THE AFL WE CHEERED ON MONDAY

LIBERIANS ARE A cheering people. They cheered Tubman. They cheered Doe. They cheered Taylor . They cheered NPFL. They cheered ULIMO. They cheered LPC. They cheered LURD. They even cheered Bryant. And they are still cheering. On Monday, they cheered the “born again” Armed Forces of Liberia. But if the thunderous cheers we saw and heard on the 100 th anniversary of the Armed Forces of Liberia reminisced the cheers characteristic of Liberian attitude then, as comical folks put it, “we must leave our part with God;” then the millions of offshore monies invested in the baptismal ceremonies--the reforming and reconstitution of the AFL--would only yield the traditional dividends of wastes and disappointment. We hope this is not the case. We hope the AFL, though 100 years old and known for its savagery and brutal allegiance only to the ruling elites of the time, would be a repentant new born. We hope it would be a friend and not a foe of democracy; an asset and not a nuisance of society; a contributor and not a liability of state.

In expressing our hope, we are not holding only the soldiers in suspicion; we are principally holding the ruling class with high skepticism. The history of Liberia is clear on the fact that it is the ruling class that has often shaped the moral and profession traits of the Armed Forces and other security apparatuses. It is the ruling class that has often injected into the armed forces and the generality of state security the debilitating dose of anti-opposition, anti-intellectual and other intolerant mentalities. It is the power that be that often gives orders that underpin the uncouth and unsavory actions and behaviors of the soldiers. It is the ruling class that takes blame for the factionalization, politicization and ethnicization of Liberia 's security forces.

The Armed Forces of Liberia we cheered at the colorful anniversary ceremony on Monday, whether one believes it or not, will automatically mirror nothing but only the color and attitude of the ruling class. In other words, the AFL, irrespective of any amounts of money and trainings infused into its rehabilitation, will hardly meet public expectation and demonstrate professionalism and a sense of morality except the ruling class constrains its traditional instincts of bigotry, intolerance and excessive political powers. It is by the refraction of the political deportment of the ruling class that the Army often takes cue. This current ruling class will therefore do well were it to replace its rhetoric about a productive and pro-centered AFL, first and foremost, with a critical self-examination and moral reordering of the political superstructure whose temperament and scheme of things will largely influence the attitude and deportment of the new army.

AS MUCH AS the AFL, or the foot soldiers, cannot be totally vindicated from the unfortunate legacy of the country's security sector, political leaders must take deliberate revolutionary actions to ensure that the national army is genuinely responsive to the needs of the people pursuant to its constitutional mandate. Already, it is not clear whether the AFL we cheered on Monday represents the geopolitical and geo-ethnic balance theoretical required by the Comprehensive Accra Peace Agreement. The bulk of the people are not sure whether the vetting process of the soldiers went beyond the placarding of poorly printed posters bearing the faces of potential recruits; and whether the general recruitment process was transparent and participatory pursuant to the theoretical prescriptions of the security sector reform policy. Already, fears mount amongst Liberians whether, in fact, most of the “born again” soldiers, if not all, that we cheered on Monday are not recycled militias; whether they are not the same old notorious fellows who later metamorphosed into civility after wrecking horrors on the armless majority of Liberians.

WITH THESE LINGERING fears and uncertainty of today, coupled with the haunting, dark shadows of yesterday, we can only hope that the conspiracy between the ruling elites and the army against the impoverished majority and the leftists would not resurrect with the emergence of the new AFL; that the cheers on Monday would not turn out to be smiles for some citizens and sorrow of others in the days and years ahead.