After almost 15 years of good governance, the results in Liberia are mixed and most Liberians do not have access to basic infrastructure, security, access to justice, and good schools and hospitals.
The post-war era has been entirely defined by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her legacy is significant as an internationally-acclaimed female leader.
True, the first bloom of optimism for a progressive and equitable future (those ideas and things promised to the Liberian public) withered around the time when Sirleaf marginally won a second term to power in 2011.
But even then, Sirleaf still enjoyed support and admirers. In 2017, the public mood wants a change and is dizzyingly confused by the wide variety of political contenders vying for the presidency in a soon-to-be post-Sirleaf, post-UNMIL era.
Unless Liberia elects a sweeping visionary who can set a social and political vision to revitalize and clean up the public sector; slash and do away with the excesses of public officials; lay the foundations for the state’s capacity to deliver public goods and not through public-private collaborations; seek and develop other economic models; the public would benefit from realistic expectations for the next leader rather than dreams for a sweeping, smooth socialist revolution from the current opportunists.
After all, the die was cast in 2003 when a UN-brokered peace brought in the neo-liberal peace that we enjoy today.
Meanwhile, surely, everyone is holding their breath for peaceful elections and a smooth transition to the next President.
The focus on the state and formal institutions can be tiring. The hollowed state in Liberia is struggling to deliver public goods and this is indeed depressing.
However, there are sources of optimism and hope. Liberians are living their lives with and without relying on institutions and the state. There are markets and community solutions to these gaps: generators, private clinics, motorcycle taxis, susu clubs, churches, mosques, traditional doctors, community watch forums, etc.
One can see the obvious impressive scale of construction in and around Monrovia (especially on Tubman Boulevard) that inspires a market-driven confidence. There are dozens and dozens of hotels, apartment buildings, and new businesses coming up. There is even a new four-story mall in town.
These new high-profile developments catering to an upscale market are impressive, of course, but I feel a more grounded sense of optimism from the teeming small businesses that are thriving on the back roads behind Tubman Boulevard, in the nooks and crannies of central and greater Monrovia: these are the tailoring shops, small trading stores, building material shops, the hundreds of three-wheeled rickshaws or kehkehs zooming around town, the small superstores, the boutiques, the DVD shops, etc.
Even better, the construction of homes and businesses along all the major road arteries leading into Monrovia give one even more hope. There are internal commerce and trade by a population that is building homes and businesses. Urban centers like Ganta and Buchanan are also reviving through private efforts.
Liberia is embarking on a new path following more than a decade of leadership under Africa’s first female president, a regime that has enjoyed the Western support and, the semblance of security under the shadow of one of the longest standing peacekeeping missions.
Dogged by the perception of runaway corruption, public excesses, and the suffering of the common Liberian without access to the most basic services and structures, Sirleaf’s legacy is mixed.
It is mixed, but her achievements as a 21st century leader of a post-war country in keeping Liberia together with the good blessings and graces of the international liberal order according to liberal norms are undeniable.
Good luck to Liberia at this historic moment.
Featured photo by S. Kanny Ziamo of Voice of Gompa/LINA
