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Liberia, its Poverty Recovery Strategies and Failures, and why Its Pro-poor Agenda will Fail if Lacked Future Perspectives The Quest for Economic Reform and Liberation 1871 - 2017 By Robert Quiminee Abstract This article does not in any way strive to condemn any economic recovery plans in Liberia, all have been penned with the hope of restituting poverty with prosperity, but nearly all remain a plan, strategy and a goal yet to take its significance course and effect the ordinary Liberians, rather have only restituted and benefited a few Liberians with the majority striving in poverty, surviving on less a $1US dollar a day. This article is penned not really as a model or an economic recovery policy, but seeks to challenge current policy makers, and make stakeholders cognizance that the struggles to bring economic freedom is not new; even at the height of the dictator Charles G. Taylor and the pearl of the depression of Samuel K. Doe; they both have the greatest economic recovery plan for Liberia than many of the democratic civilian leaders, accept William Richard Tolbert Jr., who was killed with Liberia’s greatest recovery plan. This article seeks to highlight economic recovery and reform policies, particularly the ones concern with the poor Liberians from the 1st Republic of 1869 to the 2nd Republic of 2017; Liberia, its Poverty Recovery Strategies and Failures, and why it Pro-poor Agenda will fail if Lacked Future Perspectives; and it quest for economic recovery and liberation from 1871 – 2017. i Acronyms NGOs – Non Governmental organizations ACS - American Colonization Society CIA – Central Intelligent Agency PRO – Public Relation Officers PAL – Progressive Alliance of Liberia MOJA – Movement of Justice in Africa U.S. – United States PRS – Poverty Reduction Strategy PRSP - Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers NOCAL – National Oil Company of Liberia IPC - International Poverty Centre UNDP - United Nations Development Program UN – United Nation NTA – National Transit Authority JFK – John Frederick Kennedy LD – Liberian Dollar PRC – People Redemption Council ii Contents Abstract Acronyms Table Introduction 1 History, Democratic Origin and Divisive Policy of Liberia 3 “Road” Roye’s Economic Recovery Policy and failures 5 “Operation Production” Tubman’s Integration Economic Reform Policy and Failures 7 “Mat-to-Mattress Policy” Tolbert’s Economic Reform Policy and Failures 10 “The Green Revolution” Doe’s Economic Reform Policy and Failures 13 “Vision 2024” Taylor’s Ambiguous Economic Reform Policy and Failures 17 ”Poverty Reduction Strategy” Ellen’s Economic Reform Policy and failures 21 “Pro-poor Agenda” Weah’s Economic Reform Policy, and why it will Fail if Lacked Future Perspective 26 Reference 38 iii Introduction Liberia is a unique country, with a proportional representation of natural resources (rubber, river, rain forest, ocean, island, lake and rich soil) and mineral resources (sand, rock, gold and diamond) are few to mention. It is a nation with a unique significant influence to lobby in the global community and bring aid and capital home as money or equipment. They have done that through strategies and good styles of sampling writers and pursuance of good, relevant and demanding policies in the name of the “poor Liberians”, like the Poverty Reduction Strategy and the Pro-poor Agenda, even though both are not Liberian inventive ideals, but they were, or are borrowed, and penned well to meet our demands and our current economic situations; thus appealing to the Global Community for aid. However, these policies covert with implementation, either with the issue of dishonesty, or the practical aspects these very documents are borrow from are applicable in our society, but may just lack little innovation to stabilized the poverty condition of our nation, and as the result policies seem to be doing nothing at all. This attributes to poor implementation and dishonesty. For example, how can you adopted modern agricultural practices from Pakistan; adopted the people policy paper from their country and bring it here in Liberia, but left the tractors and the working gears in Pakistan and expect such policy to work here? Are you stupid? Another area of attention is that we have also strive to start with what we have, notwithstanding we have not fully been independent as a nation and government in doing that; in fact NGOs have helped us in our endeavors, because our policy implementations have always met practical resistance due to the lack of support from government. But there are just two elements to make a policy work effectively: ❖ Think small and start small, and ❖ Think big and start with big equipment In it nutshell, you either start with what you have or you do bigger investments in what you already have. The Weah led ‘Pro-poor Agenda’ will be a difficult path, if even 1 notified and acknowledged that it will be a difficult path, and it second facial feature is pending unclear, of course it will fail if it will not observe and understand the factors responsible for the failures of recovery policies toward the poor and why the pro-poor agenda will failed if lack future perspectives, issues that this paper about to address. 2 History, Democratic Origin and Divisive Policy of Liberia Liberia was founded in 1822 by free slaves transported and sponsored by American Colonization Society, a leading American sponsored Colonization Organization of the 18th Century. When they arrived, they met no tribal and kingdom resistance, rather a struggle for land which was inherited as family custodian, with no ownership to individual. They fought two battles, and finally gained independence in 1847. Early before the coming into being of the new ‘Republic” political ideologies were not built JJ Robert: First President of Liberia, on a true national idea, but built on a divisive political leader of the True Liberian policy that will affect every reform policies Party of the nation years later. Joseph Jenkins Robert, Liberia’s first President hailed from the mulattoes, the highest educated group of the pioneers. Instead of building a state of unified political idea, they established a Party named “True Liberian party” also called Pro-Administration party. Who were the false Liberians? The preferred unifying nationalistic name if I may suggest for this early Liberian party, could have been “the Liberian People’s party” instead of exulting yourself as “True Liberian.” This name suggests a divisive policy that hinders the progress of Liberia. The dark-skinned settlers reacted by forming the Anti- Administration party or the Whig party, later the True Whig party; this means that the ideologies of the two political parties were coins on propagating strategies to undermine and subjugate each other to nothing instead of thinking about carving reforms and taking practical measures to connect the gap between the rich and the poor. The dark-skinned Liberians fought for political power from 1847 – 1877. Why they succeeded? Well, in 1845 a ship took some Africans from the Congo Basin carrying them to Europe as slaves. The idea for slavery was now condemned and belittle in the eyes of America and England. The ship which was carrying Congolese, it captain was asked to return with the ship back to Africa. With the Congo Basin far away, the ship captain dumped the 3 slaves on the Coast of Liberia since it was a black colony established by free slaves from America. The mulattoes, and also the dark-skinned suppressed by the mulattoes; both from America, rejected the Congolese. They did not give them warm welcome. The Congolese retreated to what is now called Congo Town because of their settlement there, but them high forest at the time. From the high forest, they produced cash crops like pineapple, banana, plantain, palm oil, okra, vegetables and pepper and sold them to the Americo-Liberians; this comprises of both the mulattoes and the dark-skinned. By the 1860s, after nearly 25 years of labors, the Congolese were strong economically. They started serving as middlemen between the indigenous Liberian and the Americo- Liberians. When the mulattoes kept their political suppression strong toward their dark- skinned counterparts, Edward James Roye convened a meeting on Clay Island in 1868, called the Congolese in his party and contested the 1869 elections and truly won the True Liberian party. His loan programs orchestrated him from power in 1871 by the mulattoes, but the significant lesson taught in the course of his dethronement is that few Liberians had placed their self-image above the common good of the people, that they are the best educated that reforms should ordinated from to better nation, once emulating from another source, it means nothing. So it was the case of the mulattoes against the Roye’s loan policy which make him unpopular with the People. This embalm in our early loan history would serve as a warming to Weah whom ‘Pro-poor Agenda’ heavily depends on loan for road construction, so it was with Roye, not anything else, but road construction. In 1877, the Unification from Clay Island was really a formidable force, it continued until they finally got power from the Mulattoes and held it till 1980 when Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe took the blame of a CIA’s coordinated coup for which he followed it to the letter by executing the 13 ministers of Tolbert. 4 Roye’s Economic Recovery Policy and failures Roye has an ambiguous economic recovery plan. He is the first reputable individual who understood that Monrovia is not Liberia. He wanted to connect the hinterland to Monrovia and introduce economic exchange programs between rural Liberians and Americo-Liberians for economic gains. It is interesting to know that Roye started life as a barber and he built the community’s largest barber shop in Terre Haute, Edwin James Roye: Liberia’s First Dark president of the Opposition which also had the tallest barber pole in western True Whig Party (1870-1871) Indiana.

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