The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
September 17\, 2021

It is a travesty that the second branch of our government — the Executive — does not have a functioning edifice since the 2006 fire. Yet Liberians seem nonchalant on this issue.  Where is our honor, national pride, fidelity, and support for the country we call the Glorious Land of Liberty?

Since 1944, the Executive Mansion has been the gravitational center of our political universe.  For this generation to have this edifice relegated (since 2006) to ghostly superstition nonsense is the greatest absurdity of our time.  The fact that former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf gave credence to the ludicrous ghostly claims and refused to renovate the building during her two-term presidency (12 years) should have caused outrage and great consternation among Liberians everywhere, especially in the diaspora.  It did not!  The silence of the Liberian community around the world on this issue seems to indicate that we Liberians have no sense of pride in our country.

It is now 15 years and counting since that mysterious fire erupted on Wednesday, July 26, 2006, in the Executive Mansion during the 159th Independence celebration. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined even now.  The Executive Mansion is still closed, and the prospect of re-opening it seems far-fetched under this administration --- the Weah administration.

Reading Helene Cooper's New York Times 2017 article "In Liberia, an Executive Mansion Fit for a President — and Ghosts, Too," I was astounded to learn that in the 21st century of human evolution, civilization, and technological achievement, Liberians are still in the mode of primitive superstition, believing in ghosts and spirits.  What I found most ludicrous is that Johnson-Sirleaf, a highly Western-educated lady, gave currency to this medieval thinking; she left the Executive Mansion and never returned.   President Johnson-Sirleaf's predecessor, George Weah (now President and Pastor) also believed in this crackpot theory and has also eschewed the Mansion.

The Executive Mansion is the PEOPLE'S HOUSE.  The Mansion serves as the symbol of the second branch of our government, and the residence of our Head of State. This is the building where the President carries out duty and responsibility as a "servant of the people" to defend and protect the Constitution of the Republic.  For 158 years, the Executive Mansion received foreign dignitaries and presidents of other nations honors.  The Executive Mansion is supposed to be our Curia Julia or Pnyx, the symbol and strength of our Constitutional Republic, and the pride of our people. 

The writing of this article is prompted by the fact that Liberia is the only sovereign republic on earth without a public residence for the Head of State.  The July fire of 2006 did not burn down the entire mansion, and yet, 15 years later, the building is still unfinished despite an annual budgetary appropriation for repair. The fact that Liberia is without an Executive Office building should outrage us. We should be demanding that it reopen.  If we truly believe that the ghost of Tolbert still roams the halls and no elected president has the courage to stay there, then the government should do one of the following: give the building to the homeless or demolish it.  ABOVE ALL, THE LIBERIAN PEOPLE SHOULD DEMAND A NEW EXECUTIVE MANSION. If the current powers that be have an ounce of pride, dignity, or respect, they should come to terms with this undignified situation.

The people in power of the pre-1980s were men and women of culture, sophistication, cosmopolitanism, pride, and dignity despite their abhorrent treatment of the autochthonous.  Certainly, they would not have allowed such an episode to persist for such a long time.  I am apoplectic that as members of the autochthonous, we are not shouting from the mountain tops for the restoration or reconstruction of the Executive Mansion. We allow ourselves and our government to be without a symbol of Executive power for 15 years and counting.  Moreover, we allow our rational faculty to be fogged by superstition.  The violent overthrow of the True Whig Party in 1980 and the summary execution of cabinet ministers were enthusiastically welcomed with the hope of bringing enlightenment.   However, since then it seems we have moved back to the dark ages with this ludicrous idea of the Executive Mansion being haunted.    The time is now to restore the dignity and pride of our republic by erecting an edifice of the executive symbol where the Head of State will carry out his constitutional responsibility to serve the PEOPLE OF LIBERIA.

The Executive Mansion is not haunted, cursed, or jinxed.  For this nation, after 174 years of sovereignty, to accept this preposterous notion that the Executive Mansion is haunted calls into question the capacity and ability to build a better equalitarian society.