Liberia has come a long way. Democratically, it has been a long, tough and perilous journey towards what now appears to be a near-happy ending with successive changes in government through the ballot. Africa’s current torch-bearer of democracy was until a few years ago, light years away from being a democracy beacon. It had been ravaged by decades of two separate but interlinked wars; grounded to zero and was a far cry from being heralded as the shining example of representative democracy in West Africa that it stands for today.
Game of Wars
The first Liberian Civil War unfolded from 1989 to 1997, marking the initial phase of two civil wars in the small West African country. President Samuel Kanyon Doe’s regime, established in 1980 through a coup d’etat, had become highly unpopular, totalitarian and grossly corrupt by the end of the 1980s, leading to the withdrawal of support of the United States, which had hitherto accommodated the military leader and first non-Americo-Liberian President of the country. By December 1989, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), under the leadership of Charles Taylor, launched attacks from Cote d’Ivoire to overthrow Doe. Within a year, the NPFL had gained control over most of Liberia.
On 9th September 1990, Doe was captured and summarily executed by elements of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a splinter faction led by Prince Yormi Johnson. Subsequently, internal conflicts emerged as the NPFL and INPFL vied for control of the capital city of Monrovia, while it contended with the Armed Forces of Liberia and the pro-Doe United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy on another hand.
Peace negotiations, spearheaded by former President Jerry John Rawlings of Ghana, along with the involvement of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and United Nations, facilitated a ceasefire in 1995; yet, sporadic fighting persisted until a comprehensive peace agreement was reached between the main factions in August 1996. Charles Taylor was elected President of Liberia a year later following the 1997 general election and assumed office in August of the same year. The First Liberian Civil War resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000, but the scars of abuses and numerous public executions lingered on.
The ensuing peace was held for only two years before the eruption of the Second Liberian Civil War in April 1999, initiated by anti-Taylor forces invading Liberia from Guinea. Concluding in October 2003, the Second Liberian Civil War was halted by an ECOWAS intervention, aimed at ending the rebel siege on Monrovia. The Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on 18th August 2003, after the 17th June ceasefire agreement, may have finally ended the bloodshed and atrocities that claimed an estimated 250,000 lives and displaced nearly a million Liberians from their homeland. In 2005, Liberia witnessed the repatriation of half that number in the aftermath of its first widely accepted democratic election since the overthrow of William R. Tolbert Jnr. in the 1980 coup d’état.
Road To New Era
Charles Taylor faced trial in The Hague, accused of rape, sexual violence, promotion of child soldiers, and illegal possession of weapons. Despite denying the charges, Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison after victims testified against him.
Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, once a staunch supporter of Charles Taylor and renowned in international circles, assumed office in January 2006. Since then, the West African country with a population of 5.4 million people – the same population as that of Ghana’s Greater Accra Region in 2021 – has made steady progress towards consolidating its democratic gains.
Johnson Sirleaf came into office as the 24th President of Liberia after she defeated current President George Manneh Weah in the 2005 polls. She bowed out after serving two consecutive six-year terms from 2006 to 2018. Then came Weah, an international football star and pride of his country, who cut his political teeth by being a Senator. The story around Monrovia’s political circles at the time was that Weah was persuaded to take up the senatorial seat instead of challenging the results of the elections. That decision allowed him to build up his political profile in a country that is often not kind to first-timers. Weah defeated former Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai in the country’s 2017 general election and became Liberia’s 25th president.
In the country’s recent election, Mr. Boakai exacted revenge when he defeated Weah by a slim margin in a fiercely contested election in October and November 2023. With the looming fear of being a one-term president, Weah graciously, and very sportsmanly, conceded defeat before the final announcement of the results by the National Elections Commission, helping to ensure a smooth transition of power in the once-volatile African nation.
Boakai, 78, won the run-off held on 14 November 2023, by 50.64 per cent of the vote, against Weah’s 49.36 per cent after neither of them got more than 50 per cent in the first round. He won with only a 20,567-vote margin, ending a presidency marred by graft allegations.
In his concession speech, Weah congratulated President-elect Boakai on his victory and addressed supporters reeling from accepting a bitter outcome and a nation at the crossroads: “Tonight, the CDC has lost the election, but Liberia has won. This is a time for graciousness in defeat, a time to place our country above party, and patriotism above personal interest… Let us heal the divisions caused by the campaign and come together as one nation and one united people.” With these words, Weah cemented the place of Liberia in the annals of democratic countries worldwide.
Despite the filing of some appeals by the party of the two main contenders concerning the conduct of the ballot in two polling places in Nimba County and others in Grand Gedeh, about which the National Elections Commission has 30 days to investigate and reach a decision, the election was peaceful, free and fair. The conduct of the polls is worth emulating, even for countries like Ghana, where a fair process surrounding the tabulation of vote counts is always in contention. For starters, other Electoral Commissions can learn from Liberia by posting the counted results at the polling stations for all to see and for the media to cross-reference, and possibly project for the public.
While sentiments across Liberia during the election season centered on peace and a fair process, Liberians have much to be proud of in West Africa. The international community, including the ECOWAS Permanent Mission, the European Union, the US government, and numerous non-governmental organisations which observed proceedings closely across the length and breadth of Liberia, were full of praise for what they witnessed.
Significance of Weah’s Concession For Liberia and Regional Security
In 2020, President Alassane Ouattara won a third term in neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire believed to violate the country’s constitution. Not too distant, there were suspicions that Macky Sall would seek a third term in office in contravention of Senegal’s national laws. The President’s silence on whether the rumours were true sparked widespread protests in the country. In The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh left office after intense mediation after he lost the election in 2016. There are other troubled spots across West Africa, in Guinea-Bissau and Togo, where the future of representative democracy is on shaky grounds.
In other instances, dire economic conditions and misgovernance have fuelled insecurity that has led to failed democracies and coup d’etats. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are prime examples in the sub-region. However, it is Guinea, which borders Liberia that should bring home for many Liberians during the electoral season. During the Liberian Civil Wars, many indigenes of Nimba County, Grand Gedeh, among others fled to Guinea across the border. Remnants of the war are still visible in the border towns. And then there is Sierra Leone, which borders Lofa County in Liberia. Events surrounding the recent elections in that country not only provided the wrong example but also a worrying trajectory for the sub-region, coming on the heels of a coup d’etat in Niger that many least expected.
Therefore, in a sub-region of 16 countries, with four under direct military rule and three others in dire straits, Liberia’s path towards consolidating its democratic credentials is the relief that is most needed at this critical juncture. President Weah’s gracious concession, even before the final results were declared, is highly commendable. Where the allure of power and the temptation to refuse to be magnanimous in defeat reared its head, President Weah chose statesmanship.
The signs were present for potential destabilisation of the peace and security the country had enjoyed. On the ground, disillusioned youngsters and hopeful civil servants were unwilling to accept any results that appeared doctored in favour of the incumbent. The ruling party also suspected the opposition of possible rigging. The stakes were high and charged. A combination of these developments culminated in a well-monitored poll. A refusal to concede could have plunged Liberia into another abyss – a situation that could have, once again, thrown the West African region in turmoil just as the two civil wars did.
In a situation where coup winds have been blowing through Francophone West Africa in the past two years, the bad narrative would have turned for the worse were the region to have an Anglophone nation join the coup train. The ECOWAS Permanent Representation, along with other international partners, were fully aware of the dangers and put their diplomatic skills to work to ensure that a concession by the President would be respected by his supporters.
President Weah, cognisant of the fact that Liberia got back on her democratic trail after immense bloodshed, reckoned to spare the war-weary nation another bloody suffering and pain.
It is a difficult thing for a one-term president to concede defeat, but Weah rose to the occasion and chose to be a different African leader, perhaps, with the hope of changing the leadership narrative on the continent and teaching his fellow contemporaries that leadership is not and should not be the personal property of those in power. It is a call to duty. It is given by the people, at will, to whomever they choose and take pleasure in.
Lessons For African Countries
The modern state of Liberia, a country never colonised, but founded by free enslaved Africans from the United States of America who wanted to return to the motherland, has practised democracy since the 1800s. It is Africa’s oldest democratic republic. Its first president, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, took office on 7th January 1856. Since then, Liberia has had 24 successive presidents, with Mr Weah being the 25th. His successor, Mr. Boakai would be the 26th elected president of the Republic of Liberia. The country is, hence, not new to democracy. However, its almost two-century democratic journey was dotted with coups and military insurrections, some of which ended in widespread bloodshed.
The lesson from Liberia is clear: countries in Africa that are electing new leaders in 2024 and beyond should not take the democratic progress made in the past decades for granted. Democracy is a project that requires individual citizens to hold their leaders to checks and balances, and a nation’s leaders to give account of their stewardship.
The recent success of Liberia is a clear indication that democratic gains are etched through the consistent engagement of all, particularly by Civil Society Organisations and influential community leaders. It’s an indication that diplomacy works best when the people wish it so. That an almost 200-year-old democracy like Liberia could falter along the way; that the road surely must be more slippery for those who have had just a few decades under their belt.
The country still looks to the United States, and in the last few decades, to Ghana for democratic inspiration and developmental aspirations. And, this is why these two democracies must not fail to live up to expectations in 2024 as they also head to the polls.
Source: CISA Editorial
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