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My life as Liberian President
•Met a broken nation
•Encounter with IBB, OBJ and Yar’Adua
•Me and George Weah
By ERIC OSAGIE, who was in Monrovia
Sunday, November 22, 2009
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•Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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The Liberian President, Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has sensationally
revealed the monumental decay she met on ground when she took office
to lead the once war-torn country.
Speaking exclusively with the SUNDAY SUN, at her office in Monrovia,
Mrs.Johnson-Sirleaf, said: “Frankly, I did not really know
it was that bad. We did not realise that corruption had so
penetrated the society at every level. The extent of destruction
of infrastructure throughout the country, bridges and roads that
have not been maintained for over 15 years, to rebuild them was
quite a challenge.”
Fondly called Mama Liberia, billboards across the capital city of
Monrovia enjoin the citizens “to show your love for Mama Liberia
by paying your taxes as and when due.” Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf
reciprocates this love by putting in her best towards the development
of her country.
Even at 71, Mama Liberia, gets to the office early in the morning
and the day doesn’t end for her until well past 9-10pm. She’s
definitely passionate about the future of her country.
The visit from the Nigerian team coincided with the Liberian National
Thanksgiving Day, when all Liberians gathered to pray for their
country. Former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, a key investor
in the Liberian economy; Progressive People Alliance (PPA) chieftain,
Chief Sam Nkire, Lady Philomena Desmond and AIT’s Austin Agbonsuremi
were amongst the select group at the prayer session held at the
Cecil King auditorium at the basement of the Ministry of foreign
Affairs which Sirleaf-Johnson currently occupies as temporary office.
The Executive mansion is currently undergoing renovation.
The prayers over, the president led the reporter to her office where
she opened up like never before. She spoke on efforts to rebuild
her country, her second term ambition, life as Liberian president,
encounter with Nigerian leaders, amongst other issues.
Excerpts…
Madam president, you just had your national thanksgiving
day. What does prayer mean in the life of your nation?
Prayer is very important to our country because we see ourselves
as blessed having come out of a period of devastation and conflict.
Today, we thank God we have passed our six years of peace and we
are now able to accelerate our reconstruction efforts. So, for us,
prayer has been an important part of healing and restoring our nation.
What have been your challenges since you assumed leadership?
The biggest challenge has been creating employment for our thousands
of young people, many of who were involved in the conflict and don’t
have the skills and education for them to fit into job positions.
So, we are trying to get them trained. But there are still many
of them unemployed. That’s probably our biggest challenge.
Would you say your aspirations have been largely met?
I would say yes I’m satisfied with the progress that we have
made. We met a broken nation. We’ve been able to get our institutions
functioning again. We have resolved our massive external debts that
we inherited. By next year, all of that debt would be gone away.
It was $4.9 billion. Today, it’s down to $1.7 billion. When
we reach the completion point about mid next year, it will all be
gone away. We have started trying to restore infrastructure by rebuilding
the roads and streets. There is still a lot of work to be done because
the rainy season has interrupted the work. But now that we have
the dry season coming, we expect to do all of that. We are in post
primary education today. We had over 40 per cent increase in enrolment
at the primary level in the public schools. We are now concentrating
on agriculture to get people back to the farms so we can be self
sufficient. We are negotiating to reopen our mines and our agriculture
concessions. Forestry is now opening and they are starting to work
right now. But the challenges remain and we still have a long way
to go.
Did you envisage the enormity of the problems you met because
running for office is one thing but actually getting there is a
different kettle of fish? What was the degree of rot you met in
Liberia?
Frankly, I did not really know it was that bad. For example, the
capacity issue, the lack of skills; we had people in the institutions
that did not have the level of training to be able to perform at
the level to even secure our agenda. We did not realise that corruption
had so penetrated the society at every level and you know
that takes away from our efforts to be able to manage our resources
well. The extent of destruction of infrastructure throughout the
country, bridges and roads that have not been maintained for over
15 years, to rebuild them was quite a challenge. But, as I said,
I think in three years, we’ve made some solid progress and
today, more importantly, the Liberian people have hopes. They now
believe in the future. They now have freedom that they never enjoyed
before. The people enjoy freedom, the media, there is freedom of
association and freedom of religion. All of those, I think have
just inspired and motivated all of us to say that we know we can
make Liberia prosperous again.
How useful have your brothers in other African countries
been? What manner of support have you really got from the other
African countries?
Very strong support. First of all, it was the West African brothers
and sisters who first intervened to bring us peace and Nigeria was
a key leader in this regard. Before the United Nations scheme, we
had the ECOMOG forces that came and brought us peace. Since that
time, it’s our brothers and sisters who have also been strong
advocates for us, not only to get the UN here but to also bring
back some of our bilateral partners in the multilateral ones
we have. Many of them are still involved in ensuring our security.
In the ongoing peace keeping forces, the key contingents come from
our neighbouring countries – Nigeria and Ghana. Those are
the ones that are providing that and today you know the Chief of
Staff of our army is a Nigerian General and he is providing much
of the training for our new army. Many of our young soldiers are
now in training in Staff Colleges in Nigeria. Our Police Force has
been greatly helped by the government of Nigeria. They have just
stood by us in every way and ECOWAS supports us in advocacy. So,
we can’t say enough for how Liberia has been helped and has
benefited from the support of our neighbouring countries.
What of the Americans?
Well, the US is still Liberia’s major external partner and
today, they are the number one in terms of the resources that they
provide to help us with the rebuilding of the country. There was
a strained relationship before. Today, the relationship between
Liberia and the US is very strong. They also have been advocates
for us in the UN for the continued support of the ongoing peace
keeping force until such a time that our own security forces are
ready to take over these responsibilities.
After being president for three years, do you think you
are achieving the capacity building which was a big challenge when
you took over because I know that there are too many unskilled workers
in Liberia. How are you bridging this gap?
We have tried to strengthen our higher institutions of learning
and we are trying to reform the universities. We’ve opened
up another University that had been closed for years. We’ve
also tried to repatriate Liberians in the diaspora to bring them
home. That created a little bit of tension some time between the
locals and those who have returned, but that has helped our capacity
programme. We also have encouraged some of our African brothers
and sisters to also come to fill those capacity gaps, until such
time that we have trained enough people. But capacity still remains
a problem for us. We also have to improve the compensation system.
When we took over, the minimum government salary for government
workers was 15 US dollars, but today, it’s $80. It’s
still not enough but it has come a long way.
When you take a look at the future of Liberia, how much
role do you still expect to play because I have heard people say
mama Liberia is elderly; the American president is 48 and the problem
in Liberia requires a young and energetic person?
Obviously, at some point in time, it will pass to a younger generation
and it has to. But for now, I’m strong and I’m able
to carry out my functions. If you talk to my staff, I think I tire
them out.
Did you have any peculiar experience with Nigeria that you
want to share with us?
I have had two wonderful experiences. One was in the home
of former President Ibrahim Babangida where I actually spent a night
with him and his wife. This was before our campaign. I just went
to consult him as a big brother…I mean small brother not big
brother. At another time, I was able to spend several hours at that
farm of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Those two occasions gave me
an opportunity just to be an ordinary person talking to somebody
like a brother and to talk to them about African politics and
thank them for their support for Liberia. There was another occasion
during the campaign that I went and the women decided to have an
event. At that time, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was Minister of Finance.
They received me during the campaign. We had a wonderful session
with the women dancing all night in order to promote my campaign.
You spent time with two former Nigerian presidents and the
incumbent, Umaru Yar’Adua. How do you rate them?
They are all great men, different in character. But let me give
you another experience and this one was just coincidental. I was
going for the inauguration of President Yar’Adua but our plane
was late. By the time we arrived in Abuja, the ceremony was just
ending. But we got the protocol officer and said no, I must congratulate
him since I have come here. He had just gone to his house. But I
happened to have launch with President Yar’Adua on his inauguration
day in his house with his wife and others. That was exceptional
because, as I said, it was pure coincidence. I was just lucky because
he had gone to the house. When the protocol went and said the President
of Liberia has come, but she was late to see you and congratulate
you, and she wants to congratulate you, he said okay tell her we
are going to lunch. Tell her to just come and join. We went there
with my group and that again was a wonderful experience.
If you were a male president, would the challenges have
been the same relating with other countries? In Africa, we are not
used to having female Presidents. Do you find any peculiar challenge
in terms of gender?
Our challenge in Liberia was specific because we were coming out
of war. We had many people who came out of warring factions, warlords
and all of that we had to deal with. But I think my ability to move
the country forward tells everybody that a woman can do it. If you
have the right qualification, the courage and the commitment, you
can do it. I hope that would set an example for others. Their task
may not be as difficult as mine. If they are in countries where
the institutions are functioning and things are moving and they
don’t inherit the kind of broken systems that we have, they
will be even stronger than I am to make more progress. But I hope
that I will succeed sufficiently to send that message to all women
and particularly young girls that they can compete at every level
and they can succeed.
I understand you appointed a lot of opposition people into
your government. Can you expatiate on why you did that?
Yes, I did because I believed in inclusion. Many former Presidential
candidates are holding positions, Ministerial positions
and deputy positions. Even today in some of our key Ministries,
there are people who hold senior positions from other parties. My
only requirement is that you believe in our agenda and you work
to carry out our objectives. I don’t care if you want to remain
in your party as long as you are committed to the principles, to
the agenda and to the policies that we announce.
But weah is not there. Did you reach out to him?
No, he did not want to. In the beginning, I did, but he wanted to
go back to school, which I think he has done.
What’s a typical day like for madam president?
Get up in the morning and do some small exercise so my body stays
fit, have a good healthy breakfast and come to work and work through.
Some times, my day does not end until 10.00 o’clock in the
night. After 10, I go home and take my rest. But if you want to
test my strength, I’m playing football at 4.00 o clock today
at the stadium.
Apart from exercise, what other things do you do to keep
fit? What books do you read?
I try to read some of the latest books. There are some good books
coming out by Liberians and Africans. I’m just reading a book
by one of our Professors who is writing something about Liberia
and it’s relationship with America. I myself have put out
my own book on my life story.
Music?
I listen to music when I can. I don’t have time for too much
of that. I like to swim for example but I don’t get time to
do too much of that any more except, perhaps, on weekends and Sundays.
I like to listen to pop music, current music and country music.
Do you listen to Michael Jackson? He sang Liberian girl?
I know Liberian Girl but Michael Jackson’s music is too fast
for me.
What food do you like to eat?
Pepper Soup. Nigerian Pepper Soup, Liberian Pepper Soup. I eat that
every night because I try to stay away from the heavy oil because
it’s not good for cholesterol. So, I tend to eat more soup
than anything else.
You are the first African female president. How does
that make you feel?
I feel wonderful. I have opened the doors for all the other African
women to follow. Today, many of them are calling me that they are
preparing themselves to run.
Do you have Nigerians among them?
Yes, and I’m encouraging them.
Do you have a second term ambition?
That’s my secret.
What of third term if your constitution allows that?
I think that I will not want that.
Does the pressure of job not affect your family life?
Fortunately, many of my family members are still here. Most of my
sons have returned home and they are working. My sister and brother
have returned home and their families are here. But I don’t
have any dependant because I married very young. So, most of my
sons are like my young brothers.
I went round the city and saw a lot of billboards on
HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. What is the prevalence level?
The HIV prevalence level is not that high – about 5 per cent
or so but we are trying to be precautious by making sure that we
have a very robust education programme, so that we can try to prevent
and control it. Rape is a more difficult challenge for us. The rape
of young girls is a big problem for us. We’ve tried to address
it now by establishing a special court to handle domestic violence
against women and rape cases. We’ve got a special prosecution
unit established for that. The biggest issue now is to change the
mindset of those who are victimized and are afraid to be exposed.
So, they have been silent. There are the difficulties of poverty
in which the offender is able to make a deal with the family and
to cover up and the difficulty of the mindset of judges who still
do not see rape as a crime against humanity, although it is now
backed by international standard. So, we continue to fight that
problem.
What will you like to be remembered for when you leave office?
For changing Liberia and moving it from despair to hope, from dependency
to self-sufficiency and from poverty to prosperity. I hope I will
make that transformation so that those who follow me will have an
easier task to carry on.
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