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 Few days ago, one of the world’s richest men and philanthropist,
Bill Gates announced that he was stepping down as the Chief Executive
officer of Microsoft, one of the world’s computer giants he founded, to
run his foundation full time with his wife, Melinda. We all know that
the Gates’ Foundation spends a lot of money to combat Aids and other
diseases in Africa. Appearing on NBC with Tom Brokaw, Gates was asked
whether he is feeling the Africa fatigue that other philanthropists and
organizations around the world are feeling about the world’s poorest
continent.
Gate said, in paraphrase, that he is not feeling that fatigue but he has learned how to be smart in managing resources intended to help poor people. To me, the operational word here is fatigue. There seems to be a developing consensus in the developed world that Africa can not be helped; that resources spent there go to waste because of corruption, inefficiency and lack of accountability. And because of these and many other problems, there are no innovations that could bring real development to Africa.
Looking at history and available records, there are validity to these assertions. In the last forty years, no black African country has emerged to join the ranks of the newly developed nations such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China and even Vietnam has been added to the list. Remember these countries share some historical circumstances with Africa: Colonization, civil wars, lack of technology and many others. But in less than 30 years, some of these countries dramatically turned their fortunes around. In his book, National Development: The interplay of politics and economics, David Cole (1972), argues that the political system in most Asian countries is the mobilizer which creates values from the top. In this system according to Cole, modernization and industrialization become the consummate values, while centralized planning is emphasize, authority is hierarchical and there is great urgency for action.
These leaders in these countries saw the urgency for action. As a result, a country like China with over a billion people does not only produce food to feed itself but for export to other countries as well. Recently, the Liberian government announced a poverty reduction program. That was a very smart and good move. What else cause Liberians to be at loggerheads with each other? Was it not for political power that controls the distribution of resources? Think about it. Go to the crux of the problem and you will understand that the Liberian civil crises were not motivated by ideological differences or religious differences. They were not motivated by tribalism either. Tribalism was just used because some people will use tribal sentiments to get sympathy when they get in trouble for bad behavior. The reason why Liberians have resentment and bitterness toward each other is the question of resources, who has access to them and who does not; in simple terms, who can afford a bag of rice and who has more rice than they need. And the other question is whether the state should subsidize the extravacant life styles of few why keeping the majority in poverty. In its over hundred years of existence as a nation, that has been the fundamental problem in Liberia which was covered up for a very long time.
And so, some of us progressives felt the government was up to something when it was talking about poverty reduction. But when I read the document, I was not so sure. Maybe I did not see what I was expecting to see in the plan. So, I contacted some professional friends. One is an international development expert who has worked in Asia and Latin America and the other is a Liberian economics professor at an American University. Both of them read the document and they share the same concerns as I do. The Asian expert lectured me on the secret of the “Asian Miracle”. He said Liberia can not reduce poverty and improve standard of living with a plan that is geared toward international acceptability which loses its relevance to the people it is intended to help. He said the fundamental difference between development plannings in Asia and Africa is that the Asians incorporate their values, culture and their domestic critical needs in the plans while the Africans only make proposals without any anticipated concrete results because they are so desperate for the cash flow.
How do we reduce poverty in Liberia?
Tackling problems of poverty and material deprivation in Liberia at this time in our history is so imperative. The peace and tranquility we are enjoying now are fragile if 90% of our population whether rural or urban live in soul crushing poverty and degradation. While it is an economic imperative to attack poverty, it is also a political imperative for the health and durability of our infant democracy. I am not an economist but I am a student of public policy. If I was sitting in that room with others trying to craft a poverty reduction plan, I would have made the following proposals:
Creating food Security
Personally, it harms our national pride to know that Liberians are living on imported American and Chinese rice. Remember, the Liberian crises were sparked by demonstrations against increasing the price of rice. The very outspoken Andrew Young, the former US ambassador to the UN and former Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, visited Liberia immediately after the rice riots and said that he could not understand why Liberia with a lot of fertile land is not capable of feeding itself. President after president in Liberia had said one or two things about the green revolution or go back to the soil campaign. But there is no realistic plan with resources to achieve these goals. I grew up in Grand Gedeh County and I have authority on the causes of rural poverty. In my teenage and young adult years, I worked on farms and in fact I used to have my own farms. But these activities are so labor intensive. It is very hard work which yield little or no returns. A realistic plan to reduce poverty is to modernize farming. The government must introduce a robust agricultural program. The College of Agriculture and forestry at the University of Liberia should lead the way in terms of research with international experts to discover new ways to produce rice and other staples. The ministry of Agriculture must initiate training programs of technicians to train farmers in new methods of farming. These experts should be assigned in villages to organize farmers to do cooperative farming. Those farmers who have the potentials to be independent farmers should get little interest free loans to buy equipments like power saws, generators, tractors and fertilizers so that farming can be done year round. There should be equipments to process food and transport it to the markets.
Organize production zones.
Any plan to reduce poverty by creating food security should divide the country into production zones.
From what I know, Liberia could be divided into four production zones. Grand Gedeh, Nimba and Bong should concentrate on rice production. More energy and resources should be concentrated on production of rice to feed the whole nation and also for export. Lofa, Barpolu, Bomi and Cape Mount should concentrate on livestock production. Like cows, goats, chickens, turkeys, pigs and other animals. Again, technicians should work with these farmers in method of feedings of animal for maximum production. River Gee and Grand Kru should concentrate on palm production. The same methods should be used to assist the farmers in developing palm bays to produce palm products to supply the whole nation. Sinoe, Maryland , Grand Bassa and Montserrado should concentrate on creating fishing industries with the help of experts to train the fishermen in modern methods of fishing. Margibi alone should concentrate on the production of cassava, yam, potatoes and plantain.
Improve the infrastructures
With the designation of these zones, the government must invest in improving the infrastructures mostly the roads. The idea behind the creation of production zones is for rural and urban Liberians to trade with each other. People from Grand Gedeh will take their rice for sale to Maryland or Sinoe while people from Maryland and Sinoe will sell their fish to people in Grand Gedeh, Nimba and Bong. In essence people will sell what they have and buy what they don’t have. And we need abundance of everything and ways to supply it.
Education is the key
You can not reduce poverty without empowering people. Give the people skills and put them to work to be productive. We had a lot of wasted years in the late seventies and the whole of the eighties. Those were years when we had massive migration of rural Liberians to Monrovia to seek better lives. These new city dwellers did not have skills but were running after non-existence jobs. As a result, the poverty rate increased and everything became volatile. We reaped the results during the 14 years civil war. To take serious steps to reduce poverty, the government must institute programs to provide skills to some of those unemployable people. We can not necessarily train them to work in an office or the bank. But we can train them to drive a tractor or to be tractor technician or one of the operators of a farming machine. Most of these people will return to their villages and lead productive lives with their families. In my youth, I used to notice some men in my family being excited for getting a job with a logging company. I am sure, if giving a choice some of our people will prefer returning to the village and been productive than living in poverty and slums in Monrovia. More monetary investment is needed in these effort.
Make Rural Liberia Dwellable
In fact both rural and urban Liberia need dignified dwellings. In rural Liberia, modern facilitities should be priority. Local material should be used to build public housing units for all categories of people. My wife just returned from Liberia and told me that a lot of construction is going on of private homes. That is by people who either get money remittances from America or those who have connections with people who have more connections. But she said that for the rest of the people which is the majority, they are living in huts and poverty. The government must assist people to build decent housing depending on their incomes.
Corruption: Killer of dreams
There is no excellent development plan that can be successful if the bureaucracy is not accountable and is corrupt. Corruption must be weeded out of the Liberian public service. Corruption destroys and does not build confidence. The message must come from the top that corruption has zero tolerance in the Liberian government. But if prominent government ministers and the legislature are refusing to submit to an audit after the president told them to do so, then we have a very serious problems. We indeed have a long way to go because if they are refusing the president’s directive to be transparent, how are they going to hold their subordinates accountable? And why is the president tolerating their disobeying her directives mostly when it comes to corruption and lack of accountability? And in rural Liberia, these kinds of corrupt behaviors are dangerously excessive. The choices we make of people who we expect to administer the affairs of these areas cause more harm than good. Most of these people are not development experts but political hacks. They don’t have anything in terms of ideas to offer but oppressive and corrupt behaviors.
The government must depoliticize the appointments of county and district officials.
We must learn from the examples of neighboring Ivory coast. Even though it has been declining in recent years, Ivory Coast is an example of a balanced developed country. When it gained its independence in 1960, its French development planners saw that a multi-tribal country needs balanced development so that there would no resentments between the people. Consequently, they carefully selected local administrators who attended a special school like the Liberian public Institute, receiving training as agents of development. The pre-occupation was modernization. Individuals were not assigned in their homes of origin. For an example, a development expert from Grand Gedeh will be assigned to Grand Bassa; while the one from Lofa will be assigned in Maryland and the one from Maryland will be in Montserrado. You get the idea. That way the individuals will not be involved in local politics but concentrate on development issues. They can not play favoritism and nepotism.
The clerical staff or other middle managers will be assigned through the same process. That system worked for the Ivory Coast. Someone told me the other day that every village in the Ivory coast now is electrified and has been for the last ten years despite their civil crises.
Finally, the Ellen Sirleaf Administration should not be expected to work miracles. But when it announces a policy proposal as bold as the Poverty Reduction Initiative, it must put seriousness behind it. It must also put resources and expertise in order for it to pick any steam. It must also involve the people in a practical way for it to be relavant. They can work with the prescriptions of the international community. But the international community must be impressed upon that these plans must be practical in dealing with the Liberian reality. People who are corrupt and do not want to be accountable are the most dangerous people. Because when they embezzle money intended to bring in development to make life a little better for a lot of helpless people, that they are committing crimes and should be dealt with in accordance with the full weight of the law. These people should not be allowed in the government.
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About the author: Joseph Kweedy Solo holds a Masters degree in Public policy from Governors State University in University Park, Illinois and works as a Program specialist. He lives in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at
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