Liberian prez hopeful asks locals for support, money

Jeremy Schwab

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf addressed crowds at Harvard and Roxbury Community College last week during a whirlwind U.S. tour to raise money and support for her bid to become the next president of Liberia.

She told the over 100 Liberians who turned out for the political rally at RCC that she will rebuild her war-torn nation if elected October 11.

Her trip to the United States signifies the importance of the U.S. diaspora in the upcoming election. While they cannot vote in their homeland, Liberians living in Boston and elsewhere in the United States play a significant role in their country’s politics. Nowhere was that more evident than when Johnson-Sirleaf’s supporters twice passed around a basket for cash.

“You can cast your vote through money,” one supporter told the RCC crowd. “Ms. Johnson’s campaign needs money.”

An estimated 7,000 Liberians live in eastern Massachusetts. The U.S. diaspora will play a critical role in the election and the effort to rebuild the country after 15 years of civil war, according to Boston-based Liberian human rights activist Torli Krua.

“In Liberia, the university has been destroyed,” he said. “The schools have been destroyed. The only people in a place where there is some peace and order are the Liberians in the United States. It is the Liberians right here who are in a better position to [rebuild the country].”

One of the many challenges faced by whoever wins the upcoming election will be to convince Liberians who fled the West African nation to return.

“Approximately 80 percent of Liberian professionals left the country because of the civil war,” said William Ponder of the Massachusetts Supporters of Ellen USA, which organized the RCC rally. “They will return if she provides the leadership and the stability. That is key, how to get back that lost human capital.”

While Johnson-Sirleaf is one of over 30 candidates, she is considered a front-runner. In the 1997 presidential elections, she placed second to Charles Taylor, the man many blame most for fomenting the civil war.

Johnson-Sirleaf boasts an impressive resume, including stints in positions of authority at the World Bank, United Nations and Citicorp. The recipient of a master’s degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, she played a key role in investigating the Rwanda genocide and in other roles in peace and democracy initiatives in Africa.

But can she bring the country together and maintain the peace that is currently being maintained by United Nations troops?

That is what Roxbury resident Forkpah Karpeh of Liberia wanted to know when he attended the RCC rally after hearing about it from a friend.

“What I look for in a candidate is the truthfulness of what they say,” he said as he waited for her to speak. “We are divided on ethnicity. We are divided on a lot of lines. Is the candidate powerful enough to unite Liberians? Does she have the charisma?”

Johnson-Sirleaf spoke eloquently of the need for all Liberians to put aside their differences and work to rebuild the country.

“Yes, we have to have justice on the back of reconciliation,” said Johnson-Sirleaf, the Unity Party’s standard-bearer. “We have to bring the culture of impunity to an end. But I appeal to each and every one of you to step out of the past. We can create a nation in which each and every one of us has a place.”

She also explained why she initially supported Taylor before working for his ouster.

“His movement started on a challenge to the repressive military regime,” she told the Banner. “He had a lot of promises about change and respecting democracy. We were all fooled. The majority of Liberians believed him.”