The Math behind the Numbers: When Cash and Promises Soar
Liberia’s bi-cameral legislature comprises of
73 members of the lower house, called the House of Representatives and 30
members of the upper house, called the Senate. In 2014, Liberians will go to
the polls to elect 15 of the 30 Senators for a tenure of nine years. These
mid-term elections are a constitutional requirement that ensures that all the
Senate seats are not vacant at the same time. In this piece, I argue that
elections should be a growth industry where best ideas and character flourish
above cash and false promises.
That
post-war Liberia is a poor country is a fact undisputed by the evidence on the
ground subject to the various data and statistics. In Sachs’ assessment of
poverty, it is when ‘the margin of survival is extraordinarily narrow;
sometimes it closes entirely’ and common activities such as attending school
becomes a ‘hit-and-miss affair’. Poverty in its extreme means ‘households cannot
meet basic needs for survival, they are chronically hungry, unable to access
health care, lack the amenities of safe drinking water and sanitation, cannot
afford education for some or all of the children, and perhaps lack rudimentary
shelter[i]’
(Sachs, 2005; page 20).
There are
many Liberians in their daily lives that will relate to the above situation and
more. It is the need for change in the above situation that makes the elections
process such a high stake for too many.
In such
situation where large portion of the population exist in extreme poverty,
the demands on elected representatives to meet basic needs such as school fees,
meals, basic accommodation, and medical bills grow. The cost for elections also
grows. Those contesting position have to demonstrate prior to being elected
that they can meet these costs. As such, elections become a growth industry for
the wrong reasons, an industry where cash not ideas flourish. The situation is
not helped by the prevailing notion, sustained through practice feeding on very
absent civic education that legislators should solve day-to-day problems of
members of their constituencies.
Seating
Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence of Grand Bassa County addressing the Senate of
Pennsylvania in the United States of America concurred with this prevailing
view ‘because of poverty, the lack of education and the absence of good
governance over a protracted period, the perceived responsibilities of a
legislator have shifted to feeding the hungry, providing scholarships, building
schools, building markets, building roads, youth empowerment programs,
macro-credit for petty traders and market women; all of these are done by
lawmakers from their personal resources[ii].’
(Frontpage Africa, 10 December 2013)
Personal
resources these elected representatives do have. The elected representatives
have the tendency to reward themselves with handsome benefit package in
salaries, allowances and expenses.
In the
absence of a functioning welfare system that provides systematic and
institutionalized support to people in need – housing, meals, school fees etc.
A de facto welfare system pervades. One managed without accountability by
individuals using political power and public resources to dish out cash, jobs
and loans in exchange for future votes - votes which in such system can only
bring the individuals closer to the economic resources.
Promises
unfulfilled abound, since they are easier to make. Unfulfilled promises turned
into lies. These lies do not morph into truths because they are told over and
over again. The truth remains that lies repeated simply erode people’s trust in
the political system.
In the
absence of a healthy debate that scrutinizes the ideas and character of those
wanting to represent the people, it is obvious that the notion of election is
distorted. The focus must therefore be on the electors. It is support to the electors to better
understand the implications of their votes, the use of their votes, how to make
their votes translate into better outcomes. Voters have obligations to
themselves and to future generations. For how long would they sacrifice the
future in exchange of hand-outs to meet day to day needs?
Collier
poignantly notes that ‘change in the societies at the very bottom, must come
from within.’ In all these societies there are ‘struggles between brave people
wanting change[iii]’
and vested interests opposing it. Each Liberian has to sacrifice something, to
be counted as part of the brave people wanting change. This can be manifested
when one votes or chooses not to vote, when one gives, receives bribe or chooses
not to, when one appoints friends, relatives into public offices or chooses not
to, when one chooses not to assign public resources into personal use. It is
the implication to others and the future generation that must underpin these
decisions.
An army of
the brave struggling for change can truly triumph over the few vested interests
opposing such change. Each must distinguish him or herself, not on the basis of
what he or she takes, but how much he or she gives in his or her examples and
services, to contribute to a functional society, where institutions fulfil
their mandates and are held accountable for doing so; where roads leads to
markets, to towns, to villages to neighborhoods; where clean water flows into
homes, schools, communities; where education harnesses the creativity and
inventiveness of every child and youth.
posted by Charles Lawrence @ 03:25:00
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