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Monrovia – A professor of political science at the state-run University of Liberia (UL), Alartic Tokpa has declared that the George Weah-led government must come down should the administration remain corrupt.
In less than a year in power, with former footballer turned politician Weah as president, the Government of Liberia continues to be at the center of massive corruption allegations, including the unsolved case of the disappearance of some 16 billion Liberian dollars and US$25 million intended to mop up the excess liquidity of the local currency from the economy that is fast dwindling.
Appearing as one of three guest speakers at the first ever national annual retreat of the pro-political movement the Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia (EFFL) Saturday in Paynesville City, Prof. Tokpa called on Liberians to ensure that Weah is ousted from power, should his administration continue to dabble into corruption.
“We must ensure that this George Weah government comes down if it continues to be so corrupt. We have no more time. Enough is enough.”
He challenged the government to give Liberians economic justice, stating that Liberia’s recent history should not be ignored, calling on the Weah-led government to conduct a complete audit of what he referred to as the corrupt Ellen [Johnson-Sirleaf] government.
Speaking on the assigned topic: “Political Revolution,” Prof. Tokpa, a professor of political science, who is a former chairman of the political science department of the UL and one of the most recognized national student leaders who championed the cause for democracy and economic justice in the country, said whether Liberians like it or not revolution has to come.
Prof. Tokpa said: “Revolution has to come, whether we like it or not. And declared or undeclared, knowingly or unknowingly, this is the eve of the revolutionary movement in Liberia. This is the eve of the Liberian revolution because we have never ever seen the contradiction as sharp as it is.”
Her maintained that change is always possible, stating that “everything is in a state of flux. Society changes, whether you like it or not.”
Prof. Tokpa, who has taught government and politics for over 27 years, noted that there is a law of the negation of the negation, adding that the same way certain individuals came together and insisted they needed to replace the former ruling Unity Party that was not functioning in accordance with the expectations of Liberians, should the Weah-led government fail to function properly, it will be replaced in like manner.
He added that although he does not know exactly when the current regime will be replaced, but he knows for a fact that the Weah-led government will be replaced because the decadence of the administration is so glaring.
‘Weah-led government was imposed on Liberians’
He stated that in replacing the UP-led government, the CDC-led government was imposed on Liberians, insisting that the process that brought President Weah to power was either by hook or crook.
“And I know in large part it was by crook, because this government was imposed on us. There is no evidence that election was free and fair. If they bring that into open debate, we will open the book for them to see the facts,” Prof. Tokpa maintained.
In political revolution making, there is a law of the unity and conflict of the opposite, said Prof. Tokpa, who averred that under the Weah administration, many Liberians are dissatisfied
“Listen to the talk shows, read newspapers, people are saying we are the working people of Liberia. We are the producers of wealth. But the people don’t pay us. We go to Labor Ministry, we get no redress. Nobody pays attention to our cases and what have you and this and that. Yet, they have to continue to go to work, and their employers need them continuously. It is a law that is functioning in Liberia. It does not mean that our people our satisfied, even as working people and we have mass unemployment in this country however,” he said.
He continued: “But the fact that those people continue to be in alliance with a people that they dislike, that they’re opposed to in terms of the way in which they are being treated and oppressed and exploited, you can be sure a struggle is underway everyday – on a daily basis, there is struggle in Liberia for revolution and revolutionary change.”
He then stated that what Liberians are involved with is a class struggle, saying, “every time that society comes together and organize itself, there is the tendency for certain kinds of people to arrange themselves in such a way as to be over the others to exploit and oppress them.”
Howbeit, Prof. Tokpa, who for his part in the struggle for improvement in the conditions of poor and disadvantaged Liberians, was one of five students leaders of the Liberia National Student Union (LINSU) sentenced to firing squad by the military government in January 1982, but who were later reprieved, said “The revolution in Liberia will only be made by revolutionaries in Liberia, adding, “the revolution in Liberia can never ever be made by bandits and scorns.”
‘Outside solidarity’
Also jailed in 1985, at the notorious, maximum Belle Yellah prison, where he did hard labor for his unceasing activism for better public services and livelihood for disadvantage people, Prof. Tokpa recalling his early days in the struggle for political and economic justice in Liberia said “in our period of growth, one of the crimes we committed was to associate with others; fellow students, boys and girls, men and women in Liberia to advance the revolutionary process, cautioning the EFFL therefore, should make alliances with Liberians in the Diaspora.
He recalled, “Our struggle became so intense that the national dimension which is the basis of struggle was not sufficient. We had to introduce a transnational dimension. So as you struggle for political freedom, for economic freedom, you must understand that the space called Liberia in which you struggle is limited [so] you must build solidarity with Liberians on the outside, with revolutionaries on the outside, with progressives on the outside.”
Still on his lecture on political revolution worldwide, Prof. Tokpa further told his audience that even though the struggle in every country is unique, the nature of political revolution around the world is basically the same.
“Human beings have the same basic needs – want their place in which to live, we want food, we want good clothing, we want respect, we want living dignities, we want our governments to provide better social services,” he said.
He intoned that anywhere in the world, when the basic needs of human beings are violated, they will rise and fight, pointing out that “the problem with human society is that when a few group of persons have been put together and called a government and given the authority to rule or to lead society, they have a tendency to allow power to go to their heads.”
Hear Prof. Tokpa: “Government is a very big organization. Nevertheless, those who serve in government are human beings [and] their problem is that they ignore the obvious, they ignore reality, they ignore the fact that human beings are not too hard to satisfy, but they want to over-satisfy themselves and appear to be drawing satisfaction from the suffering of our people. That is a shame. In that way then, they invite political revolution.”
He disclosed that political revolution is not necessarily the ability to stand on line and vote against a particular unpopular government and replace it. Rather, “political revolution is the ability to smash a decadent, corrupt, ignorant and ineffective government and the possibility to replace it with a more efficient, effective people-oriented administration that brings satisfaction to the people.”
“And that establishes the importance of the Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia,” Prof. Tokpa told a chanting crowd of EFFL members, adding, “because it shifts the debate. It moves us one stage forward in our struggle, because when in the 20th Century we insisted that political democracy was inefficient and that economic democracy should be given attention, when we insisted that attention to the political and civil rights of human beings was not adequate, and that the cultural and social and civil rights of human beings should be given attention, people said we were socialists.”
“Of course indeed, if standing up for the rights for poor people makes me a socialist, I am. But you can’t define me. I define myself. We said we were social democrats,” said Prof. Tokpa, who noted that “whatever theoretical framework we used as a guide to action notwithstanding, we want political freedom, but we want economic justice – one way or the other is inadequate.”
“Political revolution in Liberia therefore, is consummated in a process in which there is a linkage, the interrelationship, the marriage, the interconnection to gain political freedom and economic justice,” he added.
“What is revolution therefore? He asked, espousing then that revolution is fundamental change – “when you make revolution, you can see the degree of change.”
“Revolution is not necessarily the ability to shout borrowed slogans. Revolution is not necessarily the ability to sing songs that entice the masses. Revolution is the process of fundamental, social, economic, political change in the society,” he said amid a thunderous applause from his audience.
“Having said that though, the history of every country is unique, and the revolutionary process in a particular society, for example like Liberia, may experience advances, reverses – it may experience halts, frustrations – it may move in a zigzag fashion as it always does. Yet, fundamental change in any society anywhere in the world is inevitable.” Prof. Tokpa said.
