When President Sirleaf Gets Tough…

“THE IRON LADY” of Liberia , Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has vowed or threatened to get tough in the way she conducts state affairs. Though she did not elaborate, the statement presupposes that the President had been cool and weak or she had been unutterably merciful and compassionate during the last two years of her incumbency. It is not known what the President exactly means by this statement, which she reportedly made while in the United States of America addressing media inquiries from home about her rumored ailing health. Whatever she means, it is easily, if not correctly, inferable that following three years in office, she's tired being dormant or soft on vexing national issues. She now intends to shed her traits of leniency, strip herself of the sheep-like garment that she has carried for three years and assume the garment of a wolf.

NO DOUBT, THE President's declaration, no matter the stimulus, has engendered wild speculations. There are those who believe that by virtue of the timing and the tone of the President's threat of toughness, she wants to resort to arbitrariness and the abuse of the rights of citizens. Other citizens are becoming to infer that the President might soon start to exercise powers inherent in typical Liberian leaders; like those exercised by William V. S. Tubman, Samuel K. Doe and Charles G. Taylor--powers that falsely incriminated critics, imprisoned them and sent some to the early Great Beyond.

AT THE SAME time, however, there are some citizens who welcome the President's desire to get tough, even if she wants history to record that she is the toughest Liberian President. They encourage the President to be tough. And we also do in a positive sense.

IT IS GOOD to be tough, particularly in these difficult post-conflict days. So, if the President wants to be tough, great. It's good she begins to project herself the “Iron Lady” that she is labeled. There are too many things and too many issues and people that a serious president must be tough about. For instance, there is the stubborn state of essential prices. President Sirleaf would therefore do well if her toughness is proven in forcing the galloping prices of rice, petroleum products, cement, building materials, transport fares, and essential commodities down to the purchasing power of ordinary Liberians. Let the toughness of the President offset and liquidate the spiraling tide of criminality, armed robbery and social malcontents in the country. But that is not all. The President needs to be tough on the decaying and impassable highways and streets in the country. Our highways and streets need no “ cut-and-paste” solution that is being provided. It would therefore be good for President Sirleaf to show toughness in building superhighways and grandiose streets. Also, safe drinking water and electricity are painfully lagging beyond. Most Liberians live the life of Peking man epoch. It takes tough presidential action to get safe drinking water and electricity to homes--and not merely the streets--of West Point, New Kru Town , Gardernesville, Brewerville and the hinterland.

BUT IF THE PRESIDENT 's avowed toughness connotes the literal exercise of “Iron Lady” powers, or if it means she is poised to establish herself tyrant, demigod and lord and gospel, then she must rethink her disposition. The threat to get tough should only be made only by a parent or a master against his/her dependents. President Sirleaf is not a master over Liberians and should restrain any despotic egos that make her issue threats of visiting toughness upon the people. Within the context of the Contract Theory, the President is a servant of the people. Jesus Christ also says the leader is the servant. Our case is no different. President Sirleaf was elected to be a servant--and not a master--of the people of Liberia . This is why it puzzles us that she is making a threat to get tough as if she was out to pick up whips to start chasing “deviants” and “conformists.”

LIBERIANS SAW A lot of autocratic tendencies for too long. The people resisted those tendencies. They paid, in resistance, with their bodies and lives. It would be fatal, therefore, for President Sirleaf to reinvent the past from which she has promised a fundamental break. The tough or toughest President that Liberians need now is one who is tough in spreading affordable health, education and other vital social services to the people. It is rather not the one who sends citizens cowering to the whims and caprices of some Lord.