Month: December 2016

Last week, I had dinner with a guy who made a funny comment that have got me thinking ever since that time. The guy was giving an analysis of the BREXIT vote and said that the decision was made largely by old people. Then he went further to say that those kind of decisions should not be made by old people since they may not be around to bear the consequences.

And when I considered that further, it moved from comedy into a serious issue that requires careful consideration.

In our electoral process, we don’t usually allow people less than 18 years to vote because we think they are not matured enough to make such critical decisions. But shouldn’t the same be true for people who are far advanced in age?

Because elections are about the future and arguably, based on the natural progression of life and all things held equal, older people have less stake in the future than younger people. So shouldn’t that decision be made only or largely by younger people?

I don’t have an age range but I think it is something that we ought to consider in the larger scheme of things.

At a certain age, we should be allowed to only observe the process and let those who will have to live with the consequences make those decisions.

Look at England for example, when the consequences of BREXIT become eminent, those older people who made the decision would be long gone. It will be the young people, who are more global and progressive in their outlook, that will have to live with the consequences.

Again, because the intention of this blog is to provoke a debate, you are not wrong to comment…

 

 

I am baffled when I see that someone of our colleagues, rather than take pragmatic and measured steps to achieving political goals and outcomes, they chose to think that historical accidents will deliver the political change they seek.

I would rather have a deliberate plan based in realism than think that if I am standing there and someone makes a mistake I could benefit,politically. It doesn’t work that way. No one should base their hopes or dreams on the mere occurrence of accidents. Let your plan be solid and thoughtful. And you need to be truthful to yourself; you need to know what is possible and what is not and you need to work hard.

It is against this backdrop that my colleagues and I have been frantically organizing under the banner of the Coalition for Liberia’s Progress (CLP). We believe that our approach is systematic and realistic. We believe that grassroot people can bring about change if they focus on the right things and build the right mechanisms and approaches.

The presidency is not all to political change. A movement that recognizes that could be on its way to leading a true revolution. Imagine for a bit if we had a cadre of 10 or 15 legislators who were prepared and able to stick together and make the hard choices, what a difference we could see?

But when legislators render themselves powerless and join the chorus of complaints then you know for real that we are in serious trouble and that our path to political change would be a long and tedious one because the people entrusted with the authority to change things don’t think they are the ones to really change things.

Let’s be reminded that change will not happen by accident. Men and women will have to take deliberate actions to force the desired outcome and that is the where the progressive grassroot coalition under the banner of the CLP comes in.

We all have the an opportunity to be part of history by declaring solidarity with the CLP.

This blog is intended to provoke debates; so you are not wrong for raising issues…

 

 

About a year ago, we had promised that we will not sit idly and see 2017 elections pass by. It was our commitment that we would be active participants when 2017 comes around. Though we did not say exactly how we would participate, it seems that it is now getting clearer.

A few weeks ago, the grassroot progressive coalition was in Kakata, Margibi County seeking membership for what promises to be the biggest coalition for grassroot political change.

Under the banner of the proposed Coalition for Liberia’s Progressive (CLP), the grassroot people will be advocating that change comes from the ground up and that if we make the right decisions at the grassroot (legislative constituency) level, our chances for change will be higher even if not guaranteed.

The approach that always focuses on the presidency at the expense of staffing the first branch of government with qualified leadership has failed. It is time for change!

The CLP’s model of political change is that if we can get the right people from the grassroot (our communities) to represent us then they can make our case at the table. But if we don’t have people at the table to advocate and to speak for us, then we will continue to be in this state of affairs.

Always complaining will not solve our problems. We need to take practical, collective actions and the CLP is here to lead the way.