Cultural Input

I have been posting a lot recently about the elections and more formal systems of governance and political activism, here is another perspective on political activism that can be found in Liberia.

Liberian hip-co

Liberians not yet done with Democratic Duty: Preliminary Results Yield Run-off

According to the preliminary results released by NEC (National Election Commission), Liberians will be heading to the polls once again on November 8, 2011 to determine who will lead the country for the next five years.

Many Liberians are not surprised by the announcement that this first round of elections has resulted in a run-off; with 16 presidential candidates and the need to win 50% plus one vote it seemed unlikely from the start that any candidate would achieve this number during the initial race.

For some Liberians there is a sense of déjà vu, with the 2005 elections also resulted in a run-off with then presidential candidate George Weah of the CDC (Congress for Democratic Change) leading the first round and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the UP (Unity Party) coming in at a close second. However, in 2005 in the second round Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the UP were able to make significant gains during the two weeks of campaigning prior to the run-off and she came back to top George Weah in the final race.

For the 2011 election, incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been up against a new CDC presidential candidate Winston A.Tubman and she has lead the first round with 44% of the vote. If anything has been learned from the 2005 process, it’s that going into the second round of campaigning, scheduled to start on October 26^th it is really any candidates’ game.

The important thing for all political parties and candidates to remember during the run-off is that regardless of how eager they are to secure the position of head of state, they must put the country and Liberians first and continue to engage in peaceful, respectful and fare campaigning. The ECC (Election Coordinating Committee) will continue to monitor the electoral process and encourage all stakeholders to respect the outcomes of the elections and the will of the Liberian people. Today they issued a press release that stated:

During this critical period of the electoral process, the ECC urges all political parties and candidates to maintain the peace, and wait for NEC to release the final results. Any grievances thereafter should be addressed according to law and through the NEC as the initial course of redress. In the interim, they should refrain from making public statements that could incite violence and undermine the credibility of the elections that have been effectively administered thus far.

Like in any country during a time of heated political campaigning, candidates and political party supporter will likely have the strong temptation to engage in some political mud slinging. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that in a country still working to build civil societies confidence in the democratic process, they must take real caution to heed the advice of the ECC and refrain from engaging in any activities that may “undermine the entire electoral process and the gains made thus far in strengthening democracy and maintaining peace and stability in Liberia”.

Dedication to Democracy – Liberians Take to the Polls

Search for Common Ground has published my article about my experience as an ECC election observer here.

2011 Liberian Election Results

Liberia Media Center -Reporting Elections Results

Important Disclaimer: These results are preliminary, unofficial, partial and reflective of results posted at various polling centers across the country. The National Elections Commission is the only body clothed with the authority to announce certified, official and final results.

Dedication to Democracy

A woman outside of a polling station shows me her voting registration card

What I witnessed yesterday here in Liberia can only be recorded in history as nothing short of true dedication to the democratic process. The morning sky was covered with large grey rain clouds, but the mood in Monrovia was bright; people where enthusiastically queuing up outside of polling stations hours before they were scheduled to open at 8:00am in anticipation. I got to the Ushahidi office at 7:30am where the ECC (Election Coordinating Committee) data collection staff had started to arrive. The ECC had trained 20 observers on a data collection program that was designed to take calls about any critical incidences witness by the 2000 ECC monitors in the field.

A woman shows me her inked finger after she has cast her ballot

We arrived at the first polling station just as the rain started to become heavy, though the weather did not damper the spirit of the Liberian people. We were greeted with big smiles and people flashing us their voter registration cards. Inside, the polling staff was hard at work ensuring that each voter could easily follow the steps and successfully cast their ballot. Accommodations were made to ensure that people with disabilities, the elderly, pregnant women and women with small children could easily vote without having to wait in the long queues. I witnessed a 82 year old blind woman, assisted by a family member she trusted casting her vote, she smiled as she came out from behind the polling box proud to be doing her civic duty.

Women with small children were escorted to the front of the line to cast their votes

We reconvened at the Ushahidi office around noon to see if our experience of calm, peaceful and professional polling centres different in other areas of the country. The ECC data entry staff were happy to report that the phone lines had remained quiet all morning, except for the reports they had received from the field, which confirmed that the mood we had experienced here in Monrovia was being echoed across the nation.

A polling attendant checks the final voter registration before issuing the man his ballots

As the heavy rain lifted, we continued roaming around the city, stopping in at various polling stations to ensure that the process was still running smoothly. Each polling place we visited the rooms were filled with political party observers, security personal, polling staff, international observers and a monitor from the ECC. While the long day continued, people started to look tired, but their patience and dedication to overseeing the process did not waiver. As the light started to fade and the last few ballots were cast, a quiet calm came over the city, except at the polling stations, which remained hives of activity. Each polling station was responsible for verifying the number of ballots that had been cast for the presidential, senatorial and representative candidates. The process was slow and tedious, as all observers present needed to verify each marked ballot, but everyone was respectful and persistent that the process be carried out in a very careful and proficient manner. Long after I had retired for the evening, dedicated Liberians all across the country worked up until 6:00am this morning checking and rechecking each precious vote.

All parties worked late into the evening verifying and reconciling the votes

The preliminary results will not be announce by the NEC until Thursday however, my feeling is that regardless of who is elected, Liberians everywhere should know that as a country they have won something greater than the candidates that will represent them for the next five years. They have all won the right to feel proud that they live in a country where every citizen has the right to participate in an electoral process that is free, transparent and peaceful.

A Peaceful but Strong Reminder

Yesterday was an extremely important and historic day for Liberia, specifically for Liberian women. Not only did two Liberian women win the Nobel Peace Prize but it is particularly significant in a context where women (and not just the two women who were award this prize) are continuing to fight day in and day out to ensure that the small gains that have been made, here in Liberia are not lost to conflict. They continue to fight so that there daughters and sons can look forward to a future where they have access to education, good health care and free and equal participation in all aspects of society, including politics.

If you are interested in learning more about the contributions of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, please click to see their profiles that my current roommate, Tamasin Ford wrote yesterday in Monrovia, after the announcement of their win.

In addition the Guardian did a great Editorial: Nobel peace prize: arms and the woman

I hope yesterday can serve as a reminder to women and men all over the world, that we cannot cultivate free, peaceful and healthy societies without the equal and active participation of women and men in all aspects of life.

Liberia’s Healthy Appetite for Political Debate

Search for Common Ground has asked me to contribute to their blog and share my insights and observations as an intern here in Liberia. Please click here, to view my first blog post regarding the upcoming elections this Tuesday October 11, 2011.

Peace Building, Da Liberian Women's area!

Women Peacemakers Receive the Nobel Peace Prize!

Educate the Girl Child…Now Da should be Everyone’s Area!

On my way to work this morning I heard an interesting campaign on the radio about the importance of education for Liberian youth, more specifically the add seems to be for parents, aimed at promoting the education of their girl children.

When I get to the office I ask one of my colleagues, “If education is now *free for all children, both girls and boys, why is there still such an issue with parents choosing not to send their girls to school?”

One things that is really amazing about how Liberians answer questions, is that they do it in such a lyrical and narrative way. My co-worker is very well educated, articulate and extremely motivated to make political and social reforms in his country in order to ensure girls and women have equal access to education. He gives me a little smile that makes me know… I have much to learn before I understand the more subtle workings of Liberian society.

“Eh Lindsay...you know, sending the girl child to school is not easy O”, he says.

He goes on to tell me the story about how when he was growing up, his sister also did not go to school, even though him and his brother did. When I ask if it was a mater of financial constraints, he tells me no. The reason he gives is because of the rural location of their village, him and his brother had to walk several kilometers to and from school. Once they got to the high school level, they had to walk an even long distance to catch a ride from the elementary school into the high school that was located in the next town. He tells me how during rainy season because of all the mud on the path to school he used to have to take all his school clothes off put them in a plastic bag and walk to school in his underwear, and how for a boy child there is no shame in doing this, but for a girl child she could not possible do the same. He explains, how he would have to run very quickly to try and make it to the school in time to catch the ride and how there is no way his sister could have run as fast. He also tells me that when money was especially tight, and his family could not afford to replace his school uniform, he would ware it with rips, but how the family would have been too ashamed to send their girl child out with torn or dirty clothing.

I am grateful for my colleague sharing with me his own personal experience because it has shed some light on a few things for me. One major gender issue, is that family dignity and pride is still so intricately linked to the protection and “decency” of their girls. I think this is still true in many countries and cultures throughout the world. Secondly, there is still this belief that biologically, women are somehow inferior to men and that due to our weaker state we cannot possibly endure the same kind of physical challenging activities that men undergo. I find this channel of argumentation particularly annoying, because I feel that people still insist upon arguing this point in the face of so much contrary information.

In the context of Liberia, I find it difficult to see how on one had a young girl is seen as too vulnerable or weak to walk a muddy path to school, and yet on the other hand she is seen as completely capable of carrying a huge basket of oranges, bananas, water or various other products on her head for 10 hours a day weaving in and out of traffic under the beating hot sun. Or how she is expected to carry a child on her back, in addition to carrying a huge bag of coal, clothes, dried fish etc. all the way to the market, so she can make a meager profit to bring home food and prepare the family meal. How could these activities be any less exhausting than a 3 kilometer walk to school in the morning? Or how are these young girls any less vulnerable or exposed to any kind of physical or sexual assaults out on the streets or in the markets?

It not easy, O!

What I am trying to say, is not that is acceptable for any child to have to walk kilometers a day on a dangerous path in order to get an education. I think it should be the responsibility of all States to provide safe, assessable and equal educational opportunities to girls and boys. But in the meantime, in a post conflict environment, where schools, roads and transportation systems are still being rebuilt; I would like for people to stop and think for one minute…is it really because we are concerned that girls can’t walk far enough or run fast enough that we aren’t sending them to school? They don’t seem to have a problem getting to the markets, so why is the schoolhouse so much more of a challenge?

A very enthusiastic, strong and capable Liberian girl on her way back home from school!

* I would like to note that recently, I completed a report on Liberians' perception of their States and the services they have been able to provide in the past 8 years. Although reforms have been made in order to provide free education across the country, it seems that in some counties, teachers are still having trouble getting paid and as a result at times they ask/exploit their students for money.