Liberia: some things need to stop!

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦.

𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘

IT IS WIDELY accepted that political stability has a strong correlation to economic development and growth. But did you know that political stability can be equally harmful to a country or at minimum, make it developmentally unfriendly?

IN TUNISIA, the birth place of the Arab Spring, in Egypt, the nursery of the Arab Spring, and Syria which has become the vocational center of the movement, there were relative political stability in these countries. But when political stability is achieved and maintained through the instruments of suppression and subversion, to the detriment of silencing voices and accountability, and deregularizing the rule of law and settling for quenching all opposition to the rule of the day, instability ensues, and economic growth is affected.

ONE EXPERIENCE that the Arab Spring countries had in common was the absence of good governance. Good governance is so important that literature on the subject holds that sustainable political stability and its accompanying economic growth cannot be achieved without it.

𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐆𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 calls for discipline. Indiscipline in governance ushers in political instability because a government or any political structure that isn't discipline isn't accountability. In lieu of discipline, a prolonged indisciplined body polity normalizes internal wrangling, and runs a literal high tension wire right through the core tenets of government thus sending shockwaves throughout the socio-economic fabrics of the society.

𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 have what I call a "seesaw relationship"--meaning as indiscipline gains more weight on one end of the seesaw level the propensity of instability rises on the other end. What ensues from this situation is that the higher the propensity for instability rises, regime change becomes an everyday conversation, and in prolonged instances, occurrences of political violence, decadence, demonstrations, and civil disobedience become the only tool for the governed.

THE ABOVE is the case of Liberia but with a slightly unique variation. It is only in instances where "governance" exists that one can talk about good governance or bad governance. For Liberia, especially under the current dispensation, it is unfair to measure and ascertain good governance or rate bad governance when governance isn't even happening.

𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒: In areas where governance is measured, the opposition political parties do have other responsibilities outside of militant advocacy, as well as beyond replacing dialogue or constructive national engagement with adversarial and immature politics and a cling to violence or a perception thereof.

NO ONE MAINSTREAM political party can boast of an exclusive solution to Liberia's current challenges. Our country requires a collaboration not just of people bandwagoning on making demands and protests but also around applying solutions up to the limit of the their professed knowledge. Let's collaborate as the stability of our nation is critical to any economic development that is envisioned.

WHILE THE GOVERNMENT'S ROLE remains to create the atmosphere for constructive engagement and making accessible freedom of speech, assembly, and movement, the opposition political parties' role include among other things, utilizing those benefits of our democracy to add to the overall stability of the nation not to take away from it.

𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.