The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
February 11, 2020

Since 2010, the result of African economic migrants’ perilous trek to Europe in search of a better life is unprecedented in the annals of 21st-century migration.   The human tragedy of this odyssey has prompted this article to discourage Liberians from partaking in this vicissitude.  The millions who have left the continent, and the thousands who have perished in the desert and in the Mediterranean Sea in desperation to escape economic hardship, hopelessness, and despair pose a serious threat to Africa’s future human Capital Development Index.  According to the Migration Policy Institute, 4.6 million African migrants are in Europe. Liberians form a small segment of this million and that should be a grave concern to all Liberian patriots, nationalists, and progressives.

WE THE PEOPLE of the Republic of Liberia, in order to protect our young men and women from economic flight to seek green pastures in the unknown (Europe and America) and free ourselves from this 21st-century global economic scourge, need to take control of our domestic economy.  It has been monopolized by foreign nationals for almost a century, causing large swaths of the population to be mired in the seas of poverty and degradation.  This is an antithesis to a truly sovereign Republic.

Poverty, poor education and the broken healthcare system are Liberia’s “Hydra”; among these, poverty is the deadliest because it breeds despair and discontent and can easily provoke chaos and violence due to the lack of hope.  The United Nations defines poverty as the denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity.  It is the lack of the basic capacity to participate effectively in society.  And finally, it is not having enough to feed and clothe a family. Liberia, unfortunately, fits this UN definition after 172 years of independence.  Global Finance ranked Liberia 7th poorest among countries in the world in 2019 (gfmag.com).
The poverty-stricken condition of the Liberian masses living in shantytowns with lack of healthcare, lack of clean and safe drinking water, high unemployment and underemployment is rooted in venality and the foreign monopolization of our domestic economy.  This is a violation of our basic fundamental rights to happiness, liberty, and equality of social participation. Thus, it has the potential to pose a national security threat because when a large swath of the population lacks the financial resources and the essentials for basic standards of living, they become like a ticking time bomb. 

We establish a government for the purpose of providing the right to happiness, the equality of opportunity, and the security of our welfare against all enemies – foreign or domestic.  Poverty is one of those enemies.  Poverty and other social ills suffered by the masses are the cause of our despair and degradation, discontent, and disillusionment with our government – past and present.  We the people are stuck in the morass of economic degradation while foreign nationals (in cahoots with our government) reap the fertile grounds of economic success.  This foreign domination is an existential threat to our quest for a better nation.  This is our worst nightmare in the making; to eliminate this medusa, WE THE PEOPLE of Liberia must declare a political war against the new oligarchs and the foreign economic monopolization. 

Our weapon of choice in this battle of economic liberation is election and the artillery are our votes.  I do not know when or how foreign nationals have come to dominate our domestic market; anecdotally, it began in the late 1930s with the Germans, mushroomed in the 1950s with the influx of Lebanese, and accelerated in the 1960s with more Lebanese and Indians.  The so-called Tubman “Open Door Policy” of the 1960s opened the floodgate for foreign businesses to Liberia—without training and educating Liberians in business to participate in the 1960s Liberian economic miracle. The legacy of that venomous economic policy is what we have today—massive poverty for Liberians and profitable business for foreign nationals. 

A nation’s domestic economy is the blood that circulates through society’s arteries and the oxygen it breathes through its nostrils.  To have it regulated by foreign nationals is utterly preposterous and constitutionally maleficent. The time has come to kill this economic Hydra so that the Liberian people can truly experience the blessings of liberty, equality, and happiness endowed by their Creator. 

The 2023 presidential and legislative general elections provide a propitious time for us to declare this political war of economic liberation.  The question of foreign monopolization must be the Litmus Test for all political aspirants.  We should demand that all political aspirants pledge to do the following:

We shall hold all those who pledge accountable; if anyone reneges, he or she should not have our votes in the next election.  Political parties that fail to make the issue of foreign monopolization of our domestic market the central theme of their platform should not enjoy our supports or have our votes.

The bedrock foundation of republican government is election. It is the constitutional process for instituting government to secure our prosperity and security.  Above, I had called for a declaration of political war on our politicians to effectuate a paradigm shift in our domestic economy.  The 2023 presidential and legislative general elections provide the perfect opportunity to elect the men and women who are truly committed to making lives better for the Liberian people.  We the masses are mired in abject poverty, and we are directly responsible for our dire condition because we continue to elect people who exhibit the Seven Deadly Sins. We do not hold them accountable when they do not exercise the constitution for the benefits of the PEOPLE.

The Holy Trinity of a Republican government is: Equality, Liberty, and Freedom. These three themes are resoundingly elucidated in our Declaration of Independence and in the Preamble of our Constitution.  WE THE PEOPLE are, therefore, unequivocally empowered and endowed by our constitution to secure the blessings of liberty and prosperity for ourselves and generations to come.  We must go to war in 2023 for this purpose so that history will say that was their finest hour.

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About the Author: J. Patrick Flomo can be reached zamawood@gmail.com or 614 707 3636

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