1980INo. 39 Africa

,IBERIA: THE DISSOLUTION OF PRIVILEGE Part I: Seeds of Discontent by J. Gus Liebenow

The struggle for fundamental changes in the social, economic, and political order in which culminated in the coup on , 1980, had been long in its gestation. The American Universities Field INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS American Staff, Inc., founded in 1951, is a non- University of Alabama profit, membership corporation of Brown University American educational institutions. It California State Universities emp~ojsa full-time staff of foreisn UniversityIFullerton area specialists who write from abroad and make periodic visits to California State UniversityINorthridge Field Staff member institutions. AUFS serves the public through its seminar pro- University of Connecticut grams, films, and wide-ranging pub- Dartmouth College lications on significant develop- lndiana University ments in foreign societies. lnstitute for Shipboard Education University of Kansas Michigan State University University of Pittsburgh Ramapo College of New Jersey Utah State University University of Wisconsin System

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THE AUTHOR Association and a member of the Fellow at Harvard University; and re- Executive Council of the International ceived his Ph.D. in Political Science African Institute in London. from Northwestern University in 1955. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Professor Liebenow began his field work Kappa Phi, he taught at the University of in Africa in 1953, and he has spent 6 of Texas before coming to lndiana Univer- the past 25 years doing research, teach- sity in 1958. He was the first Director of ing, and service in tropical Africa. He is African Studies at lndiana (1960-1972) the author of Liberia: The Evolution of and served as Dean for International Privilege; Colonial Rule and Political Programs (1968-1972) and Vice Presi- Development in Tanzania: The Case of dent for Academic Affairs for the the Makonde; African Attitudes towards Indiana University system (1972-1974). Agriculture, Education, and Rural Trans- formation; and of numerous journal articles and chapters in edited volumes. Dr. Liebenow is a specialist on the prob- lems of local government; urbanization; management of the African environ- ment; politics ,of migration; and feder- J. GUS LIEBENOW, Professor of Polit- alism. ical Science at lndiana University, is one of the pioneers in the study of politics in Dr. Liebenow received his B.A. (summa 0 1980, American Universities Field sub-Saharan Africa. He is the immediate cum laude) and M.A. from the Univer- Staff, Hanover, NH Past President of the African Studies sity of Illinois; was a Goodwin Memorial 1980INo. 39 by J. Gus Liebenow LIBERIA: THE DISSOLUTION Africa [JGL-1-'801 OF PRIVILEGE

Part I: Seeds of Discontent

On April 12,1980-in the same week been replaced by the signature of the that the fever of discontent attained that Zimbabwe attained its indepen- Doe revolution-"In the cause of a sustained and organized character. dence from a form of settler-colonial the People, the struggle continues." domination -one of Africa's Underscoring its symbolic signifi- As a form of nineteenth- and twen- strangest cases of dependency rule cance, not only the tribal origins but tieth-century colonialism in Africa, also came crashing to an end in the also the very youth of the coup the Liberian case differed from most western part of the continent. Fol- leaders as a group contrasted sharply examples in which the essential im- lowing a litany now so familiar to with that of most deceased or perial governing force was external. contemporary African politics, a arrested Americo-Liberian officials. In this respect Liberia shared a group of 17 noncommissioned offi- The latter were chronologically twice parallel experience with Ethiopia and cers and enlisted men broke into or three times the age of Doe himself, with the Afrikaaner republics in the Executive Mansion in and also represented an ideological South Africa. In each of these in- during the early hours of that April posturewhich had been much earlier stances, a group which was basically morning and assassinated President repudiated in most African states. internal to the continent had ex- William R. Tolbert. The leader of the tended its political, economic, and coup, 28-year-old Master Sergeant The struggle which culminated in the social control over its less powerful Samuel Kanyon Doe, was virtually April 12 coup had been long in its indigenous neighbors. In doing so, unknown to the greater public. gestation. Indeed, the depth of hos- each manifested the same tech- Before the gunfire had ceased, an tility that lay beneath the surface had niques of expansion as the European additional 26 Liberian members of been masked to the outside world by colonialists. Thus, the Liberian settler group asserted its claims to the security staff had also died, and the very urbaneness and sophistica- tion of those young diplomats and sovereignty over an expanded area in a massive roundup of former offi- other officials who represented based upon direct cials began. Liberia abroad during the past two or "purchase," conquest, journeys of three decades. They radiated con- exploration, and treaties of "friend- Ironically, both as leader of Africa's fidence and had provided the image ship and commerce," which were oldest state and as current Chairman of a stable, developing society. Thus, curiously transformed into deeds of of the Organization of African Unity, it was the coup itself and not only ownership on the part of the settlers. was to have gone to the incidents associated with it that Zimbabwe to play the role of the god- surprised many of the leaders of The settler community-or Americo- father at the birth of Africa's newest other African states- particularly Liberians as they came to be state. Now, Africa's oldest republic Liberia's immediate neighbors. called-was of diverse origins. had suddenly, like Zimbabwe, be- Pivotal to the group, in terms of come one of its newest societies. For The discontent, however, had al- setting the dominant norms, were the coup by Master Sergeant Doe ways been there, and there have the freed persons of color from the was not a mere palace revolution. been many anomic breakthroughs United States. These had purchased Rather, the coup was bound to bring during Liberia's 160 years of exis- their freedom and sailed to West about fundamental changes in the tence as a political community. Few Africa under the general protection social, economic, and political order of the protests were sustained, of the American Colonization Soci- in Liberia. In the view of most ob- whether they came from the tribal ety (ACS) and related groups of servers, the colonial-like relationship sector, such as the Kru and Gola prominent white American sponsors. that had been established over the who had resisted incorporation into The motivations of the members of 16 or more indigenous tribal groups the Liberian state until well into this the ACS were varied, ranging from by the descendants of those who century; or whether they were the unquestioned humanitarianism to had launched the settlement at challenges from political dissidents, the crass desire to rid the American Monrovia in 1821 had been irrevo- students, and others within the cities of a group which had not been cably ended. The externally oriented Americo-Liberian group itself. In- successfully integrated into Amer- national motto- "The Love of deed, it was only during the 12 ica's "melting pot," and whose Liberty Brought Us Herew-had months preceding the April 12 coup presence set an unwanted example of freedom to those blacks still in settler inspiration. Central to the con- permitted to go more than 50 miles . Associated with the settlers trol strategy was the maintenance of inland. The only external contacts of United States origin were the solidarity within the settler group the tribal people were to have were various accretions from the West itself. In the social realm, it meant the Liberian commissioners, soldiers, Indies, including many who de- that endogamy, or marriage within and the occasional settler who had parted from Barbados after the the group, was preferred over both opted to "make farm" in the interior West Indian Uprising of the 1860s. formal and informal liaisons across and to adjust his social relationships Finally, there was a group of Afri- the "tribal-civilized" divide. In actu- to fit the tribal circumstances. cans who had never seen the New ality, many liaisons did take place, World but had been rescued from and the offspring were incorporated Equally important to the control slaving vessels by the British and into the Americo-Liberian group. In strategy, a tribal person lacked rights American navies and deposited on economic terms, solidarity meant the as an individual citizen; rather he was the "Grain Coast" to start a new life. monopolization of commercial activ- a member of a legally defined cor- Whether their origins were present- ity by the settler group and the re- porate group. His social and other day Nigeria, Ghana, or elsewhere, striction of the concept of private relationshipswere covered by a legal this lowest status group within the ownership in land to that group as code distinct from that which applied Americo-Liberian fold came to be well. In political terms, it meant not to the settler citizen. He owned land called "Congoes." only the exclusion of tribal participa- only in the sense that he shared in its tion in national politics, but it also led use as a member of a tribal commu- Grossly outnumbered by the tribal nity. When representation and people who were gradually incor- to the emergence of Africa's first one-party state. Once it consolidated suffrage were extended, the para- porated into the Liberian political mount chiefs cast the votes for the community, the Americo-Liberians its power in 1877, the True Whig Party leadership viewed formal entire group. As a member of a cor- today constitute probably no more porate group, the individual was re- than 5 percent of the estimated 1.7 opposition as repugnant, since it allowed for creation of a "subver- sponsible for the actions of his million inhabitants of the country. In fellows and could sustain a group the earliest years the settlers sur- sive" coalition between tribal leaders and dissident minorities within the fine for some alleged violation of vived under the protective eye of the Americo-Liberian law. American navy. Indeed, one Lieu- settler fold itself. Finally, there was tenant (later Commodore) Matthew the solidarity of the Christian Emulating the British efforts at Perry played a key role in the initial churches and the unity provided by indirect rule, the Americo-Liberians settlement and subsequent survival that social-political-religious institu- at the turn of the century co-opted of the group. As the American shield tion known as the Masonic Order. In the traditional political leaders into was gradually withdrawn, however, many ways, the Masonic Order was the evolving political system. In re- the Americo-Liberians themselves the spiritual guardian of the settler turn for the maintenance of peace in developed the firepower and the ascendancy within the new Liberian their areas and the payment of taxes military skills needed to bring under society. Political leadership in the collected from their tribal constitu- political control the members of the national society and leadership ents, the traditional authorities were Vai, Bassa, Grebo, and other groups within the Masonic Order bore a given regular salaries, assured pres- who had earlier threatened to throw close approximation to each other. tige, and license to use or abuse the them back into the sea. The Indeed, the Masonic Order served to person and services of their own Americo-Liberians imposed a set of a degree as the counterpart of the subjects without the customary dominant cultural norms for the new Poro and other secret societies of the tribal restraints on their actions. In state which were roughly modeled Gola, the Mende, and other tribal cases where chieftainship did not after those of the society across the groups. The Masonic Order kept the exist, the Liberians simply appointed seas that had rejected them. These potentially dissident settler "in line." paramount, clan, and town chiefs. In norms included the Christian faith; addition to representing the cor- monogamy; a commitment to Complementary to its strategy for in- porate political interests of the tribal private ownership and free enter- group settler solidarity were the constituents, the chiefs were the prise; an increasingly Liberianized policies developed with respect to main contact point between the version of the English language; a the tribal majority. Although inter- tribal person and the new society in preference for American styles in national pressure compelled the terms of labor recruitment for gov- clothing, food, architecture, and settlers to grant citizenship status to ernment, private settler, or foreign literature; and the creation of a polit- the tribal people, the individual economic concerns. Indirect rule ical system which superficially re- Kpelle, Loma, or Mende related to preserved the diversity of tribal cus- sembled that of the United States. the national community in a different toms and institutions regarding mar- way than did his settler counterpart. riage, land tenure, and other matters. We cannot discount the support First of all, in an effort to fend off Thus, in addition to the great divide given the settlers in their struggles competing European claims to the between settler and tribal persons, at with the indigenous population by hinterland, the Americo-Liberians least 16 other major cleavages based the British, French, and Germans- during much of the nineteenth and upon ethnicity were preservedwithin particularly when American interest early twentieth centuries had at- the new political community. waned in the period following the tempted to insulate the hinterland Liberian declaration of independence from European commercial, mission- The Tubman Era: Experiments in in 1907. Nevertheless, the tech- ary, and other influences. Foreign Orchestrated Change niques developed for domination of commerce was limited to the coastal The inauguration of William V. S. the tribal people were largely of ports and missionaries were seldom (for Shadrach) Tubman as President REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA

ATLANTIC OCEAN

It Capital City County Capital -..-Country Boundary International Boundarv

0 50 100 kilometers

Adapted from Transportation Map, courtesy of the Embassy of the Republic of Liberia. in January 1944 signaled a marked Elements of the new control period. Invariably, however, the change in the Liberian political, eco- strategy had actually emerged legal owners were the absentee nomic, and social environment. In a during the nineteenth century. I national political leaders. The man- way, however, the stage had already refer to the predominance of politi- agement of these "private" con- been set for change by two develop- cians and over merchants cerns were, in many cases, West ments of the preceding decades. The within the Liberian settler group. Indians or even alien Africans, who first was the assumption by the Fire- Many of the "merchant princes" of were more subject to manipulation stone Corporation of some aban- the early decades of Liberian history than were Liberian citizens. doned rubber plantations and the had been eliminated as a result of Along with the improved standard privilege of exploiting other acreage the worldwide economic depres- of living which wage employment as well. This started the tribal people sions in the more industrial states and expanded governmental ser- on the road to a monetized and a consequence of the steam- vices were to bring to the tribal economy, as well as providing the ship, making Liberian sailing ships people, Tubman's "Unification government with revenues which it obsolete. From that point onward at Policy" brought about a dramatic could employ for developmental the end of the nineteenth century purposes. The second event was the transformation in the social and politics became king. Such eco- political relationship existing be- reaction of American and European nomic benefits that did accrue to leaders to the tween the Americo-Liberian minor- the settler class came as the conse- ity and the tribal majority. For the charges in the early 1930s regarding quence of involvement in politics, labor recruitment practices that first time since the settlers had and only seldom was the situation landed in Liberia, it had become re- bordered on involuntary servitude. the reverse. Liberians who operate As a consequence a president, vice- spectable for a tribal person to primarily as economic entrepreneurs retain, or revert to, his or her original president, and other officials were posed a threat to the political sys- forced to resign, and the country name, wear lapas or the traditional tem. Not only might they establish homespun gowns, and to take pride was virtually ostracized until the linkages with tribal economic entre- promised reforms took place. in tribal art and music. Ending a preneurs but they might make de- political system which I had heard mands upon the governmental and President Tubman himself in 1960 The programs as well as both the legal system which would threaten accomplishments and shortcomings describe as "colonial," the system settler supremacy. Thus, under both of county government at the coast of Tubman's efforts at orchestrated the Firestone development and the was extended into the provincial change have been described in Tubman "Open Door" policy, the areas of the interior. Suffrage, greater detail in my book Liberia: real economic entrepreneurs have moreover, as well as representation The Evolution of Privilege ( Ithaca, been expatriate Americans, Euro- in the legislature was granted to all N.Y.: Cornell University Press, peans, Lebanese, and others. As individual adult property-owning 1969). Suffice it here to state that foreigners, they have been constitu- Tubman recognized that the tribal tionally barred from direct participa- citizens. And gradually, the legal interior could not be kept in "cold tion in Liberian politics, and indirect distinctions were removed which storage," insulated from the waves involvement could lead to their had prevented tribal persons from owning property on a freehold basis of change that were already summary expulsion. The foreigners or to sue and be sued in national sweeping the rest of Africa even provided a safety valve against the courts as individual citizens. From prior to World War II. Accordingly, change which might have occurred time to time a tribal person was he opted for an "Open Door" policy if lower status Americo-Liberians or named to a cabinet position or dip- with respect to encouraging foreign even tribal persons had developed lomatic post, and the broadening of investors to exploit the natural re- economic careers independent of the scholarship program permitted sources and trade opportunities of the True Whig political system. The more and more tribal youths to go Liberia. One resource had only re- poorer settlers and tribal persons would participate in the new abroad for education. On the cently been discovered, namely the emotive level, a conscious policy high-grade iron ore which existed in economy, but largely as unskilled or semiskilled laborers. In contrast the arose directed toward eliminating all large quantities in Bomi Hills, Nimba public references to the dichotomy Mountain, and other locations leading political families within the Americo-Liberian class reaped some between Americo-Liberians and (some of which were smuggled in tribal persons, "civilized" and from Sierra Leone) and the pros- of the major internal benefits of foreign development. They did so "native" and other invidious dis- pects of exploiting the fine timber as tinctions. well as cultivating cocoa, , through acquisition of shares in the and other agricultural commodities foreign companies; through mem- Without denigrating Tubman's for export. The "Open Door" policy bership on the boards of directors efforts at national integration, it was would give the government the (including all the perquisites but few clear that the overwhelming thrust revenue to build the roads, the hos- of the real responsibilities); through of integration was in the direction of pitals, and the schools needed to scholarships for their children to accepting settler rather than tribal placate the growing nationalist agi- study abroad; and through outright norms of behavior. As suffrage was tation by the tribal inhabitants. The extortion of the Lebanese mer- extended, moreover, elections with- revenues would also provide the chants and other more vulnerable in the single party syste'm became means for maintaining more effec- expatriates. Nominally, at least, the mere ratifications of the status quo. tive control over the tribal people number of Liberian businessmen As hinterland citizens were ac- and thus continued Americo-Libe- and rubber farmers seemed to grow corded representation in the na- rian supremacy. significantly during the Tubman tional legislature, power had already gravitated to the executive branch. Despite the appearance of a dicta- science, practical arts (language, And as posts in government were torial regime, Tubman had managed bookkeeping, beekeeping), and allocated to tribal persons in in his 27-year presidency to forge other fields-including a large dis- growing numbers, the control over strong empathetic bonds with both play of very explicit "adult" books. the key positions in society re- tribal people and with various strata mained ever more firmly in the of the Americo-Liberian community. There was another side to the Tol- hands of those families who would While supporting settler norms, he bert coin, however. The new roads guarantee continued settler control was not averse to publicly criticizing which provided enhanced education over the changing political commu- the old guard for their acquisition of and employment opportunities to nity. As I had demonstrated in a landholdings in the tribal areas and tribal persons, for example, also sociogram in Liberia: The Evolution their continued abuse of the tribal provided better access to the col- of Privilege, a number of leading people. To those younger Liberians lectors of that odious regressive hut settler patrons-through marriage, seeking a change in the political tax. The new roads also made it possible for the "honorables" to divorce, remarriage, and informal environment, the opportunities to sexual liaisons-had created elab- study abroad, the availability of the accelerate their "purchases" of orate family dynasties. Cabinet foreign press in Monrovia (despite tribal lands-which constituted one of the greatest land grabs in modern posts, seats on the Supreme Court, an occasional banning), and other African history. The roads, more- ambassadorships, and other polit- mechanisms contributed to making over, facilitated the recruitment of ical positions were monopolized by Liberia under Tubman an "open the families of this relatively small society" of sorts. labor for the mining and plantation enterprises of both foreigners and cluster of leading patrons. The cir- The Tolbert Era culation of posts in government re- - the Americo-Liberian politicians. "Apres nous, Ie dbluge.. :' The net effect of the preceding was flected not so much an advance- At the death of in ment of talent as it did the rise and that the roads and their aftermath London in 1971, it fell to William R. broke up the traditional family as a fall in political standing of a key Tolbert, Jr., President Tubman's patron. Individuals, moreover, fre- social security unit. Since farmers Vice-president for 19 of his 27 years no longer had an assured claim to quently made decisions about mar- in office, to reap the wild winds of riage and divorce with an eye to the land they cultivated, they change. The Tolbert record is curi- dropped both subsistence and cash improving political and social stand- ously mixed. In sheer physical ing. Any enterprising young tribal crop agriculture in favor of wage terms, for example, the transforma- employment in the enclave sector of person who wished to enter this tion of Liberia's roads and high- privileged circle normally did so by the economy. This in turn meant ways, the construction of new that Liberia had to import rice and being adopted as a "ward" of an schools and , the comple- Americo-Liberian patron or by other basic foodstuffs, which not tion of a new railroad to Buchanan acquiring an Americo-Liberian only aggravated its balance of pay- from Nimba, and the building of spouse. ments problem, but also forced many new office structures and urban Liberians to pay more for the It was the leading settler patrons homes in all of Liberia's cities had less nutritious imported foods. who controlled not only significant taken place at a more impressive social institutions, such as the pace than had been true under Tub- It is true that jobs were created Masonic Order and the ministry and man. Liberia's new national image during the Tolbert era. It is equally lay offices in the prominent Protes- under Tolbert had been a key factor true that the ranks of the urban un- tant churches, but they also domi- in attracting at an accelerating rate employed in Monrovia and else- nated the only legitimate vehicle for the foreign capital needed for devel- where had swelled dramatically as political expression, the True Whig opment. While it is true that the did urban crime, slum dwellings, Party. Opposition parties under growing middle class in Monrovia and a general demoralization. The Tubman were ephemeral, seldom and other cities was suffering from jobs that went to the educated lasting from one election to the the spiral of inflation, it is also true portion of the tribal sector and to next. They could never be assured that their burden was a far cry from the lower rung Americo-Liberians that their candidates could actually what citizens of Ghana, Nigeria, and inevitably fell far below their expec- campaign or that their votes would other West African states were ex- tations and usually lacked the salary, be counted. Indirect vehicles for periencing. The very scope of the fringe benefits, and job security political expression, such as cooper- expansion of governmental and pri- accorded an identically trained off- atives and trade unions, were either vate enterprises meant that tribal spring of an "honorable." A few outlawed or their activities tightly youth and lower income Americo- more persons of tribal background circumscribed with regard to tactics Liberians acquired new skills, new did appear in the legislature, the (such as the strike or boycott) and employment opportunities, and courts, and the Cabinet as well as in leadership. The President's son, other benefits. In the field of educa- the second echelon in many depart- Shad Tubman, Jr., for example, was tion, progress was evident every- ments. Lacking patrons, however, once the head of the association of where. The , for they might be removed for a trivial trade unions. Student organizations example, had become a respected infraction of a rule while a scion of at the University of Liberia, Cutting- institution of higher learning. an honorable would suffer no more ton College, and elsewhere occa- Another index: I could find only one than a slap on the wrist for corrupt sionally engaged in protest activity, bookshop in Monrovia in 1960; practices on a grand scale. only to find the reaction of the Tub- whereas in 1980 1 counted over 20 man government to be swift and bookshops, many well stocked with Frequently Tolbert appeared to be harsh. paperback books on literature, on the verge of recognizing the ' Luaa Tdbert - Alfreda Dennls WILLIAM TOLBERT - Frank Tdberl - Stephen Tolbert (sister) (s~ster) (brother) (brother) Mayoress of Bentol Clty VICTORIA TOLBERT Pres Pro Tempore of Senate Late Fin Mmster M-lain Tula Dennis (w~fe) (nephew) Evangelhe Smlth (niece) i Rlchard Tolbert Asst Mm of (nlecel Presldenbal D~et~c~an (neohew, 1 I Presldent~alAff G M Mesuflsh & Board BUI Smlth I Member of rublo corps / Chw(w =lain (nevhew~~n-law) I (nephew Vlce Gov Nat 1 Bank Agricultural Anache Wllm0t D.rld Edwud David 1 ' (brother-in-law) (brother-~n-law) (brotherin-law) of the Senate

A 0. Tolb.rl WoWe Tubman - Wllhedna Holder . Christina Norman m Willla Uw Tolbort . Evelyn Richardson I William Tolbert Jr. (son) (daughter) (daughter) (daughter) (daughter) (daughter) (youngest son) Amb atLarge & Chairman Phys~c~anto Pres & Dep M~n~sterof Educ Board Member of 1 No posltlon , House of Reps For Comm Shad Tubman Govt Phys~c~an Also owns bus~ness Bank of L~berla& Cdpt. Jehu Richardson (son-in-law) whlch has monopoly of Mesurado Group (son-~n-law) DJ.v Tdbd Son of Pres Budelgh Holder on lrnport & sale of Capta~nof Aw L~ber~a (daughter-in-law) Tubrnan &Rep (son-~n-law) educ textbooks T4nWI King and Member of Ward to Pres Houphouet from Mrn~sterof Defence (sonin-law) the Board Boigny of Ivory Coast Co bwmmolbmvn Cornrntsvoner fson-lniaw) for lmmlgrabon Dep Mlnlrter 01 PuMc Wkn

The Tolbert family tree and office- the latter a kind of legitimacy denied (which Tubman did as well in a less holders: an example of deep-rooted him by African leaders to that point. outrageous fashion), but the Presi- nepotism. Courtesy of New African With respect to Tolbert's positive dent and the members of his family magazine, May 1980 issue. contributions, it must be asked: engaged in corruption in a most deep-seated inequities in Liberian "who benefited?" Perhaps Tolbert's blatant way. The President's brother society and especially the plight of southern African stance helped the Stephen, who served intermittently the tribal poor. In the final analysis liberation cause, if only because it as Secretary of Commerce under he substituted rhetoric for action or broke the ranks of conservative both Tubman and Tolbert until his retreated in the face of the greed states that had remained muted on death in a plane crash four years and pressure from the old guard. the subject. Perhaps the new inter- ago, was a prime example. He used With great fanfare, for example, national image of Liberia made it his official position, with all the Tolbert launched a program to in- easier for World Bank and Inter- instruments of persuasion and ob- crease public housing in Liberia. national Monetary Fund representa- struction, to gain substantial control Indeed, from 1973 to 1980, five new tives to "sell" Liberian requests to of many foreign and domestic busi- housing projects were completed. their bosses because Liberia had nesses. Indeed, any private Liberian Only one of these, however, actually become a force of international sig- entrepreneur who seemed to be catered to low income families; the nificance. The final bill for Tolbert's succeeding in a business that Stephen Tolbert coveted could be remainder were allocated to middle massaging of his own ego through sure that export licenses would be class occupants, with the "honor- international adventurism will ulti- delayed, government auditors able~" reaping the profits from mately be paid by future genera- would pay surprise harassing visits, rentals. tions of Liberians. Included in this reckoning will be the repayment of and that he might even be the victim Difficulties arose for Tolbert even in the loans for the construction in of outright sabotage. The Tolbert the one area in which he prided 1979 of the OAU center beyond the family had almost monopolistic in- himself for fulfilling Liberia's proper free port in Monrovia. One estimate terests in the fishing industry, leadership role as Africa's oldest is that it took over $200 million to housing, food distribution, trans- republic. In Tolbert's advocacy of a build the white elephant resort hotel port, catering, and even the sale of militant stance against white and the 53 very posh head of state charcoal to the urban poor. The regimes in southern Africa, in his chalets adjacent to it.' Add to this Tolberts had acquired tribal land in assertiveness within the councils of the construction of the new airport, the hinterland with a vengeance. the Organization of African Unity, the lighting of the 60 kilometer road The control of the political system and in his pursuit of more meaning- from Roberts Field to Monrovia, and by a few key patrons had been per- ful regional cooperation, Tolbert the providing to each of the 53 dele- petuated under the Tolbert regime. was projecting a modern, progres- gations 7 cars, color television sets, The rules of the game were the sive image for Liberia. Frequently, and other "amenities." same as under Tubman; all that had however, his efforts as an all-African changed were the names of the cen- Perhaps the most critical indictment leader were bumbling, such as his tral figures, many of whom were the of Tolbert, however, came with re- secret midnight flight to Biafra offspring, siblings, and cousins of spect to the issue of corruption. Not during the height of the Nigerian the President and his wife.2 only did he tolerate it in others civil war, or his mysterious bilateral talks with then-Prime Minister John 1. "Machet" in West Africa (July 23, 2. For an update, see The New African Vorster of South Africa, which gave 19791, p. 1299. (May 19801, p. 26. The cold statistics produced by Tolbert's own Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs revealed the growing distance between the elite and the masses in Liberia: 4 percent of the population owned more than 60 percent of the wealth! In more visible terms the distance was epito- mized in the blatant arrogance of the ancestral home of the Tolbert clan, a few miles from Monrovia. When I visited 20 years ago it was a humble village with a dirt road serving as the main street. The houses were up on stilts and constructed of wood and corru- gated iron, with shutters instead of glass windows. It had probably changed little since the 1860s when Tolbert's grandfather and other immigrants from and the West lndies had settled there. During the nine years of Tolbert's presidency, however, Ben- sonville- renamed Bentol- had taken on all the negative imagery of a Palace of Versailles in the days of the Bourbons. Bentol was now a city with more than a score of opu- lent villas lining the well-lighted, carefully manicured boulevards. Each member of the Tolbert clan had his private estate with a high steel picket fence and an elaborate security system designed to keep out the poor. It became complete with a private zoo and an artificial lake for motorboat racing and waterskiing. The scale of the new post office and other public build- ings of what had become the new county seat of was out of all proportion to the small elite population to be served. The stark contrast between the splendor of Bentol, on the one hand, and the squalor of Monrovia's slums and the general poverty of any upcountry village, on the other, could-in the words of one of my Liberian friends--"be described in a single phrase: utterly obscene!" leader came along. That was still the The late President Dr. William R. Tol- What finally undermined both Tol- educated guess when Tubman died bert, Jr. Photo courtesy of the Embassy bert and the Whig aristocracy was in London in 1971.3Tolbert's close of the Republic of Liberia. the inability of the system to cope identification with the settler com- with the need for substantial polit- munity seemed far too apparent to occasions. Tolbert, moreover, was ical change. Initially, the successor placate the recently involved tribal viewed with contempt by other to the consummate politician, leadership. When interviewing him Whig politicians-such as Speaker William Tubman, appeared to be a in 1960, 1 found him to be reserved, Richard Henries-who regarded remarkable political craftsman in his humorless, and a bit of a "stuffed him as little more than Tubman's own right. Indeed, most analysts- shirt" who was ill at ease on social errand boy. There was, of course, including myself - had regarded 3. Robert A. Smith, "A Wholesome already the liability of his family's Tolbert as at best an ,interim suc- Functioning Society ": President William rapacious greed. In addition to cessor who would hold office until R. Tolbert, A Political Portrait ( M on- Stephen Tolbert, brother Frank a stronger, more astute political rovia, 1971, p. Iff. Tolbert (later President pro tempore of the Senate) had "purchased" with the people. He mingled less vacillation. What he graciously con- large tracts of land in . and less with the crowds. Increas- ceded on one day, he ruthlessly ingly, too, his rhetoric regarding the took away the next. In the process, As one elder Liberian commented to need for reform of the system he not only alienated the old guard me about William Tolbert: "There seemed patently insincere, particu- of the Whig aristocracy, who re- was one leopard that did change his larly when the observable realities garded concessions as a sign of spots." Laying aside the tuxedos differed so drastically from the syco- weakness; but he outraged the and Fifth Avenue business suits phantic praise heaped upon Tolbert young dissidents who felt that he which had been his trademark, by the government-controlled news was not a man whose word could President Tolbert adopted the open- media, by the never-ending tribal be trusted. It was an economic necked safari jacket worn by many delegations, and by the pulpit issue, however, rather than a strictly other African leaders. He strained to announcements of the Whig politi- political problem that brought his appear folksy with tribal and other cians-cum-pastors. Evidently irri- vacillation clearly into the open and leaders and to spice his public pro- tated, he lashed out quickly at began the ultimate unravelling of his nouncements with the Biblical refer- public criticism of himself and his power. I refer to the demonstra- ences so dear to the hearts of the family. In response to pamphlet- tions and riots which occurred on Whig aristocracy. Even more than eer Albert Porte's cataloguing of April 14, 1979, in response to the Tubman, Tolbert became a frequent Stephen Tolbert's efforts to "buy announced 50 percent increase in visitor to every county in the repub- 'the country," the President per- the price of a bag of rice. Thus the lic. In addition to acceleration of mitted his brother to bring a groundwork for the popular accep- Liberia's development programs, he crippling civil damages suit against tance of the coup of April 12, 1980, attempted to carry forward Tub- Porte. In typical fashion, the pre- had actually been laid 364 days prior man's Unification Program by siding judge for the trial was Chief to that event. The rice riots clearly downplaying some of the more Justice James Pierre-who just had raised the level of dissent to a offensive symbols of settler rule, happened to be Stephen Tolbert's transcendant level. such as the holiday celebrating father-in-law. Equally repugnant Matilda Newport (the settler equiva- was Tolbert's failure to muzzle the lent of Molly Pitcher) and the sym- arrogance of his son, A. B. Tolbert. (July 1980) bol "The Love of Liberty Brought Indeed on the CBS "60 Minutes" Us Here." Some of the offensive show taped in Liberia in December language of the Constitution was 1979, A. B. Tolbert not only claimed being considered for elimination at that he would be the next President the time of his death. of Liberia, but that he hoped to Despite a promising start in adjust- become the President of all of Africa ing to the new political realities, someday! Tolbert seemed incapable of sus- Tolbert's greatest weakness with taining his momentum. His demo- respect to reform was his constant cratic posturing gradually gave way to all the trappings of royalty: the processions of limousines, the long lines of schoolchildren along his route of return from the airport, and the erection of statues and other monuments in his honor. Increas- ingly he became more guarded in his public appearances, and the huge fences surrounding his prop- erties and the Executive Mansion were signs of a growing suspicion he had developed in his relationship Why American Universities Who subscribes to AUFS Now AUFS Reports are Field Staff Reports are so Reports? better than ever. valuable:

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