SOURCE: BENEDICT NYANKUN WISSEH
Last year, the birthday of the late president, William Tubman, was
celebrated as a national holiday. This year, 2014, I suppose that as
November approaches, the government of Liberia, in collaboration with
the family of Tubman, will begin making plans to celebrate his
birthday. I suppose because Tubman’s birthday was celebrated as a
national holiday during the 27-year life of his presidency and 42 years
after his death. On this date, then and now, every meaningful activity
of life in the country is sequestered to celebrate Tubman. Government
offices, business houses, schools and markets are ordered closed by the
government. Last year, celebrating Tubman’s birthday, the vice
president, Joseph Boakai, visited Tubman’s grave and laid wreaths on his
tomb. Although government offices, business houses and schools were
closed, the celebration was restrained by comparison to the celebration
in 2012.
In 2102, President Sirleaf led the country in festivities celebrating
this date. In her remarks, the president was promiscuous as she heaped
encomiums on her late predecessor as the “president every Liberian must
be proud of because of his accomplishments.” This comment, undoubtedly,
leaves one assured that no conclusion is in site to the celebration of
Tubman’s birthday. But do we have to continue celebrating Tubman’s
birthday? If we must continue to do so, why must we? President Sirleaf
asked Liberians to be proud of Tubman for his accomplishments.
Undoubtedly, there are Liberians who share her praise and admiration for
Tubman’s achievements. But the achievements on which she based such
instruction are not substantiated by any evidence of meaningful
developments that took place during Tubman’s rule. However, the
examination of his achievements must be preceded by the examination of
how he retained himself in power for so long.
Mr. Tubman, in our national discussions of the Liberian presidency,
will always be the primary subject mentioned repeatedly. He will be
mentioned not because of any meaningful accomplishments by him for the
greater good of the country. Rather, he will be mentioned because of the
27 years he ruled Liberia as president. But the longevity of his
presidency was not sustained by results of free and fair elections in
which Liberians continuously voted for him. Mr. Tubman came to the
presidency under a constitutional provision that limited one to serve
only two terms of eight years albeit that the outcomes were decided by
the then ruling True Whig Party. Therefore, Tubman, though handpicked by
his immediate predecessor, Edwin Barclay, according to accounts of some
historians, was expected to adhere to the same rules at the conclusion
of his second term, perhaps, in favor of Clarence Simpson who had served
as Barclay’s secretary of state and harbored an ambition to be
president too. But Tubman thought otherwise.
As president in his first term, Tubman became obsessed with the
preservation of personal power and the protection of greed and privilege
for himself and his loyalists. This obsession commenced a number of
well calculated and deceptive political moves that retained him in power
for 27 years. He looked askance at friends and opponents he thought
were not heaping encomiums on him and, such people, Tubman dealt with
ruthlessly. He subverted the constitution and used its outcomes to
legitimize his presidency.
Generally, Tubman’s political decisions and behaviors were calculated
and driven by deception to serve his obsession to hold on to the
presidency. This was demonstrated in his dealings with the indigenous
people. He ingratiated himself to them by dressing like them and dancing
among them, conveying the impression, although cosmetic, that he deeply
cared about them. Yes, by comparison to the mindlessly inhumane
treatment of the indigenous people by his predecessors, Tubman seemed to
be genuine to the indigenous people. But this was a masquerade.
Undoubtedly, Tubman’s interest in the indigenous people was to use them
as fortress against any attempt by the Monrovia-based Americo-Liberian
political power brokers to dislodge him from the presidency. His
calculation was informed by his sense of history regarding the election
and removal of President Edwin J. Roye from office and the cruel
treatment of the indigenous people by the then Americo-Liberian ruling
class. Although it is officially recorded that Roye was deposed because
of his mismanagement of a loan he secured from England, other
historians assert that he was overthrown and murdered because of his
attempt to amend the constitution to extend his presidency. Another
reason mentioned was that he was suspected to have had sympathy for the
indigenous Liberians. Roye’s ascendency to the presidency was begrudged
by the Monrovia-based light-skinned Americo-Liberians, having been
elected by an enthusiastic support of the dark-skinned
Americo-Liberians, backed by an indisposed support of some light-skinned
Americo-Liberians because of his superior education and positions he
held in government. But the indigenous majority, for whom Roye had
carried sympathy, was excluded from voting. So, when Roye attempted to
amend the constitution to extend his presidency, he came under strong
suspicion that he intended to grant citizenship to native Liberians if
he got the amendment passed. Hence, conveniently, his opponents used the
issue of the loan as the reason to move against him. Tubman saw some
similarities between himself and Roye as political outsiders.
Like Roye’s, a fellow dark-skinned Americo-Liberian, Tubman’s
ascendency to the presidency was begrudged by the Monrovia-based
light-skinned Americo-Liberians. Therefore, Tubman knew that an attempt
by him to amend the constitution to extend his presidency would be
resisted, leading to his removal from office, perhaps violently, as they
did in removing Roye from office over the same reason. So, if Tubman
was to succeed, he had to, unlike any of his predecessors, reluctantly
embrace the indigenous community. This led to paramount and clan chiefs
being invited to Monrovia to participate in parades and dine with Tubman
at the Executive Mansion. Some of them were appointed by Tubman to
serve in the legislature and participate in a process that they did not
comprehend was contrived to keep him in power. Simi-illiterate
indigenous young men were recruited into the military and found
satisfaction in seeing their chiefs and Tubman interacting. This won,
for Tubman, their loyalty and obedience and took the military option
from the advantage of his opponents to use violence against him. To his
light-skinned Americo-Liberian opponents, the combination of all of this
depicted a picture of a president supported overwhelmingly by the
indigenous majority and, as he had planned to achieve, intimidated them
into political paralysis and fear to prevent him from amending the
constitution to retain himself in power.
Having succeeded in consolidating power, Tubman inherited and had under
his control a country that was underdeveloped in its infrastructure.
There were no direct roads that connected the counties and, for the most
part, people walked long distances for weeks, sometimes months, from
county to county. Schools and hospitals did not exist in the rural
communities. But fortunately, it appeared, iron ore was discovered and
made Liberia the third largest exporter of iron ore from Yekepa and Bong
Mines, in addition to having the world largest rubber plantation. By
the 1950s, according to economists, Liberia had the second largest rate
of economic growth in the world behind Japan, spurred by iron ore and
rubber and guided by Tubman’s “Open Door Policy” that increased foreign
investment in the country. We know what Japan did to its economic
growth.
But did Tubman, in the 27 years he ruled Liberia, develop the
rudimentary conditions in which he met the country? No, he did not.
Under him, the construction of roads was determined selectively by the
economic interests of the government in a county. Generally, they were
narrow, unpaved roads that had no lights and were perilous to travel in
the night and when it rained. However, the roads that carried the
addresses of Tubman’s properties and those of other powerful government
officials were paved. He selectively paved the road from Monrovia to his
Totota residence and left the rest of it, from there through Gbarnga,
Nimba, and Grand Gedeh counties to Pleebo, Maryland County, unpaved. At
the time he died, people walked almost a week from the former Kru Coast
Territory to Karweaken, Grand Gedeh County for cars to take to Monrovia.
Generally, he failed to transform Liberia into a country with one of
the most modern networks of roads in Africa. One can understand while it
was no surprise that his son, William Tubman, Jr., in a state of
delusion campaigning for the Liberian presidency in 2005, got lost in
Grand Gedeh County while travelling by road from Monrovia to Maryland
County.
Monrovia, at the time Tubman died, was a city with few streets, many of
which were remarkable for being unpaved and dusty. The absence of paved
streets made Sinkor inaccessible as if it was a faraway place. The only
street that led from Sinkor to downtown Monrovia was Tubman Boulevard,
suspiciously paved because it was named after him. The main road from
Waterside to Logan Town, New Kru Town and Caldwell was not only unpaved,
it had street lights that were scattered about 100 yards apart from
each other. Auto road to the Red Light, from the Monrovia Freeport
through Gardnerville, did not exist as it is today.
Regarding education, it is not known how many schools were constructed
by Tubman’s administration to determine how well he did to make
education accessible for Liberians to be educated. But no account of
record-keeping is required to make such determination because his
achievement in this area is self-evident. Under him, sadly, access to
education throughout the country was another casualty of his neglect of
national development priorities. At the time of Tubman’s death, each of
the then nine counties had one public high school, many of which were
constructed in the last ten years of his administration to celebrate his
birthdays in those counties. The high schools, which ran from 7th grade
to 12th grade, however, were located in the capital cities of the
counties. But no high school was built in any of the then five
territories- Kru Coast, Sasstown, Rivercess, Bomi and Marshall- besides
very few elementary schools with classes conducted in mud and thatched
houses constructed by the villagers. In these schools, pupils sat on
bamboo benches without back support. To Tubman’s admirers, this was a
remarkable achievement.
However, when this achievement is examined and put in context, the
failure of Tubman to make education accessible at every level emerges
with very disappointing and profound long-term consequences for
Liberia’s educational system. In the territories, while access to
elementary schools was relatively common, access to high schools was
uncommon. The opportunity for students to continue their education,
after elementary school, existed only in the capital cities of the
counties where the high schools were located. This meant that those who
graduated from public elementary schools had to travel to the cities, if
they had relatives there to live with, to continue going to school at
the next level. Conversely, if they did not have relatives living in the
cities, it meant the end of their dreams and efforts to be educated
further. Even having relatives in the cities to host them did not ensure
automatic enrollment in the public high school because of competition
that came from other students to enroll in that one school.
In Monrovia, during Tubman’s administration, there was only one public
high school, Laboratory High, which was later renamed Tubman High School
in the late 1960s. Not only was it the only public high school in
Monrovia, it was the only public high school in Montserrado County
attended predominantly by students from high poverty backgrounds.
Hence, students who did not get admitted there were forced to abandon
the pursuit of their education for a year or two, sometimes forever,
because there were no other public schools to attend. How many young men
lost their opportunities to be educated? No one knows because the
government kept no record. But one consequence that is cleared is that
it made it impossible for Liberia to develop and produce a skilled
labour force for the future.
When Tubman came to the presidency, there was one publicly funded
college in Liberia. When he died 27 years later, Liberia had one
publicly funded college. The only change that took place was that the
name of the college was changed from Liberia College to a glamorous
name, the University of Liberia. While Tubman built nine public high
schools, one technical school, and one teacher training school but no
college in 27 years, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, in nine years as prime
minister and president, built 10,000 elementary and junior high schools,
85 high schools, 47 teacher training colleges, 11 technical schools and
3 universities. It is no wonder today that Ghana’s educational system
and literacy rate are far better than Liberia’s.
In the area of healthcare, Tubman had no vision and commitment to make
it accessible. He undertook no public health programs aimed at
eliminating common diseases and lowering the rate of infant mortality.
Preventive health programs did not exist to educate Liberians about
stroke, heart attack, cancer and diabetes that they needlessly died from
them. For his supporters, John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia is an
accomplishment in Tubman’s efforts to make medical treatment accessible.
But where, besides Monrovia, can we find such comparable hospital in
Liberia?
The concept of leadership presupposes the proposition that those who
seek it can make a difference in the lives of others by mobilizing and
inspiring them so that they act together for the common good of all.
Hence, the actions and decisions of a leader are a public transaction
with history. Sometimes the actions and decisions serve good purposes
and sometimes bad purposes. But whether the ends of the actions and
decisions are good or bad, leaders are people who leave their personal
stamp on history.
As president of Liberia, Tubman left a personal stamp on the country’s
history. But when his leadership is measured by results, we cannot
circumvent the conclusion that it was a terribly failed one. He
desperately sought power and ruthlessly jettisoned anyone who stood in
his way. But once he got it and consolidated it, he failed to advance
the cause of Liberia’s development. Not only did he condemn the future
of the country to permanent underdevelopment, he made corruption and
waste a way of life in the country. Although the economy was good, no
money was invested in public work projects like the construction of
roads and buildings to house schools, hospitals and government offices.
Instead of using the money to construct buildings to house the
ministries of Defense, Justice, Planning, Agriculture, Health, Education
and Internal Affairs, he contracted his political cronies and relatives
as landlords and paid them well for allowing government to use their
buildings to house these ministries.
So, when President Sirleaf instructed Liberians to be proud of Tubman
for his achievements, one is constrained to ask what developments? For
the irreparable damage Tubman did to Liberia, the time has come to stop
the celebration of his birthday as national holiday. Only a leader who
has done good, however little, but yet profound, to advance the good
cause of his or her people deserves such national reverence. Tubman was
not. April 12, 1980, should have been April 12, 1950 or 1960, and
William Tubman, not William Tolbert, should have been in the Executive
Mansion that fateful morning when the soldiers came to take over the
country and its government.
BENEDICT NYANKUN WISSEH is a former football player who is known for
being a teammate of James Barnnerman and Nelson Sonpon, when they played
for IE. Wisseh is a graduate of Lincoln University Graduate School of
Human services. Email: nwisseh14@aol.com.
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