First, let
me start by telling you a short story. Long before
my parents relocated the family to the Liberian
political subdivision of Gibi Territory (now Margibi
County ), we blended well with the rich cultural
traditions of the people of Kokoya, Bong County in
central Liberia . Kokoya had a strong appreciation
for the traditional Liberian Poro and Sande
universities, and these universities were used
basically to prepare Kokoya youth for leadership and
character excellence. And thanks to its diverse
makeup, every child who grew up in Kokoya had to
learn and speak Bassa, Dan, Kpelle and Ma-mia, "mia"
meaning "people" (or Mano in Kpelle "no"or "nu"
meaning "people"), the four languages that made up
the tapestry of the local culture. Kokoya, to me,
represented both a microcosm of the greater Liberian
society and the mosaic of a traditional culture that
taught me and other youths the true meanings of
leadership, work ethics, collaboration and ethnic
pride.
I can still
remember that each time I joined my father and other
men of Kokoya in the felling of trees or in the
brushing of the forest grove, I could see that I was
slowing the rest of the crew down. But it always
seemed that my father and the others didn't care
that I was deadweight on them because they knew I
was young and that only so much I could contribute.
Besides, the cultural rules of Kokoya dictated that
the youth should watch the hands of the elders
(watch the elders at work) and learn, and what other
way could one learn but by doing? But you surely
wouldn't have loved to take the place of my father
in the field. For I ran to my father with every
little problem I encountered in the field so much so
that at some points he refused to heed my calls for
help. And when I finally mustered the courage to ask
him as to why he didn't respond to some of my calls
for help, my father looked me in the eyes and simply
said to me in Bassa, "Ni Dyu, Duu suah ni whon
Mahn-wudu" (meaning in English, "My son, old ears do
not hear Mano "). At first I laughed, though I
wasn't sure what he meant. Afterwards, he told me
that the expression meant, "don't use excuses as a
way of avoiding responsibility for an assigned
task(s)." My father, in essence, was letting me know
that I had to take responsibility for my share of
the tree felling and stop giving excuses.
Now, if you asked
me how does this short story relate to the
continuing search for leadership in Liberia today, I
would say "in many respects." For somehow, many
Liberians seemed to believe that "manna" would fall
from heaven to feed the Liberian people just as in
the biblical epics. As a result, we generally take
pleasure in electing as our leaders, persons with no
proven records of leadership and insight to develop
country and improve the lot of average Liberians,
but persons who are inclined to lead the Liberian
nation and people into one abyss of darkness after
another. And I need not remind you that in our
nation's history, the foundations of national
consciousness, leadership, good governance and rule
of law were built on a soil that can best be
described as "grade C," such that our nation is
easily prone to "political erosion" and instability.
To sustain itself
as a sovereign nation, Liberia must begin to
seriously educate its leaders and people to tell the
Liberian story or no one else will. For anyone with
a sense of imagination can easily see that our
ancestral system of governance holds the past, the
present, and the future of Liberia together because
their ontology places more emphasis on the
collective prosperity and survival of the Liberian
nation and people. But sadly, the people of the
western world have never truly sought to understand
the African traditions, and the traditions of the
Liberian people in particular. As a result, when the
westerners made a mess of their cesspool, they
created artificial standards, laws and regulations
that all nations had to obey as "international
laws." And somewhere in that process, Liberians and
other African nations lost appreciation for the
cultural values dearest to Liberians and Africans at
large-those spiritual and social practices that
sustain us through the centuries. Liberians and
other Africans need to return to those traditional
values and leadership styles that promoted less
violence if we must ever free ourselves from the
stranglehold of cultural dominance.
For example, the
Jews have managed to keep what is dearest to them by
thoroughly integrating themselves into one society
through Zionism. As a result, the Jews can tell
their own stories with fanfare, as in the case of
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, as narrated in the
Holy Bible book of Daniel. Here, the Jews (or
Hebrews) can celebrate two young men who were thrust
into a fiery furnace in defiance of a religious
decree of the king of ancient Babylon and emerged
from fiery furnace unharmed. These kinds of stories
do encourage young Jews in their struggle for
national liberation, and Liberians must learn to
tell similar stories to their youths. For the truth
is that all people tell their own stories to
encourage the next generation, and Liberians should
be no exception. Liberia have stories in the
thousands such as: The Dan "Celebration of the Death
of a Leopard"; The Loma "Sheepman (Bala) or
Warrior"; The Mano "Kula"; The Bassa "Djuankadyu"
or "The Embarkation of Earth"; The Gbandi "Buga
Game"; The Sapo "Beo or Warrior"; or even "The
History of Kinja and Basketry Making, etc.
Liberia is in
turmoil today because Liberians do not know their
own stories. Liberians have instead helped to
advance the European agenda by teaching our children
to read books like Don and Peggy, Snow White, at the
elementary, to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (most
famous was Tom Sawyer); Romeo and Juliet and
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; Rip Van Winkle, King
Arthur's Round Table and Jonathan Swift on the
national level. We barely read about any tribal
hero, folktales and legends of our culture. Beowulf
and Hercules were our heroes and stories about the
Trojan War saturated our thinking. Children learned
more about the Presidents of United States, capital
cities, social studies and languages of Western
countries than their own country.
The Liberian
curriculum is totally devoid of indigenous culture
for these western stories though compelling but are
irrelevant to the Liberian culture and society. And
it seems to me that our present predicament lies in
the fact that we have proven to be totally
unprepared to accept and implement a leadership
system based on our own design. We have failed in so
many respects to reclaim our status as a nation and
people, to worship the God of our forefathers, to
revere our ancestors, and to educate our nation's
leaders so as to assure their greatness. We have
miserably failed our people and ourselves because we
are still confusing "grape vines with thorn bushes,
or figs with thistles."
I must, however,
hasten to say that the world in Liberia before the
emergence of the western form of government and
culture was different. But we have failed to
adequately study our past to gain some insights into
our traditional systems of governance to relate it
to the present by removing any elements that might
be at variance with modernity. We have failed to
devise a leadership system in accordance with our
ancestral thought and essence. We have failed to
appreciate that our traditional systems of
governance and leadership could play vital roles in
the development process of Liberia , as well as in
aspects of successful national governance, which
could replace or improve the present
constitutional-legal framework in Liberia that has
asphyxiated us. We have not fully recovered from the
150-year locked box of dependency on other people to
do our thinking, to baby-sit us, to be our
mouthpiece, to preach to us, to find our God for us,
to give us culture and form of government. We have
been misled that "love of self" does not come first.
We have adopted the colonial interpretation of "love
and brotherhood" to mean the trashing of our
traditional culture, mores, and norms. We have
extended open arms to strangers and we have been
taught to "love the colonists," without any
consideration that "neighbor", "educator" or
"peace-maker" can be an enemy in disguise. For in my
traditional upbringing, one of the first lessons we
learned was that "not all angels with wings are from
God," nor do all renowned institutions teach the
right education. Education, the jewel of life, to be
valuable to a group of people, it must comprise the
promotion of nationalism and the honorable use of
power.
Therefore, as a
people all Liberians have the moral and ethical
responsibility to educate Liberian leaders and all
Liberians in the act of leadership and networking,
in order to unlock the creative talents of the
Liberian people to become better citizens. Liberians
need to do away with selecting people who are not
trained to be leaders. We should combine resources
to develop a curriculum at our universities to
produce the character of leaders the Liberian people
deserve. Liberian scholars need to develop
curriculum and write textbooks specifically for
Liberia and not just about North America and Europe
. And we could begin today by encouraging or
empowering our people to begin to think and act
toward establishing a University of Grand Bassa, a
University of Grand Gedeh, a University of Nimba, a
University of Grand Cape Mount, a University of
Grand Kru, a University of Margibi, a University of
River Cess, a University of Montsorrado, a
University of Bong, a University of Lofa and the
like to train Liberians across the board, without
relying solely on the University of Liberia in
Monrovia. In a sense, each county university would
be able to study and preserve the belief systems,
customs, values, and bodies of knowledge for the
people in each county and future generations of
Liberians. For, even if we started with one-room
universities at the county level, we would have
begun a million miles with a single footstep.
Today, in Liberia , a lot of
Liberians want a college education but the
University of Liberia is just too small to
accommodate everyone. But with various county
universities, we could educate our clan chiefs,
paramount chiefs, soldiers, civil servants, social
workers, ethnic specialists and others who may not want
to become engineers, pilots, medical doctors, and so
forth, in leadership and Liberian Studies.
Furthermore, we could be fitting "traditional" and
"modern" together in our own unique cultural mix-not
as living fossils, but as living links to our
long-term human past and active participants in
today's global village and geo-political dynamics.
Can you imagine the reciprocal effects and net
benefits of having our people know about their
next-door neighbors? The degree in leadership or
Liberian studies could benefit the political
re-mapping of Liberia , to the extent of lifting the
nation from its present political dungeons and
alienation of the Liberian people. Another incentive
for such institutions could be a boost in student
exchange between Liberian counties, especially since
people in Liberian counties know very little about
each other. Notwithstanding, the primary focus of a
degree in leadership and Liberian Studies must be on
culture heritage, national bonding, good governance
and public service.
I have noticed
that the frustration of many Liberians who have
studied in western countries and returned home to a
visible national positions and still have not
changed is very obvious in what is going on in our
nation. We have this everlasting frame of reference
to look toward the West to make the decision, to
educate our citizens and to set paradigms for us.
Aren't Liberians behaving like beggars who are
sitting on bags of gold and begging for financial
help? What should we do now? How can we honor our
history, respond to the present, and build a viable,
vibrant future for our people? It is not too late?
Can we still return to the spiritual and cultural
transformations awaiting us in the upcoming 2005
general elections by working together to build a new
future? Must we give our brothers and sisters a
reason to turn away from the traps that surround
them? These are pertinent questions that deserve
urgent answers if Liberians must unify and develop
our homeland. But our real identity lives in our
words and actions.
I believe the
beginning point of anything is also the spoiling
point. But Liberians have another chance in 2005 to
produce its first Nelson Mandela-like leader who
will create a new republic in which we could utilize
our talents and full potentials as a nation and
people. The new republic of 2005 approaches as a
beacon of hope for Liberians to protect our sacred
sites, our stories, our songs, and our poems that
capture our passion---these are the true account of
us as a people. The politics of survival and "blood
debt" are not our culture. They are a measure of the
days we live in. Our true culture is our lifeline
and where we stand---on our land ( Liberia ). The
reality of cultural immersion is important as no
human being's life falls outside culture. If we
attempt to live without our culture, then it would
mean a refusal to live on planet Earth. We cannot
live as an African or Liberian without placing
prominence on the family, form of government,
communalism, fellow-feeling, respect for elders, and
awareness of the supernatural or belief in God who
looks like us. All these facets of African or
Liberian culture are in line with biblical
teachings. We can either do it right the first time,
all of the times, or we could end up as the
traditional council of elders would say, "If we do
not change our route, we might arrive where we are
moving towards." For establishing an agenda or a
curriculum specifically for Liberian studies is one
of the possible solutions for a nation such as ours
without any system in place to educate its future
leaders. It is no secret that our political leaders
and westernized Liberians have disappointed us so
often, while looking down so long and so pervasively
on our traditional ways of life, that sometimes we
began to wonder if these negative stereotypes were
really true. So as a result, we have become a
vulnerable nation susceptible to the persuasiveness
of eloquent orators or anyone else who will tell us
that our culture, tradition and governance
structures are inferior to the western system of
governance, when in truth these traditional systems
have helped our best and brightest in the past to
contribute wholesomely to world peace and
prosperity.
After all, when
Liberia is stable and the citizens are educated to
love their own nation, there will be no threat to
developing it to resemble any other nation. Consider
the benefits of an education that succeeds in
neutralizing military coups in Liberia , and in
instilling in all Liberians the true meaning of a
sweet " Land of Liberty " for all. In other words,
we need to begin training (from elementary school to
university) all Liberians in conflict resolution and
peaceful electoral process as opposed to chronic
violence and the canker warms effect that had
plagued us for the past 150 years. Too many
Liberians have been killed by trying to abolish
corruption or solve our national problems, only to
see those who killed them repeat the same crimes and
go free.
The renewal of a
Liberian system of thought would definitely promote
brotherhood and tolerance among Liberians. Its
promotion of equality, humanity, selfless service
and quality leadership is bound to have a statutory
influence on Liberian social, economic and political
culture. If Liberia can unite its resources and
reclaim its productive past, it will make a
tremendous impact in the meetinghouse of the world.
The new generation of Liberians should now accept
the challenge and be willing to sacrifice for the
regeneration of the nation by harvesting what is
best in Liberian traditions. It is obvious that
there is a bias against Liberian leadership ability
and who we are as a people. These biases about
traditional Liberian culture abound in the Liberian
society today, and have prevented us from taking an
in-depth look into Liberian sociology, science,
history, philosophy, economics, non-partyism, and
anthropology, which when studied together, could
give us a true and actual picture of good leaders
and a system of good governance in Liberia.
Unfortunately,
the principles around which Westerners have come to
organize their thinking about Liberian leadership
blocks one from a real understanding of humanistic
qualities like those before the advent of
Jeffersonian democracy (which is cut from American
perspective). Using Western prism only scrutinizes
our government and governance is a disservice. In
the West, only certain sources are given credence,
such as literary proof but in the East, more
credence to oral traditions or visions, because it
comes from authoritative sources. It supersedes all
other sources because, in a way, it not comes only
from our parentage's understanding but God Almighty.
A keen look at our traditional society reveals a
communally treasured principle of give-and-take
between the parents and children in whose hands rest
the fate of the future. Traditional proverbs counsel
children to obey rather than claim that they can
"throw cutlass". In African or Liberian tradition, a
child and his father cannot contest cutlass.
Children are to respect, obey and look after their
parents. Existence of such understanding regarding
mutual rights and obligations between parents and
children negated the need for prisons construction
in African society. The "conscious makes the man" so
the teaching from our ancestry over the centuries
have woven together tradition and consciousness to
protect one's homeland. This concept was
pontificated at every "character excellence class"
before the waiting feet of the Council of Elders of
Poro University. "Do not set your homeland ablaze
because it is the best place to seek sanctuary in a
time of trouble" still reverberates to this day.
Similarly, a
verse in the Christian Bible spoke about baby Jesus
and his parents, Joseph and Mary, fleeing to Egypt
from Bethlehem to escape the murderous King Herod,
who spoke vividly to the validity of the teaching
not to "burn the bridge you crossed on". And the
moral here is that the very bridge you burnt could
be the same bridge you may need to take you to your
refuge. In the case of Jesus and his parents, they
blended well among the Africans because as the
"Lamb" of God, with kinky hair compared with lamb's
wool, feet the color of burnt brass (Rev. 1:14,15)
and a likeness resembling jasper and sardine stone (sard
/ sardonyx), which are commonly "brownish" stones
(Rev. 4:3), Herod could not find them. Imagine if
Jesus and his family had been troublemakers in Egypt
-they would not have been hidden from the wrath of
Herold, especially if Jesus was a white baby as
others are indoctrinated to believe. Just imagine
the rowdiness it could cause among the African
population!
My point here is
that myths have always been used to mischaracterize
Liberian ancient or traditional development so much
so that we have paid less attention to those good
teachings of old. But the ability of our people to
teach us key knowledge about our traditional
culture, values, and mores has never been a myth.
Our problem as a people has always been our
inability or lack of foresight in unlatching
political chaos and distress with endless and
frivolous pursuit of foreign ideologies as opposed
to unlocking our own great minds for national
assertive behaviors. All the problems we face as
individuals and as a people can be summarized in one
word-mis-education.
Yes, we are mis-educated
about our culture and traditions. Our culture is
about our belief in and the power of our dreams,
ancestors, deities, and Supreme God. It is about our
wisdom, buried in our proverbs, in our legends or
folklore, in our music, drums, and in our oral
history. It has to do also with our system of
marriage, our way of dressing, farming, feasting,
speaking, and educating our children, and so forth.
In this branch of culture, we do not need a
religious conversion because is not the faith, but a
binding cord of our common existence. For taking our
culture away from us is like stealing our souls, and
you may be the judge for what had happened to us as
a nation and people without a value system rooted in
our culture. We seem to think that the best way to
good governance is to be all things most unlike us,
and not all things most like ourselves. As the South
African proverb pontificates, "Horns which are put
on do not stick properly." As a result, the religion
and form of government we adopted have become our
jailers. For, whether the intruders built a physical
jail or not, a devalued culture and a people lacking
self-image are bound to create a more solid
penitentiary than any arabesque of steel bars the
world can erect. We cannot let the lies being told
about our indigenous ways keep us from knowing the
truth. We need to watch out for those who will play
to our emotions by providing pseudo-intellectual
arguments and bizarre notions that are akin to our
traditional culture, leadership, and belief systems.
But we need to
detach ourselves from this pseudo-intellectual
dormancy and retrace our roots to our traditional
leadership systems and social doctrines if we must
unite and rebuild our nation. Liberians are
Africans, and no level of pretenses is going to
change that. So as true Africans, we need to borrow
the good aspects of our traditional past, and blend
it with our modern perspectives to create the
highest level of spirituality, leadership, good
governance, social mobility, and cultural
cohesiveness in Liberia . The vehicle to implement
these antecedents is an inclusive curriculum to
provide the kind of education that would make
Liberian life flow and sparkle with joy, success and
service; a kind of education that would make
Liberians cast vibration that cheers, that
illuminates, that animates his or her fellow
Liberian, and enable him or her to exhibit qualities
that are compatible with the cooperation and not
inconsistent with rational projects that tend to the
advancement of his or her brother, and the
well-being of his or her race, the prosperity of the
nation and the confederation of the world.
Education makes a citizen patriotic. Education
multiplies the wants and needs of every citizen.
Thereon, when the question is asked why have we
settled on our forefathers' spirituality, education
and government? We can say that the answer has to do
with not only our need to be ourselves as God had
created us but to train our leaders to be
nationalistic. Liberians do not have to pass other
people's test litmus in leadership and good
governance in order to validate our
self-determination for total survival. But if we
say, "Old ears do not hear Ma mia," we will continue
to mortgage our future and give power to those who
should never have wielded power over us.
_________________________________________
Syrulwa Somah,
Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Occupational
Safety and Health at NC A&T State University in
Greensboro , North Carolina . He is author of
several books, including, The Historical
Resettlement of Liberia and It Environmental Impact,
Christianity, Colonization and State of African
Spirituality, and Nyanyan Gohn-Manan: History,
Migration & Government of the Bassa (a book about
traditional Bassa leadership and cultural norms
published in 2003). He can be reached at
somah@ncat.edu or
lihede@att.net
