My fellow Liberians we are at a major crossroads in our lives; a
defining moment for us and our posterity. This is a time and place
where our lives have intersected not by accident, but, by destiny.
We have come together at this epoch in the 21st century, at a time, when Liberia our native land is truly in dire straits!
The urgency of the moment cannot be overemphasized. And it becomes an imperative for you, the youth of Liberia, to stand up to the forces of evil that have destroy this country. As we stand at the precipice of the 2011 general elections, it is no secret that, this is the election that will make or break Liberia. This will be an election that will define where Liberia stands within the comity of nations. And it will also determine if Liberia remains a backwards country without quality education, health care, electricity, good roads and pipe borne drinking water for all.
Recent statistics proves that, the youth of Liberia are fifty-three percent (53%) of the total population. This makes the youth a majority group and, a very crucial element towards ensuring that we upset the status-quo ante come 2011. This is no illusion my friends instead, it is our destiny and this we must do for the youth of Liberia. Since 1979 the Liberian youth have been in the vanguard of change no matter what aspect of change it was. While the bulk of change we have experienced as a people, over the past 20 years has been horrendous, the youth as impressionable young acolytes were misled, abused and misused.
Of all the bounty the progressive movements received in the annals of Liberian history, the Liberian youth were never the real benefactors. Instead they were many times relegated to the lower rungs of the leadership and socio-economic ladder, while being placed in risky and dangerous situations as they did the heavy lifting for these groups. While change in Liberia was inevitable to rid Liberia of its one party aristocracy, the progenitors did not have a plan.
Like all half cocked plans the end result is always disaster. Such was the 1979 rice riots the precursor to all foreboding events that has followed since. As the dust settled at the end of the April 14th rice riots, it was the youth who were tear-gas, beaten, jailed and killed. During the 1980 coup that followed the youth were the main supporters of the coup because of the under-privilege and destitute situation they found themselves in. But as a show of magnanimity the military junta brought into key government positions the progenitors of the 1979 rice riots and that, I believe, was a sad mistake. Because they had no plans for governing they lacked the ability to lead and to provide wise counsel to the junta. And as a result chaos ensued and once again the youth were left to waste away in despair.
The downward spiral and disintegration of the Liberian society en-masse continued from the 1980s into the present day. But during the early '90s as Charles Taylor’s rebel incursion threaten the legitimacy of the duly elected president Samuel Doe, the youth were once again summoned to support the rebels. This period of unrest and brutality against the Liberian people, worsen, as the actors in this egregious rebel onslaught splintered into multiple factions. The youth once again became the bedrock and frontline militia for these factions.
This was a time of testing. A time when man’s inhumanity to man was so virile that the rivers ran red with blood. The youth who were at the epicenter of the crisis, were brain-washed, drugged and ordered into committing some of the worse atrocities known to man. The very same so-called progressives who were the mastermind of the Liberian debacle in 1979 had their fingerprints all over this rebel war overtly and covertly. But once again real change was still an elusive pipe-dream for the Liberian youth. Many of the young men and women who were uprooted and forced into the war were illiterate and unskilled.
Spawned by raw childlike bravado, the Liberian youth pushed their way into every village, town, hamlet, county capital and capital city leaving in its wake a macabre scene of ruin. Under direct orders from the top echelon rebel leaders and their sponsors in the progressive movements, this nefarious power-grab was a cold calculated episode. At the end of the war the main actors and their sponsors benefited from lucrative government jobs and numerous spoils of war; and the youth of Liberia were left out in the cold with nothing. Many of our young people resorted to arm robbery and banditry as a source of survival; while others were seduced into becoming mercenaries for ongoing wars all over Africa and beyond. Many of the young women ended up on the main streets and red light districts of Liberia selling their bodies for a cup of rice. This is wrong. And this is no way for the youth of Liberia to be treated.
Amidst all that has happen over the years, Liberia is worse off today contrary to what you may think. But there is hope for a better Liberia. And that is why we are calling upon the Liberian youth to join the fight to rid Liberia of the old elitist guard come 2011. The old guard and their so-called progressive clique have failed the youth of Liberia miserably. They are now the aristocrats and oligarchy. They are corrupt to the core, so much so they are beyond redemption. They lack new ideas to redeem Liberia from the mess they got us in from the onset. With unemployment at an all time high, the misery-index painting a bleak picture, arm-robbery out of control, abject poverty is the menu of the day, old women and babies going to bed hungry, infant mortality rate still very high and the aids virus exploding within the population; it’s time to say enough! We cannot sit and allow this national hemorrhage to persist.
The time is now for the youth of Liberia to unify and wrest power from the nefarious clutch of the illegal power grabbers. These holier-than-thou, tainted, me, me, me, selfish, materialistic, geriatric politicians must be given a mandatory retirement. Liberia can be and will be a happy place again when a new untainted youthful leader is elected to undo the years of damage, these geriatric hangers-on have inflicted upon Liberians. The pursuit of happiness is not a privilege- it is a right. But the old guard won’t bequeath it to us. Instead, we will have to step up and seize it. The road ahead will not be easy. It will be replete with bumps and hurdles. But with the wind at our backs, the people at our side and God above, we will succeed. Because you see my friends for too long the old guard have treated the right people wrong and the wrong people right. They are the architects of the defiant culture and moral decay that permeates the land. They have never had a positive agenda for Liberia and won’t have any come 2011. That is why my fellow citizens we must march as a team and win this victory; THIS WE MUST DO FOR LIBERIA. About the Author: Mathu H. Gibson is a Security Consultant and Director of Security at SELK International Protective Services, Inc. He is a former Chairman of the Board of Directors of ULAA (Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas) and a former President of the Liberian organization of the Piedmont-Winston- Salem, N.C.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Comments (2)
1. 25-11-2009 12:19
Youth to Grab Power?
How you intend to carry this out, brother Gibson? Is it through social advocacy, violent means, which I suppose not, or just via your keyboard?
2. 04-12-2009 01:15
Good work, brother Gibson!
Good work, brother Gibson! Liberia needs a man like you. Well, put!
James SA
Write Comment
Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article.
My fellow Liberians we are at a major crossroads in our lives; a
defining moment for us and our posterity. This is a time and place
where our lives have intersected not by accident, but, by destiny.
We have come together at this epoch in the 21st century, at a time, when Liberia our native land is truly in dire straits!
LiberianForum on Facebook!