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

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.

Political Party Slogans Part 2

I don’t know how I managed to forget in the last blog post - commentary on one of the most brilliant political slogans of all time (This puts Obama’s pop art CHANGE slogan to shame, he should really get in touch with Ma Ellen’s peeps for this next election).

Take a look at this…really take a minute to take it all in!

I have to tell you, when I first saw this poster up around the city I thought “Now that is really playing dirty, why would you publicly refer to your political opponents as a Monkey or Baboon? In staff meetings, behind closed doors name calling I’m sure is completely appropriate and possibly even encouraged by publicly?” It seemed like political suicide to me, but here in Liberia it is just considered clever PR.

For those of you who have been studying up on Liberian English, you might be able to decipher the “wait small” part of the message. Or perhaps those who have spent time living and working in West Africa, or just have a lot of general animal knowledge might be able to work out the entire slogan all on your own.

But if you were anything like me when I first read this poster, most of you are probably thinking what the *&#! does that mean?!

So let me break it down. The Monkey represents current President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and she wants the country to know she is still working very hard for Liberia. It is particularly important for her to acknowledge this point because back in 2005, during the last election she publically announced that she would only run for office once. For those of you who are thinking, “How typically, another African leader promising to bring change and reform in only one term now decides they need more time – before you know it we have another Momard Gaddafi on our hands”. I think we should cut Ma Ellen a little slack.

First of all the woman is 72 years old, if she is elected for a second term and serves for the next 6 years, something tells me at 78 years of age she will be in the mood for a little well deserved R&R (retirement and red wine). Secondly, although 6 years may seem like a long term to those of us who have the privilege of living in a stable peaceful democracy, it really isn’t that much time when you are trying to rebuild a country that has had ever fiber of its social fabric violently destroyed for 14 years. 6 years is pretty much long enough to beg the international community to forgive your massive debts, start the rebuilding and vetting your security sector, fix roads so you can actually access the communities you are trying to rebuild and get some of your kids back into schools. 6 years is not long enough to electrify the country (I heard yesterday only 1% of Liberia is electrified, more on this later), provide safe drinking water, rebuild clinics and make sure your population is not just scrapping by on $1USD per day. In summary, the Monkey or Ellen is asking for a little more time so she can really get things done!

The Baboon is her political opposition, and here is the best part… baboons are notorious in the animal kingdom for stealing bananas or other fruits from monkeys instead of gathering their own. In other words, Ellen does not want the political opposition to come and “steal the fruits” of her labour, or more specifically to undo some of the progress and work that here administration has accomplished in this last term.

Wait Small is the Liberian English way of saying wait for a short time, or just a little while. So she is asking that Liberians reelect her so she can finish the work she is doing, and the opposition…well they only have to wait another 6 years before they can have their turn to lead Liberia.

My fellow Canadians - I know what you’re thinking…how can this be used by the Conservatives in the next election? The answer …it just can’t. The trick about calling yourself a monkey publicly, is that you have enough credibility that people don’t already call you a monkey behind your back; you can see how this would pose a problem for Harper!

Political Party Slogans….Da UP Area

Perhaps one of the problems with Canadian politics is that campaigning in Canada has no creative flare. In our fast-pace media driven society we want to be entertained and nothing says entertainment like great political slogans!

In my first blog post I started to explain why I decided to name this blog 213 – Da My Area. To recap the 213 is the country code for Liberia and Da My Area is a brilliant political slogan adopted by the Unity Parties' P.R team for this election.

When I arrived in Monrovia one of the first things I noticed was the political signage all over the city. The Unity Party posters are particularly noticeable (not only because they have the largest budget for marketing) because they have strategically placed their posters on major state buildings all over the city, for example on the football stadium the poster reads;

Sports and Recreation
Da Their Area

On the court house;

Law and Order
Da Their Area

On the Ministry of Gender;

Women’s Rights
Da Their Area

As a newbie here I didn’t fully grasp the brilliance of this campaign slogan, naive I assumed that using Liberian English was Mamma Ellen’s PR teams way of showing her solidarity with the people. It wasn’t until one of my roommates kindly explained to me that Da My Area was recently a number one hit song in Liberia. Most of the songs that become top 40 here in Liberia are Nigerian artists but this song is pure Liberian. At just over 7 minutes long it is the perfect campaigning beat to be blasted in the back of pickup trucks driving through the city with your political supporters decked out in your specially made campaign lapa (more on local dress later).

At 72 years of age you have to give Ma Ellen some serious street cred, catchy and creative political marketing…Da her area!