Who Holds the Key to Liberia’s Largest Voting Demographic in the 2011 Elections?

The Liberian Presidential Election of 2011 is months away. However, the shift in alliances among players is well underway. Current political euphoria in Liberia is very confusing. Also disturbing, is the number of undecided political-trailblazers docking and pulling from one party headquarter to other. Life for this people has become hopeless and short. The trade for votes in exchange for public positions is an investment that pays off with hard luck. Liberian politics is all about personal interests. Almost all adult Liberians invest one way or the other in the Liberian political system, with the hope of collecting some dividends in the end.

Going back, the Charles Taylor administration did not benefit much from large scale global financial support. However, a number of those who lived in Taylor’s Liberia admit that Taylor created a middle class. According to them, ‘the Liberian Dollars circulated mainly, within Liberia’. Political patronage was very high. And government officials interacted freely with the people. young Liberians between ages 19 and 24, have a legacy they gladly point to sparsely decorated, and neatly three and four bedroom houses that were built during the Taylor’s era. Many of them hardly worked in that government which they brag of enjoying that much.
Life during the Bryant’s eon was not that bad either. Many say that though corruption was high, most of the money mostly circulated around Liberia.

On the contrary, under Madam Sirleaf, Liberia is slightly richer, but the flight of the nation’s wealth overseas is unusually higher. Reports of corruption ramps the press daily, and in spite of that, times are harder for most Liberians. Despite the mythical status as being a Harvard Trained Economist, Ellen’s Liberia does not have a middle class. Unemployment is frustratingly higher. As the gap between the haves and have-nots widens, the growing number of dissatisfied-Liberians waiting to vent their anger at the polls, continues to swell. Don’t be fooled by what you see or hear out here, the political picture for Madam Sirleaf in Liberia is completely different from how it’s being presented globally. There is a big question that needs to be answered before the elections’ fever of 2011 finally grips in.
Who among the presidential hopefuls enjoys the support of the largest eligible voting class of Liberians (18-25)?

One needs to observe the many forces that are currently interplaying on the Liberian political landscape. Like Madam Sirleaf, many of these grass hopping politicians shifting alliances here and there at night, are bewildered by the question of who has the confidence of the largest eligible Liberian voting class? Some seek comfort in the fact that Madam Sirleaf and her Unity Party may have amassed some amount of wealth in the course of running Liberia. But the inability to sifter that wealth to the benefit of the poor, has put a dent on UP’s chances of reelections.

There is a very large part of Liberian electorates that is mostly hit by the 14 years of sustained warfare. This class comprises, exiled Liberians who spent the brunt of their childhood in refugee camps surviving on handouts. They have since returned home as heads of their various households. They may not have the credentials to show, but fully understand the survival game. These are the bread winners of families who survive the day with the help of locally produced breads, fried doughnuts, farina, and low graded Chinese grown rice. A number of them pay the ways of their younger siblings through college. At home, when these folks yell out for something, their households hurriedly show up to cater to their needs. Yes sis or yes uncle, what do you want?

For her part, Madam Sirleaf has passionately attracted professionals from abroad. These are the expatriates and others, brought in by international organizations to work. The salaries of these experts come in six digits. But because Liberia lacks those resort facilities found in Ghana, the Caribbean, and others, only a small part of that money goes to benefit the Liberian economy.

On the flipside, there are Liberian expatriates like the Maritime and Freeport bosses whose salaries and bonuses come in six digits also. But like their foreign counterparts, they too have all the reasons to send most of what they earn overseas. At the cross-path to westernization, are the likes of the Ngafuan who have all the good reasons to showcase their new found loyal identities. These loyalists work painfully to upkeep their newfound profiles of neo-Ellen-Loyalists.

So far, Ellen has not been able to connect or get the endorsement of the better part of grass root Liberians. Recently, one of Ellen’s neo-loyalists attempted to extend a desperate plea to Liberians residing abroad to form the new middle class of Ellen’s Liberia. But this only goes to restate the seriousness of this issue.