The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
January 19, 2019

From its founding to the 1980 coup, Liberia was a beacon of hope and enlightenment for Africa and many nations around the world. It served as an education Mecca. Nationals of other countries flocked to Liberia in search of greener pastures, an excellent educational system, and an intellectual culture steeped in free expression of ideas. These inducements encouraged many thinkers to visit. Proponents of the ‘Back to Africa’ movement,  including W.E.B. Dubois, Edward W. Blyden, Marcus Garvey, and Paul Cuffee came calling as visitors to and even as residents of the first independent black nation in the world. These great men viewed Liberia, with a deep sense of racial pride, as an outpost for their aspirations of cross-continental migration. Their pilgrimage followed Liberia’s past, which is crisscrossed with a pattern of migration. Paradoxically, one day, Liberia would become a place of emigration.

After the 1980 coup, scores of Liberians, mainly those from the ruling class fled the country because of fear of reprisal and persecution. The mass exodus of former government officials and their families began the downward spiral of the country’s intelligentsia and its brain drain. The problem was further exacerbated when the nation once again faced a dark moment, marked by the 1990 civil conflict. As violence engulfed the nation, a huge outflow of Liberians led to swells of diasporic communities in the 1990s and 2000s, draining the nation of its most valuable asset-its human capital.

As many Liberians, who fled the motherland to safe havens in other countries, watched their nation being ripped apart, some patriots worked odd jobs while acquiring education with hope of returning home, someday. One of those people was Dr. Emmanuel T. Dolo.  Although Emmanuel spent a good portion of his adult life abroad, his dreams and aspirations were securely wrapped in his desire to return to his native land to participate in the recovery process. Hence, he deliberately and purposefully orchestrated his life to that end.

Dr. Dolo hailed from Ganta, Nimba County, where he was born and raised by his father, a junior high school drop-out and his mother who had no formal education. In spite of his parents’ limited education, they deemed education as an escape route out of the cycle of poverty. His dad worked as a security officer for LAMCO, where Emmanuel would many years later, serve as head of administration. His mother sold ‘cold bowl’ to support her son in private schools. He later matriculated to the University of Liberia, on a scholarship from LAMCO and with financial support from his family.

In 1988, Dr. Dolo fled to the United States as he was being hunted by the Doe government for harshly criticizing its dictatorial tendencies. While in the United States, husband’s pursuit of better opportunities led him in many different directions. However, he remained steadfast and never lost focus. At times, he held down menial jobs with meager pay and forewent his comfort in order to create the future he had envisioned for himself and his country. His commitment and diligence paid off. In 2003, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Research, Social Policy, Refugee Mental Health, and Youth Development from the University of Minnesota.

Even though Dr. Dolo held several high profile positions in the US, he had a deep yearning to return home to serve his country.  His conversations centered on Liberia and the need for progressive leadership to end the social and political paralysis that existed. He spent many long hours, nightly, researching how the nation could be pulled from the ashes of destruction. He was a crusader, igniting patriotism in fellow Diaspora Liberians. I remember us having long discussions about Liberia, in bed at night. 

In 2003, when we became pregnant, my husband was overwhelmed with joy, yet, he was scouting out opportunities to return to Liberia. His “love of country” often made me feel like Liberia was a rival, as my Emmanuel personified her like a woman he was deeply in love with. When I asked him to explain his quest to leave his pregnant wife and return to Liberia, he replied: “Liberia lies in ruins with her hands stretched forth to her children to save her.” He furthered “How can I resist?” From that moment, I understood that Emmanuel’s desire to serve his country was more than I could ever understand. His unflinching love and faith in the nation’s future, later, converted me into a die-hard patriot.

Dr. Dolo’s love for his country was selfless. While we resided in Minnesota, our home became an informal ‘university’ as many of our compatriots sought his assistance for their academic work. He was always willing to give his hundred percent to assist his fellow Liberians in the area of academia. He believed that Diaspora Liberians’ focus should be education in order for them to return home and transfer knowledge. I am a beneficiary of Emmanuel’s zeal for Liberians to achieve higher education. Not only did he encourage me to go to graduate school, but also invested all that he had in my education. I did not qualify for student loan at the time of my enrollment in graduate school due to my immigration status. Therefore, my husband sacrificed our life savings and his earnings for me to attend graduate school. I know many others who can attest that they have obtained higher education because of his encouragement and assistance.

On January 15, 2006, as Liberians around the world waited in anticipation for their new president to take office, Dr. Dolo awoke that morning and called the family to pray for the birth of the new nation. He was ecstatic that the way to recovery and reconstruction was finally in sight. Thus, he became even more embroiled in Liberian politics. Immediately, he began analyzing and critiquing the performance of the new government. Many times, we had heated debates about the manner in which he criticized the government. I would realize, later, that his opinions were not personal, but were driven by deep passion for his country. Dr.  Dolo became a loud voice for thousands of voiceless Liberians. One of his commendable achievements is that he always proposed solutions to the issues he raised. Often, his criticisms were supported by empirical evidence.  His writings were carried by Diaspora online media groups such as the Perspective, Bush Chicken and FrontPage Africa, to name a few. Many people looked up to Dr. Dolo for political guidance and analysis.

While Dr. Dolo and other critical voices spoke out against societal ills, President Sirleaf exerted every power to reverse the ‘brain drain’ that plagued the nation. To mitigate the situation, she created thriving conditions to attract top talents to aid in the reconstruction process.  Several programs to attract ‘brain gain’ were initiated. These programs included UNDP’s ‘Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN), Senior Executive Service (SES), and Scott and Fellows programs. Dr. Dolo watched these developments from afar while strategizing how he could become a part of the ‘brain gain.’

In 2007, Emmanuel’s dream of returning to his motherland to participate in its development was finally realized. He was recruited by UNDP as a consultant to develop a social policy framework for the Government of the Republic of Liberia. That document serves as the foundation for the government’s current social policies and programs, affecting vulnerable populations including; resettlement, livelihood restoration, and community development activities, etc. Equally, Dr. Dolo developed a comprehensive and culturally-appropriate social welfare policy and action plan in accordance with international standards.

Dr. Dolo’s contract ended after seven months and he returned to the United States. Back in the US, he held several high profiles jobs, including serving as Director of Research and Policy, Minnesota Minority Education Partnership. However, he remained unrelenting in his quest to return home. He believed that his country was at a critical juncture where his expertise was more needed and contribution would matter.

Friday, April 10, 2009, was just an ordinary day for many Americans who lived in Minnesota, but not for hundreds of Liberians who congregated at the University of Minnesota to witness President Sirleaf present the Distinguished Carlson Lecture Series. At the end of her presentation, Madam Sirleaf called on Liberians to return home to rebuild the country. After that encounter, Dr. Dolo became increasingly restless as he believed that clarion call was for him. He spent his time on the internet, keeping abreast of the happenings in Liberia. As a result, in 2010 when he was offered the opportunity to transition to Liberia as Head of General Administration at Arcelor Mittal/Liberia, he did not hesitate to return home. His decision to return to Liberia and leave the family behind didn’t happen without a major family crisis. I understood his love for country and his civic responsibility to nation-building, but I believed that all paled in comparison to the being with his family. I watched my husband torn between two loves. It became clear to me that we would not get the best of him, even if he remained in the US, due to family pressure. We, finally, compromised when a clause to return home quarterly was included his contract...

While serving at Arcelor Mittal, Dr. Dolo advocated for the labor union and instituted policies that favored workers and improved working conditions. He remembered the days that he lived with his father who was a ‘laborer’ at the former organization, LAMCO where he was, now, serving as Head of General Administration and Government Liaison. Emmanuel ensured that the company’s corporate social responsibility component addressed beneficiaries’ needs and strengthened its community engagement programs. He also served as the organization’s compliance officer for labor and Liberianization-related matters. He was instrumental in advocating for Liberians to hold senior management positions in the organization. He also challenged his home county, Nimba, authorities to use the social development fund from Arcelor Mittal for the benefit of the citizens.

After many years of being a fierce critic of the Sirleaf led government, Dr. Dolo was appointed by President Sirleaf to serve as National Youth Policy Advisor. He accepted the offer because, with time, he realized that he could more effectively promulgate the change he advocated as an insider. He led the team that developed the current Technical-Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policy of the Republic of Liberia. He also provided strategic leadership and professional guidance on all matters of youth development, social protection, and social welfare in the President’s office. In his role as Youth Policy Advisor, Dr. Dolo identified emerging social development issues of potential concern to the government of Liberia, particularly those with significant implications for youth development as well as stability and growth of the Liberian economy. He undertook in-depth analysis of national and international youth development trends, including employment and social disparities and assessed the implications of these trends for sustainable development outcomes and other elements for the Government of Liberia’s development agenda.

In 2014, as the country, once again, seemed to, finally, be on pace to achieving its developmental goals, the nation suffered yet another form of war- the devastating setback brought on by the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). President Sirleaf called the disaster “an unknown enemy”. She said “In a traditional war, you know where the gun is, you know where the solider is, you know where the rebel is. With this one, you just don’t know. “The outbreak of the virus was an existential threat to our nation. In the Mano River Basin and the entire West African region, where EVD had its largest toll, knowledge of the virus was limited. In the history of the region’s infectious disease epidemics, an Ebola epidemic had never occurred. As a result, not only was the general population unaware of the virus, but also the healthcare workers had very limited knowledge of the virus and how it could be spread. The limited knowledge amongst healthcare workers also caused them to respond to patients hazardously, resulting in increased infection in that segment of the population. WHO reported in 2015 that nearly 700 healthcare workers in the Mano River Basin were infected by the end of pandemic.

On the other hand, the lack of knowledge led to denial among the population, which contributed to the initial apathetic response from government to adequately finance control measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Equally, intervention from the international community was slow and disjointed. As a result, the disease crippled every facet of the country, including the economy. Reflecting the alarm associated with the disease, as well as EVD-related mortality and morbidity, economic activities shrunk. The nation watched in fear as the economy came to a grinding halt. The government instituted measures including a state of emergency and restrictions on people’s movements. Schools were shut down, elections were postponed, foreign companies withdrew, farmers abandoned theirs fields, and government used only ‘essential’ staff. Economic activities for restaurants, hotels, public transport, construction and educational institutions diminished daily, as activities among foreign companies slowed down and many expatriates fled the country for safety. The EVD ravaging effects on Liberia renewed the risk of political instability in a country, barely recovering from a fourteen-year civil conflict.

In September 2014, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicted that if nothing was done to curtail the spread of EVD in Liberia and Sierra Leone, there would be 1.4 million cases of the disease in both countries by January 2015. The predicted exponential increase in EVD cases made it more likely that the virus would become entrenched in the sub-region. More alarming was the prospect that the disease would spread consistently, rather than in sporadic outbreaks, as in the past. Moreover, in October 2014, while EBOLA ravished Liberia, the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that by December 2014, there would be 10, 000 new cases reported weekly within the Mano River countries. In September 2014, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution, declaring the Ebola crisis in West Africa a threat to international peace and stability.

In response to the international community’s grim forecast for EBOLA in Liberia, Madam Sirleaf challenged the estimates by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the WHO, stating that those predictions were flat-out wrong because the Liberian government was taking steps to eliminate the spread of the virus. In this light, the President called for all hands on deck. As a result of its determination to build local ownership for the response, in early August, the Liberian government decided to adopt the Incident Management System (IMS) approach, with UN organizations and the international community playing support roles. In an effort to contain the outbreak, the Ministry of Health formed a National Public Emergency Task Force. Initially, the effort appeared to have been successful. However, the success was short-lived as the movement of people from one place to another exasperated the spread of the disease.

While our nation wallowed in panic, destitution, and hopelessness, a group of non-medical Liberians galvanized themselves to help save the country from the devastating destruction of the EVD. One of those gallant Liberians was Emmanuel. Although he had no prior knowledge of the disease, he spent many long days and sleepless nights researching it. After he had adequately informed himself about the disease, Emmanuel stepped out and took on the challenge to join others to redeem our nation from the peril of the EVD. I vividly remember exchanging ideas about how he would take up a deadly challenge as most of us remained locked up in our secured environments for fear of contracting the disease.

In early August, while safety was most people’s priority, my husband called to inform me that he was working alongside the EBOLA burial team to ensure that scores of EBOLA victims were safely buried. I worried about his safety, but he convinced me that we would be safe if only the larger population was safe. I said a prayer with him on the phone and he disappeared for many hours. Around 2:00 am, the following morning, Emmanuel came home drenched in water and mud. I was petrified when I saw him. He entered our home, sat on the living room floor and cried like a wounded child. For over an hour, I inquired about what was wrong and got no response. Around 4:30 a.m., he calmed down and narrated a horror story to me.

The government had difficulties finding burial grounds for Ebola victims because the NIBY (‘not in my back yard”) mentality had permeated most communities. Eventually, the government purchased a burial site in a remote area of Johnsonville. One sad day, Dr. Dolo went out to assist the burial team, but the backhoe that was hired to dig the grave was faulty. He, then, went to a company in Bomi County to secure another machine. When he brought the machine to start the grave digging, the people from the nearby community objected that they didn’t want the bodies buried there. That altercation resulted in a clash. Dr. Dolo’s devotion and commitment to ensuring that victims of this horrible disease were interred with respect and dignity, as well as providing safeguards for the living guided his decisions, during that trouble period.

As the EVD scourge ravished our country, Madam Sirleaf realized that lack of coordination between different government agencies, as well as the Liberian government and international partners,  presented the most pressing challenge to her government’s efforts to contain the virus. Amidst the rapidly increasing scale of the epidemic, the emergency task force was unable to effectively mount a large-scale response. With local government offices, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and ministries trying to sort out their roles and reach thousands of citizens in distant communities, the National Public Emergency Task Force’s capacity was severely strained. The lack of proper coordination severely hampered the government’s efforts.

On July 26, Liberia’s Independence Day, Madam Sirleaf declared a national state of emergency and announced she would personally chair a new Ebola National Task Force. The presidential task force consisted of high-level representatives of Liberian government, foreign governments, and international organizations. President Sirleaf appointed Mr. Dukuly, and then Minister of Internal Affairs, as co-chair, but the urgency of finding a better system for managing the day-to-day response remained.

Carrying out case management, disease surveillance, logistics, and communications functions, while coordinating the large number of Liberians and outside groups required ingenuity. As a result, President Sirleaf renamed the Ebola National Taskforce the Presidential Advisory Committee on Ebola (PACE), as the highest decision-making group on the Ebola response, chaired by the President herself. To ensure that the government continued to be in charge of policy decisions and to provide a forum for building coordination across ministries, Madam Sirleaf also moved to complement the work of the IMS by defining the role of her presidential task force. She appointed Dr. Dolo head of secretariat for PACE.

Dr. Dolo attended IMS meetings as a representative of the president. The practice enabled him to identify issues, firsthand, and furnish Madam Sirleaf information in real time so that critical decisions could be made timely. Other than the day-to-day operations of the national response, his leadership at PACE provided a mechanism that accelerated issues, including the restoration of normal health-care services. Additionally, he and his colleagues provided a platform whereby the President and her cabinet could stay abreast of the latest developments in the response. He provided the checks and balances, necessary, to ensure response coordination, collaboration, and effectiveness. PACE, with President Sirleaf’s leadership and Dr. Dolo’s coordination, was regarded as a high-level strategic decision-making and monitoring system within the overall organizational structure. Moreover, Dr. Dolo was the principal who dealt with policy issues—and their potential implications. He assisted the government to understand the response, as it related to issues like school closures and elections decisions that were beyond the IMS. He made PACE a good venue to interact with other governments, international stakeholders and partners.

Anyone who knew Dr. Dolo knows that he was very passionate about his country and made no apology for same. In November 2014, at one of the Ebola meetings with international partners, Dr. Dolo, in a heated debate, accused the donor of “showing a level of disrespect” by judging Liberian community groups by “harsh standards” and “western standards.” He insisted that Liberian communities had the solution to curb the spread of the EVD, but the international partners who came to assist the country discounted the local efforts.

Dr. Dolo’s love of country fueled his uncompromising stance against the international partners’ biases towards Liberians communities’ ability to drive the response. New York Times carried an article on November 19, 2014, entitled “EBOLA Response in Liberia is Hampered by Infighting.” The article describes what took place in a meeting between the international partners and their Liberian counterparts. Dr. Dolo’s name and no-nonsense position on issues, affecting his country were specifically mentioned in the article.

As a social scientist, Dr. Dolo was able to capably draw a causal link between the EBOLA outbreak and the trauma it imposed on the populace. In the December 2014 edition of the prestigious Foreign Policy Magazine, Laurie Garrett refers to a meeting she had with President Sirleaf where Dr. Dolo was present.  She quoted him as saying “this disease equals trauma and it’s a real culture shift. It’s the first time in their lives that Liberians are seeing high amounts of deaths without people shooting in the streets.” She further quoted him “We need to give credit to the public for what has been done” The sentiments expressed here by Dr. Dolo informed the body of literature he produced on the involvement of local communities in disastrous emergencies such as the Ebola outbreak.

Emmanuel, by all accounts, believed in the prosperity of Liberia despite its conspicuous challenges. He fought to make his motherland a better place and remained optimistic about its future. In his short life, he contributed immensely to the recovery and reconstruction of our country. He traversed the landscape of the country, leaving his mark in academia, politics, policy development, and implementation, health, social justice, youth development, and many other disciplines. His demise is an irreparable loss for Liberia. We must never allow his talents and vision for Liberia to die in the grave with him, but we must uphold the legacy of a brilliant Liberian who defiled the status quo ante and excelled to the highest levels both nationally and internationally.  

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About the Author: Aba Hamilton-Dolo is the widow of Dr. Emmanuel T. Dolo and can be reached at abadolo2017@gmail.com

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