Liberia Archives - TalkAfrique

August 27, 2011

Jumping Aspirants, Weak Political Parties, Lack of Integrity: Where Would That Take The Liberian State?

Many times we conceptualized that the Liberian state will be better in the future than what it is. This statement seems to be illusive, because those who are to manage the state of affairs are jumping all over the place thus making Liberia Government Issue to be the breeding ground for chopping. How can you have internal party democracy and there can be no loser? Almost all the losers preferred jumping to another party to force opportunity. The political parties are so many and there are no institutional frameworks that can control the parties’ activities, thereby making losers to come from anywhere to jump in another party. Does that also mean that the parties do not have capable people to feel those slots? Why would a political party exist in the dictionary of NEC when it cannot field viable aspirants for elections?

Let me give you some practical cases: Charles Bennie of Congress of Democratic Change (CDC) left his party to join the Liberty Party (LP) to be represented in one of the Margibi districts; incumbent Samuel Bono, has left the Unity Party (UP), and he is on his way to join another political party; incumbents Gabriel Smith and Vinicious Hodges were defeated in the Liberty Party (LP) primaries, and they have left the party. This scenario is not with only personalities but it is also with institutions that have organized themselves into alliances or coalitions. The National Patriotic Party (NPP) has severe ties with the National Democratic Coalition (NDC), and Cyril Allen, now representing the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) in one of Margibi districts.

How can you have personalities or institutions that are to represent the people or the masses they claimed to protect behaving in a manner that is not good in the sight of mankind? Where in the world will you have an election and there will be no loser? How can a party join a coalition and jump out of it in the last minute without genuine reason? How would politicians learn the rudiments of politics and build strong political culture that would engender robust institutional base that outlasts the partisans? There is an integrity problem with those who are jumping from one institution to another. Everybody who wants to represent a group of people must stand for integrity, not against. The behavior of the “would be” legislators must be clear, because it also the sign of greed for power. The expectation for them to become better Legislators will not exist. How can we build our integrity system when those who are to set the pace in the society are jumping around from one party to another? How do they condemn an election that is not free, fair and transparent?

The internal democracy in the political parties is fragile and there is no control mechanism to protect the image of the parties. How can these parties manage the affairs of the country when they cannot build an integrity system? The formation of every political party is to nurture and train men and women who would manage government’s affairs. But how can a weak political party manage the affair of the state when they are allowing unacceptable behavioral pattern amongst the partisans? The unwholesome attitude of the “would be” legislators reminds me of the Liberian state and the hustlers. Those who are engaging in this unwholesome practice, by jumping from one party to another are the hustlers in the Liberian State. Their uncontrollable quest for power is not to make any significant change that will improve the lives of the people, but to grab ‘something’ for their pocket, and left the state depleted and wretched.

The Liberian state is fragile, recuperating from a bloody civil conflict. Political actors must not allow it to slip into a failed state. It needs people with integrity to manage it. When we don’t ensure the right governance processes are respected, we sometime tend to blame the WEST for our underdevelopment. Many politicians in Africa have always thought that the problem of underdevelopment can surely rest on the shoulder of the WEST which is completely wrong. Liberia is Africa’s oldest independent country, but what do we have to show for that toga? Paul Kigame’s Rwanda experience similar conflict as Liberia, but can’t compare Rwanda with Liberia in any wise? With this kind of unstable and unpredictable politicians, how can we take Liberia to the Promise Land we are clamoring for?

I want to think now that the struggle for independence by some of the countries on the continent is just a waste of time and the loss of valuable lives. For our part in Liberia, the death of so many Liberians as the result of the civil conflict in the name of poor governance is regrettable, because nothing significant has change. Every time in our political lives, the worst is being implemented. Politics is not about intense greed for power, but rather the ability to manage a group of people in a well organized way for the overall good of the society. The Liberian State might be in trouble if this kind of political attitude cannot change, because this crop of politicians would find it difficult to accept election results as they are not gallant in defeat. Democracy can only be deepened when winning and losing are incorporated in the body polity for balanced development.

August 27, 2011October 7, 2011

The International Community and Africa’s Democracy Construct

Commentary/Africa Development

More than ever as Africa gets entwined in the international system, the international community is becoming increasingly part of Africa’s development. Ever more, the international community includes the ever-growing Africans working in numerous international organizations and diasporan Africans across the world’s capitals whose transmission of billions of dollars annually to Africa have given them immense influence on their homelands.

Most times, the international community is the last resort in resolving Africa’s self-inflicted complications, especially in the face of frightening leadership as we saw in Nigeria under Gen. Sani Abacha and his associates. The reasons vary Africa-wide, but the constantly ringing arguments are feeble political leadership and weak institutions. Against these backgrounds, international pressure to democratize for stability and development are impacted on African countries where threats of coup d’etats, weak economies, fragile underdeveloped infrastructure, and unstable domestic authority structures are strongly prominent.

As Sierra Leone, Liberia and Burundi reveal under such dire conditions sovereignty is eroded and Africans hopelessly suffer, gapping for mortal help in the face deadly unstable domestic authority structures. Under such condition, as the American thinker Francis Fukuyama argues in State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21^st Century, “sovereignty and therefore legitimacy could no longer be automatically conferred on the de facto power holder in a country. State sovereignty was a fiction or bag joke in the case of countries like Somalia, which has descended into rule by warlords.”

In such situations, the “international community,” as Francis Fukuyama contends, “ceased to be an abstraction and took on palpable presence as the effective government of the country in question.”

When ex-Cote d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power after loosing the November, 2010 presidential elections, the international community, sensing more deaths and destruction of properties, helped not only remove Laurent Gbagbo from power but before that cut-off the Gbagbo regime from all Ivorian funds and diplomatic relations, sending his diplomats abroad packing.

The same treatment was rendered to Niger when the military took over power from President Mamadou Tandja. On April 7, 2011, Mahamadou Issoufou, of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS-Tarayya), became President after successful multiparty elections.

Tied to foreign aid, international investments and diplomatic influence, as democratic Ghana and Botswana show and are enjoying, the idea is linked to the international community’s policy of “democracy promotion” in the world. This is part of the international community’s international development architecture. As Nigeria’s elections show, initially elections may not be free and fair, but overtime it becomes better. The April16, 2011 elections in Nigeria was better than the one in 2007.

Whether dealing with African civil wars, post-conflict countries, coup d’etats, post-elections crisis, or political instability, distressed Africans point to the international community for decisive help as countries in Africa’s Great Lake Region show. The assistance is made more critical because of the fact that most African countries depend on international donors for their budget sustenance.

However, increasingly, the African diasporan financial remittances are matching up with foreign financial aids. But the problem with the African diasporan remittances is that it is not organized as a force for political reforms but individuals sending money to families. Sometimes, diasporan groups lobby international institutions and foreign governments for certain actions against definite African situations when need arises. This makes their collective force on African issues, superlatively, frail. So the real force to help change difficult African issues such as building democracy for greater development, rest, in the final analysis, on the international community’s assistance.

But the international community could be a problem in the democratization of Africa. Patricia Daley, a human geographer at Oxford University, argues that what happens in Africa’s democratization process is that if African elites sorely take hold of the democratic process without fully bringing African traditional institutions on board, the elites, mimicking the West, allow the international development community to commandeer the democratic process, who usually do not understand the African sensibilities, and with their lack of control and dearth of knowledge, mess up the democratic process.

Regardless of this, the international community becomes the last card in helping build democracies in Africa. Latest research by political scientists Hein Goemans (of University of Rochester) and Nikolay Marinov (of Yale University) about post-coup d’etats African countries, under immense pressure to survive, is most likely to transit to democratic practices as soon as possible. The successful stories of Sierra Leone and Liberia demonstrate the investigations by Goemans and Marinov.

Entitled “Putsch for Democracy: The International Community and Elections After the Coup,” Goemans and Marinov point out, using most of their data from African coup d’etats and elections, that before 1991 majority of successful African coups installed their leaders in power. The picture changes dramatically between 1991 and 2001 – with most African coup d’etats leading to competitive elections, in five years or less. Niger, the Central African Republic and Guinea-Conakry come to mind. In this sense, Post-Cold War Africa has progressively seen conflict-ridden African states under immense pressure by the international community to democratize through timely competitive elections. Goemans and Marinov characterize this as the “electoral norm.”

In Sierra Leone, rumour had it that military junta Head of State, Brigadier-General Julius Maada Bio, despite promises to hold competitive elections after Sierra Leone’s 11-year-old civil war had thought privately of reneging and transforming himself into civilian President, as Ghana’s Ft. Lt. Jerry Rawlings did. But unrelenting international pressure, in addition to the diasporan Sierra Leonean lobby, forced Gen. Bio to hold on to his public pledge.

The result was Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, of the Sierra Leone People’s Party, winning the presidential elections and becoming President in March 29, 1996 – May 25, 1997 and March 10, 1998 – September 17, 2007. For this, post-conflict Sierra Leone is profoundly donor-dependent and over 60 percent of its national budget comes from the international community. In total Sierra Leone receives over US$300m annually in international aid.

Most African countries that depend heavily on international development aid are easily the first to go for competitive elections, after coup d’etat, civil war or political crisis. Goemans and Marinov hypothesis is that since 1990s there have been decline in illegal seizure of power in Africa. In this context, the current African political picture is that coup d’etats (which normally lead to civil wars and political instabilities) is the most important case for toppling African democracies.

Goemans and Marinov explains that their “ … findings indicate that the new generation of coups have been considerably less nefarious for democracy than their historical predecessors.” What is striking in Goemans and Marinov supposition is that “outside pressure” has surely engendered “electoral norms,” that have dissuaded “coup-entrepreneurs.”

One of the success stories of the “electoral norms” is Sierra Leone. Dubbed Britain’s sore “successful humanitarian intervention,” Sierra Leone continues to be held up by former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, as proof of the success of the “new doctrine of international community” he introduced in 1999. With threats of coup d’etat, weak economy, brittle underdeveloped infrastructure, and unbalanced domestic power structures, the only development card for post-conflict Sierra Leone to play was with the “new doctrine of international community.”

In its struggle to play well with the doctrine of the international community, today, Sierra Leone is one of the fast growing democracies in Africa. Formerly at the bottom of the UN Human Development Index that measures human well-being, Sierra Leone has risen dramatically to the 158^th rank out of 167 countries ranked in 2010.

Whether dealing with coup-entrepreneurs, post-conflict actors/groups or political volatilities, the international community, through its famed unrelenting pressure and provision of critical financial aid, has forced various out-of-place African actors/groups to ensure that key institutions of the African state, as Errol Mendes, a constitutional and international law expert at the University of Ottawa, Canada, explains, “are subject to the rule of law and respect the fundamental rights … This means focusing on the imperative of an independent judiciary, a free media, an independent election commission, security forces cleansed as much as possible, and ensuring that forces do not terrorize the people.”

The ability to nurture these democratic tenets in Africa, as Oxford University’s Patricia Daley argues, is how to deal with limitations the international community finds itself in grasping the nuances of traditional Africa values, that are supposed to be lubricant for authentic democratization of Africa.

International pressure or not, significant financial support or not, Ghana, Botswana, Sierra Leone, Mauritius, Nigeria, among others, exhibit that democracy has to be a homegrown enterprise, with the citizens acknowledging its mammoth attributes to their ultimate progress. In this logic, Goemans and Marinov divulge that “democratic norms have a far better chance of taking root in a country if some minimum procedural trappings of democratic government can be maintained over time.”

This makes the delicate work of democracy building and the fostering of development in Africa by the international community sometimes convoluted. In Africa today, as Goemans and Marinov’s research discloses, coup-entrepreneurs, post-conflict actors/groups or perpetuators of political volatilities really “care about the attitude of the international community.” Conversely, the international community as well cares about “the dangers of irregular transfer of power” in Africa.

As an advancement undertaking, as Kofi Abrefa Busia, the late Prime Minister of Ghana and a democracy philosopher, enthused in The Prospects For Democracy in Africa, this makes democracy building in Africa a deeply faithful enterprise that should be driven by Africans’ traditional values. A realistic venture that should be informed by the African facts of fear of coup d’etats, weak economies, fragile underdeveloped infrastructure, and wobbly domestic authority configuration.

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August 23, 2011October 7, 2011

West Africa’s Democratic Evolution – African or Western?

Special Commentary/West Africa

For sometime, the centre of Africa’s anarchic one-party systems, gory tyrants, brutal dictatorships, self-serving military juntas and hideous civil wars, West Africa is changing and indisputably sowing democratic seeds. Whether in Cape Verde, Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Niger, Nigeria or Guinea Bissau multi-party elections are blowing across the once politically sick region.

The only black sheep today is Senegal’s Casamance conflict, which is still on-going. But as West Africa’s democracy deepens, the Casamance conflict can surely be solved with democratic ideals, as the Liberian, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leonean cases show. Continue reading “West Africa’s Democratic Evolution – African or Western?”

August 15, 2011

THE DEATH-TRAP CALLED PEHN-PEHN

The two-wheeler motor commonly called ‘Okada’ in Ghana, Benin and some parts of Nigeria, Pehn-pehn in Liberia, has become a veritable means of transportation in major cities of most West African countries. Its presence in the roads of these nations’ cities has been more of a problem than a solution to the ailing transportation problems.

Many have argued that Okada or Pehn-pehn business has provide jobs in large measure to most of the teeming once jobless youths, it has make ease the accessibility of some of the areas that have bad roads as the deplorable state of roads is a recurrent feature of these countries; it has aid fast and quick movement during chaotic traffic situation, it creates good access to health-care and market where cars are in short supply and majority could not afford the cost of renting a car for such emergency etc. These are some of the reasons, major portion of the population in these countries strongly believe that the two-wheeler taxi is unavoidable and must remain in our cities to ease the excruciating pain people go through for hours waiting for taxi and buses that are few.

Contrastingly, the two-wheeler taxi irrespective of the above plausible reasons why we need it on our roads, it has become ready-made two-wheeler coffin that convey people to their early grave almost every second in these cities. No day passes by that this mode of transportation does not send someone to the orthopedic ward of a hospital. For instance, in Igbobi hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, accident cases involving motor-bike are too overwhelming. The case is not different in John F. Kennedy memorial hospital in Monrovia Liberia, the case is not opposite for major hospitals in Togo,Cameroun,Benin among others. Meanwhile, the presence of motor-bike has cascaded the spate of crime in all of these cities. Bike riders have constituted themselves into hoodlums who terrorize their innocent victims as they snatch hand-bags, that contained valuable items, jerk cell phones while they speed past their unsuspecting victims; they are well-known for stealing car battery/sound-system. They are also notorious for car-jacking and many more deadly criminal activities. Yet, governments in these countries have allowed the dangerous trade to flourish.

In Ghana for instance, the heat has been on that motor-bike cannot ply the country’s major cities partly because the National Road Safety Commission act do not make provision for the commercialization of motor-bike. Besides, in Abuja Nigeria, since 2007, the commercial use of ‘Okada’ has been prohibited. Other states in this category are Port-Harcourt, Owerri and recently Maiduguri (due to the activities of the Islamic sect insurgent group ‘Boko Haram’). The reason is not only to reduce crime and accident, but also for free flow of traffic. Most of these riders do not obey traffic signs and rules; they meander and wander at neck-breaking speed, from the right side of the road to the wrong without recourse to other roads users. They are known for over-taking from the driver’s blind-spot thus causing avoiding collision. They hit their fellow riders and cars from all sides, they smack your break-light and they will beg and say ‘sorry’. More dangerously, they relish in drinking local gin than eating food before they enter road to pick passengers.

Studies have shown repeatedly that motor-bike passengers are 36 times more likely to get involved in an accident and die or injured than those in a car. This is because nothing protects them and their passengers while they ride in deadly speed. Moreover, they are always in a hurry to God knows destination. In the mind of bike-riders, the passengers’ seat on the bike would have been fitted for five or six passengers instead of one, as they overload the bike from the tank up to the iron-tail-guard. Sometimes, some people crammed the whole family members- mother, father, and their children in on motor-bike. Sordid enough, bike men often time ignore safety measures such as the wearing of crash-helmet to protect their head and that of the passengers. Even at the peak of rainy season in West African region, very few of them go about their business with rain-coats for themselves and their passengers- there is health hazard someone may say! Further, research conducted by the International Journal of Impotence Research, has also demonstrated that vibrations from motor-bike engine have damaging effect on the nerves of the penis. Do they have enough education on this in order to take precaution?

Mean time, we may find it difficult to do without motor-bikes in our roads in major cities, but does it worth the prize our people pay daily with their lives, or say, some become physically challenged over-night from motor-bike crashes? The proliferation of motor-bikes in these countries clearly showcases random government failure to address transportation problems facing them, as well as the chronic unemployment imbroglio. Weak transport infrastructure in the guise of inefficient management that characterized the public sphere is what gives teeth to these bike riders. May be is because they have formed a formidable mass, as they are used by political leaders for election to augment votes or use them to stall elections or hijack ballot boxes. The examples of France, US and the UK, have shown that restricting motor-bike to private use or courier services and investing heavily in the transport sector would provide more employment opportunities than risking people’s lives. Will it be bad if governments in these countries put money into a body that would buy taxis and give them out to these same bike riders, give them proper orientation in recognized driving schools and they pay back on installment basis and remove these death-traps from our major roads?

July 28, 2011

Liberia and its 164 Independence: What Do They Have to Celebrate?

Liberia, the oldest independent African Country with the age of 164 years has not made any substantive progress to have a wide celebration. The country continues to have political confusion marked with unprepared multi-party democracy, ethnic tension, selfish interest over public concern and the common wealth is mostly taken to the Americas and other parts of the world while majority of the people in the country suffered abject poverty. Since independence, on July 26, 1847, most of the national leaders preferred keeping their families in the United States of America, thus creating huge capital flight for a small economy that continues to be fragile.

Liberia’s political order emerged as an over-centralized and predatory order that turned increasingly repressive as pressures for inclusion intensified over the years. It ultimately collapsed under such pressures as external support declined with the ending of the cold war (sawyer, 2004). For the most part, the country has experienced eighteenth violent conflict ranging from 1822 up to 2003 (Levitt, 2005). These violent conflicts have made the society to be acculturated to the “culture of violence”. For instance, in some cases whenever there is an accident in the street where a driver hit somebody especially in a crowded area, when the police doesn’t come around faster on the spot, there will be mob action that could lead to the death of the driver. These wars further broke down the weak and impaired system of governance, led to the death of many Liberians, the destruction of properties and created too much ethnic tension in the country especially among the indigenous and the settlers or the Americo-Liberians. It was appalling that some of those Liberians who were involved in planning and executing the conflict from 1979 up to 2003 refused to apologize to Liberians during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing. Worse of all, the country is witnessing its former President, Charles Taylor being investigated in the Hague for committing crime against humanity in Sierra Leone.

Sadly, there is a breakdown of social value system in the society than ever before simply because the teenage parents don’t have the socialization skills to develop such a core family value. The county needs severe and real commitment to settle such a national crisis rather than putting more interest in celebrating an independence that is not meaningful.

Indeed, the celebration of independence is just because of age factor not because progress has been made in the country as compared to other countries that have had independence. Despite the challenges that come with governing a fragile state, all of these socio-economic and political problems persist because there is no “political will”. For Liberians to always be proud of their independence celebration there must be practical reality of national commitment which will require collective efforts that calls dedication, honesty, hard work, transparency and nationalism.

June 28, 2011

Human Relations and Motivation: Workplace Attitudes in Liberia

Background and Introduction:

Human relations and motivation of workers in public service is a significant human relation scenario at workplace that requires training of workers and administrators especially in the Liberian society. These concepts are so significant that they can destroy the image of the entity or result to dignifying the organization, or lead to productivity. At one time, employees were considered just another input in the production of goods and services. What perhaps changed this way of thinking about employees was research done through the Hawthorne Studies, conducted by Elton Mayo (Oribabor, 2000). The Hawthorne studies began the human relations approach to management, whereby the needs and motivation of employees became the primary focus of managers. Motivation has been the focus of many studies due to its crucial role in determining how people choose to use their limited and precious time and energy. Theories have developed with the goal of understanding how humans are motivated and to what ends motivation can be used. The interest in human motivation can be traced as far back as historical records go, and what motivates humans continues to intrigue us. Greek philosophers; medieval writers, such as Saint Augustine; nineteenth – century Europe philosophers; and Eastern thinkers of many centuries all have proposed more or less complete theories about motivation(Berry, 1998). Moreover, public service motivation may be understood as an individual’s predisposition to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions and organizations (Rainey 1982). This paper discussed those human relation issues like motivation, job satisfaction and performance. Specific cases of human relations in the context of Liberia are discussed.

Fredrick Taylor Human Relations Context:

Friedrick Taylor was an American and one of the early management consultants in the world that believed in “industrial efficiency” (Wall Street Journal, 1997). He believed that by nature man is lazy therefore all his activities must be regimented and set in strict framework with the emphasis of time. Taylor understanding was the “Machine Approach”. Man must work like a machine. That is why his concept is referred to as “Scientific Management”. Fredrick Scientific Management concepts have been critique and there are other schools like the theory “Y” concept that brings a good relationship with the employer and employee. Theory “Z” has been considered the best and it is extremely applicable in Japan. Let me give you some analysis on the Liberia Human relation factors.

Motivation and Job Performance:

Motivation: It is typified as an individual phenomenon. Every person is unique and all the major theories of motivation allow for this uniqueness to be demonstrated in one way or another (Mullins, 1996). Motivation is also the arousal and the force of an individual to engage in desired behavior. It concerns action, and the internal and external forces which influence a person’s choice of action. There are two types of motivation: Intrinsic and Extrinsic. The intrinsic motivation relates to psychological rewards such as the opportunity to use one’s ability while the extrinsic motivation is related to tangible rewards such as salary and fringe benefits, security, promotion, contrast of service, the work environment and conditions of work. Additionally, (Osterloh and Frey, 2000), stated that employees are extrinsically motivated if they satisfy their needs indirectly, especially through monetary compensation. Job satisfaction is not the same as motivation. Job satisfaction is more of an attitude, an internal state. It means therefore, many of the Liberians who misbehave at their workplaces without exerting professional skills, doesn’t necessarily mean they are satisfied or not but rather they have an awkward attitude at work place. There are many propositions which states that satisfaction leads to performance but sometimes it may not be the case. Therefore, motivation, job satisfaction and performance are crucial concepts related to work place that require considerate efforts if work attitude must be enhanced.

HUMAN RELATIONS AND MOTIVATION AT THE LIBERIA WORKPLACES: SOME CASES

Let me illustrate some classical examples of human relation at Liberian workplaces:

TAXI DRIVERS: When you ask the taxi drivers about direction, they will not answer. In fact, they demand the charge that does not conform to the government transport arrangement. When you refused while they are driving, they harshly demand you to get out of the car. This is why in most cases; they refused to pick up the University of Liberia students because some of the students always have their government transportation regulation in their bag or pocket to show it to them at any point. In most restaurants, when you enter, the waiter or waitress will sit and wait upon you until you send for them. If you sometime make an error to ask for something that is not in the restaurant, they will say “what brought you here” or tell you something that will not be encouraging.

HEALTH CARE WORKER & JOHN F. KENNEDY: Some of the health care workers (Nurse, Registrar, and Physician Assistant) believed that the patients who are the victims must show respect at all times. Some of them have stated that they are not motivated by the administrators of their various health centers while it has been observed that their awkward actions come from their behavioral pattern. In early April, 2011, I went to visit a patient at John F. Kennedy Maternity Hospital, a lady who was a nurse aid or a medical practitioner insulted a visitor until I told her, “the lady has already apologized to you just leave her alone”. The medical practitioner continued to insult the lady until she had to suspend her visit. On the other hand, there was a medical practitioner who said she enjoyed working with her patient and their family in fact, she allows her phone to be used by all patients at all times, whenever there is a need .

Let it be noted that psycho-socio training is the foundation of the medical discipline, therefore all medical associates respect the psycho-social foundation in the medical field. It serves as the conduit for promoting the human relation factor of life.

TOTAL GAS STATION OFFICE: At the TOTAL office around LPRC, a lady in the customer service made me to buy the TOTAL card twice simply because she did not explain the process well to me. When I told her, she begun to yell, saying “You were not paying attention, just buy another one, Mr. Man.” I did not have cash on hand, thereafter; I had to lobby with a decent lady who works in the customer service to assist me. She did professionally what I requested her to do for my second card and her cash was refunded later.

DSTV OFFICE: It was so funny and discouraging when two men assuming to be in their fifties went early in the morning, precisely at 9 A.M. in the morning to transact. They were thrown out because according to the workers it was too early and they were not ready to start job. I hope my analysis will not be taken out of context, meaning it is politics. It was difficult to confirm whether they were motivated or not. But the human relation with the customer was not encouraging with the men.

CONCLUSION: Human relation is a unique attribute to workplace. Motivation, Job satisfaction and Performance are characteristics of human relation factors that can stimulate or enhance productivity. Productivity is about the relationship between quantity/quality of goods/services produced and the quantity of resources used to produce them (Onyeonoru, 2005). Workers must ensure that the maximum productivity is yielded. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the management that all the core issues with human relations are settled within the workplace. Liberian workers will have to be more committed and ready to pay attention to duty. Let it be noted that the buyer and seller must respect each other. But, interestingly once there is competition in the market, the buyer will have many options; therefore it is incumbent upon the seller to exert the basic strategic human relations framework.

March 30, 2011

The Ivorian Conflict and the Peace Process in Liberia

Ivory Coast refugees — Ivorian fleeing their country have sought refuge on the Liberian border.

The Ivorian political situation between President- Elect Allasane Quattara and Laurent Gbagbo has led to a huge flow of many refugees into the northeastern and eastern parts of Liberia, especially to the border towns of Nimba and Grand Gedeh counties. The fighting between the two arch rivals Quattara and Gbagbo is too graved to the extent that it could lead to the instability of Liberia despite the presence of huge United Nations Mission in Liberia. What is unfortunate to note is that Liberians are combating each other in Ivory Coast. The wounds from the Liberian civil conflict between some ethnic groups has not being resolved. For instance, there is a history of confusion between the Gios and the Manos on the one hand and the Krahns on the other hand. In fact, there is an intrinsic psychological problem that has developed between the two ethnic groups as the result of the killing of Thomas Qwinonkpa of Nimba County by the Krahn ethnic group and the killing of President Samuel Kanyon Doe by Prince Johnson of the Gio ethnic group and many more situations. It is stated that the two tribes are seriously engaging each other in Ivory Coast. This fighting could lead to an offshoot to another round of the Liberia conflict which will hinder the peace process. When will this intrinsic psychological conflict end between these two ethnic groups? How could Liberians be engaged in another country’s conflict? Interestingly, there is a similarity of ethnic relationship that exists in Ivory Coast and Liberia.

Despite the disarmament of 103, 109 ex-fighters with 27,000 weapons destroyed, there is still challenge of illicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons in the Liberian society. The Liberian National Security Document (2008) stated that 9,000 ex-fighters did not benefit from the Rehabilitation and Reintegration phase of the program. Some of the fighters did not disarm and others crossed the borders to Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Unfortunately, the international borders with these countries are porous and the proliferation of small arms and light weapons are very much likely. The Government of Liberia and the International Community should exert every effort to ensure the Ivory Coast conflict is speedily resolved because there are many variables that could interplay to another Liberian war if the conflict remains unsettled.

The Ivory Coast conflict has the propensity to hinder the peace process in Liberia. Liberians should be cautious about their role in the Ivorian crisis and learn to live in peace and harmony with their neighbor. Every Liberian should know by now that the fourteen years of war brought total destruction and suffering to the people of the country. There will always be socio-economic opportunities for a stable country.