament lies in
the fact
that we have proven to be totally unprepared to accept and implement a
leadership and education system based on our own design. We have failed
in so
many respects to reclaim our status as a nation and people, to worship
the God
of our forefathers, to revere our ancestors, and to educate our
nation's
leaders so as to assure their greatness. We have miserably failed our
people
and ourselves because we are still confusing "grape vines with thorn
bushes, or figs with thistles."
As Liberians, we must try to take our rightful place in the community
of the
world. In time, the God of our forefathers and foremothers would reveal
the
true “Liberian Nehemiah” to build our wall in 52 days. But
we must be
accountable just as God was when God chose Nehemiah among the million
of Jews.
We hurt ourselves if we have a mute acceptance of the way things are.
We need
to do what Barnabas did when he heard that Jesus was passing by. He
shouted to
Jesus, “Have mercy on me, son of David. I am blind!” Yes,
many people may want
to silence you, but Liberia
is in a condition where we need to shout louder and louder in order to
be
heard.
We all
should vote
for a person
in 2005 who loves Liberia
and believes in its cultural heritage, including Liberian: history,
mythology,
legend, folklore, literature, practices, and spiritual beliefs.
Regardless of
ethnicity, the person selected as the new leader of Liberia
must demonstrate the ability to enhance the image of Liberia
at home and abroad and to unite all the people of Liberia under one roof as
it ought
to be. This senseless division amongst our people has greatly
undermined the
development aspirations and progress of the Liberian people, and it is
now time
that the new Liberian leader be a unifier not a divider. We need peace
in Liberia, we need
brotherhood in Liberia,
and we need opportunities in Liberia
so we can rebuild our lives.
My
brothers and
sisters, this is
my message to you. We need to unite and rebuild our country. We need to
elect the
best-qualified groups of Liberians for national leadership. The tribe
of the
persons we choose for national leadership shouldn’t matter as
long as they are
qualified in the sense of their ability to value Liberian culture and
unite all
Liberians around a common goal of national development. If a town chief
is a
good leader, elect him. If a university professor is a good leader,
elect him
or her. Remember, the key qualifications are leadership and the ability
to
mobilize the Liberian people into collective action to rebuild their
nation.
In the
past, some
Liberian
writers have asked: what are we looking for as a people if we do not
want an Americo-Liberian, Bassa, Gio
(Dan), Krahn (Wee), Kpelle,
Vai, Loma, Gissi,
Dei, Mende, Mandingo, Kru
(Kloa), Mano (Maih)
to be president? For me, I don’t really care about the tribe or
education of
the person who wants to be president. I care about the person’s
leadership
ability and philosophy. We need to look at why this person wants to be
a leader
before uprightly rejecting him or her. We first need to ask ourselves
does this
person want to be our leader only to advance himself
or herself, or to serve our best interests? We need to know the
platform of
what the person will do if he or she became president. And if the
person cannot
give us any concrete plans on how he or she will unify Liberians and
rebuild
the country, that person would not be qualified, regardless of origin.
If that
person cannot clearly define Liberia’s
needs, do not vote for that person even if he or she is your blood
brother or
sister, old classmate, son-in-law or partner in crime.
Liberia
is in ruins and we
need to
act fast before it gets too late. We need to close the ugly chapters in
our
history 157 years, and move on. We have gone through our first, second,
and
third republics as a nation and people, and so we need to correct all
our past
mistakes in the upcoming 4th republic. Our nation made a mistake from
the
beginning and any attempt to hold it together as a unified nation is
doomed to
certain failure without the right leader and a proper understanding of
the
Liberian way off life. We need to respect and protect our cultural
values if we
want other people in the world to take us seriously.
If we forget the past, or if we forget the present, we will not be
prepared for
the future. Are we ready to tell ourselves the truth? If we cannot
describe our
country, our own image in the community of nations, will we not be able
to get
other people to help us, and we will not be able to select the correct
person
to lead us. As Liberians we must be proud of our history, and we must
teach our
children and ourselves about our history and our culture. Knowledge of
Liberian
history, culture and natural resources can be a powerful force in the
unity and
rebuilding of Liberia.
At this
point, my
dear friends,
our message here will be incomplete if we do not talk about matters of
the
nation for which I am here today. I guess you have wondered many times
why we
have the civil war and fighting among ourselves, killing our sisters
and
brothers, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters thereby plunging our
nation
into a 14 years civil war. If you did know then, let me share with you
one of
the reasons: It is lack of knowledge about ourselves as a people. I
mean the
lack on institutions to teach us and indoctrinate to be our brothers
and
sisters’ keepers. But how can we solve this problem? I have come
to Liberia
to propose an Undergraduate Major Program in Liberian Studies at all
Liberian
Higher Institutions of learning to begin in the summer (May) of 2006.
The corridor of history continues to remind us that education is the
jewel of
life for all people and that the human “mind is a terrible thing
to waste.” As
an invaluable component of society, education at our national
university should
consist of the promotion of patriotism and the effective and efficient
use of
national wealth (human and materials) by the students. In this regard,
the Cuttington
University and
College
has the moral and ethical responsibility to join in the effort to
educate
Liberian leaders and all Liberians in national history, leadership, and
networking, in order to unlock the creative talents of its citizens to
become
better people. If education is to have a true meaning in our nation and
a
democracy that befits our culture is to take root and flow like a
majestic
waterfall, no mind of Liberia
should be wasted or cut off from the authentic history in post-conflict
Liberia.
In retrospect, the
primary goal
of the Liberian Studies curriculum is to provide students with
knowledge on
Liberian ethnic groups, their histories, cultures, mores, and educate
future
leaders and other civil servants to solve our problems as community of
nations
continue to tell us to solve our own national and political quagmires.
In the
past, our educational institutions have not adequately addressed the
deep
differences among us. Therefore, the proposed curriculum should be
intercollegiate, interdisciplinary and multicultural in nature to meet
its
objectives.
The proposed
curriculum also
stands the chance of bringing together Liberia’s best brains
and scholars
from the various disciplines, not only to promote interdisciplinary
exchange,
but also to reinforce critical interventions, interactions, discourses
and
constructive engagement with the learning process about our
“total identities.”
I believe that familiarity with Liberian intellectual thoughts and the
activists' traditions that flow from such thought will contribute to
our
generation and future generation to enter into dialogue and join in
projects
with other ethnic groups for a nourishing functioning nation.
The Liberian people were (are) a proud and self-respected people. And
this is
the history we must tell our children. This is the history for which we
must
take responsibility to let others know. Some of the information can
also be
found in my recent book: Nyanyan Gohn-Manan:
History, Migration and Government of the Bassa. I am donating a copy of
my book
to the University for your reading or to be one of the text books for
the
proposed Liberian Studies curriculum.
Employment
and Graduates’
Functions
You may ask what I am
going to do
with Liberian studies degree? First, it
doesn’t make
any sense to go to foreign land to get degree in our own history. If
there is
any institution that is in a better position to confer BS, MA and PhD
in
Liberian studies, CUC is one. Graduates of the program would find
employment as
Liberian studies Specialists, Counselors, Educators, Political
Scientists,
Psychologists, Social Workers, Sociologists, Uniformed Personnel, Law
Enforcement Officers, Appointed and Elected Officers. They would
function as
sources of our producers, transmitters of ideas and practices,
mediators, and legitimators. To make the
program attractive to incoming
students, I will be proposing to the Ministry of Education during my
upcoming
meeting with Madame Dr. Evelyn Kandiaka so
that the
first 500 students are awarded scholarships so that upon graduation
they can
teach at elementary, junior and senior high school students
Liberian history.
Initial
Support of
the Program
In my
capacity as the
Executive
Director of Liberian History Educational Development, Inc. (LiHeDe),
to sustain the program, I would contact Liberian scholars to develop
instructional materials (curricula), and write textbooks specifically
for Liberia.
Liberian authors, through LiHeDe website
will be
asked to donate one or more copies of their books to the Liberian
studies
program.
If the proposal is acceptable, LiHeDe will
arrange in
consultation with other individuals and universities to teach these
courses for
the first two years, a series of three-week compact courses during each
summer.
It is recommended that the courses be offered from May 1 to June 25 or
June to
July each year. This is the best way I think we can get the program off
the
ground until a legitimate government is elected. I believe our sisters
and
brothers in Europe and America
would come to our aid.
Let us go forth and
inspire on a daily basis at least one child or
adult to
believe in themselves, learning our history and to work hard for the
peace,
unity, and national development of Liberia. We should never
forget to
unite and work hard because our collective action can define and
resolve Liberia’s
needs. As adults, we must not be ashamed to tell our children that we
are the
generation of Liberians on whose watch Liberia died because we had
the
chance to give her CPR and failed. Such a message will be a very hard
lesson,
but it will be a lesson well learned for the good of society. I thank
you.