Liberian Prez Part II

OK I was reprimanded for abruptly halting my last post – so let me continue on....

Back to the Liberian President. As I mentioned, she was recently elected after Liberia emerged from a 14-year civil war. As one may expect, Liberia’s war was pretty intense. Upon its demise, the war left a seriously corrupt government and pervasive poverty in its wake. Liberia was in rough shape.

In 2005, the country held its first democratic election – part of its attempt to pick itself up and start over. Johnson-Sirleif was elected, and since then, Liberia’s economic and social situation has dramatically improved. Its paid more than half its national debt, has increased its government revenue by more than $280 million dollars (enabling a pay raise for federal workers), installed three new community colleges outside of its capital, implemented a scholarship program for young girls (of which 3,000 have received scholarships to attend school already), and set an unprecedented standard for freedom of the press in Africa. Additionally, Transparency International recently recognized Liberia’s significant progress in in fighting corruption within its government. Obviously, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and there is still a long way to go, but as the Dean of Minnesota’s Humphrey Insitute of Public Affairs stated, Liberia’s progress is considered “miraculous.”

When President Johnson-Sirlief was introduced, her introducer (I think I just made that word up) gave a rundown of her experience. Her resume is quite impressive, and includes stints such as Minister of Finance for Liberia, Vice President of the Africa Regional Office of Citibank, Director of UN Development Programme Regional Bureau for Africa and of course, President of Liberia. Undoubtedly, President Johnson-Sirleif’s experience has contributed to her ability to give her country hope. This makes sense. Consequently, this leads me to conclude that all high-ranking government leaders should have the kind of leadership and international experience Sirleif-Johnson had when she took office. I mean, I know I’m drawing assumptive conclusions – but look at Democratic Republic of Congo. The country’s in bad shape due to an overwhelming amount of oppressive historical factors. However, I wonder if the DRC would be in better shape if its president, Joseph Kabila, had more education than a supposed degree from some mysterious online university, and more leadership experience than simply being the son of a former president.

Ahhh… anyway, those are my long-winded thoughts on Friday’s event. It is really encouraging to see that things can change – esp. in a continent way too many think is beyond hope (it’s not!). This means that it’s possible my intelligence-level will change (for the better) tomorrow and I’ll be able to successfully finish this semester. Yeah! I love change. Yes we can.