Commentary
The Geopolitics of Oil: The US–China’s Diplomatic Race In Africa-----Part One
By: Josephus Moses Gray/Email: graymoses@yahoo.com/
For centuries, beginning with the slave trade, the West has ruthlessly exploited the African continent, plundered and pillaged its resources; tortured most of its progressive and militant-oriented pace-setters, and inspired conspiracies that witnessed the deaths of many of its leaders including Patrice Lumumba apart from toppling so many African regimes not forgetting about “Operation Cold Chop” that pulled the legitimate rug from under the administration of Kwame Nkrumah and now turning Africa into a commercial hunt for the continent rich oil.
In the late nineteenth century, in what became known as the “scramble for Africa,” the continent was arbitrarily carved up into colonies by the leading European powers, which violently subjected its people and plundered the continent of its rich natural resources. That is while this article under the topic the “Geopolitics of African Rich Oil pinpoints the failures of African diplomats on the world stage, oil as a core causes for conflict around the African continent and the US–Chinese race for Africa’s rich natural resources especially oil.
In the wake of unfolding happenings across the world in the context of respect for human rights, peace and security, technological advancement, democracy and justice, Africa, a fantastic, but one of the richest continents is in motion, moving away from the periphery of the international system to a dynamic stage.
The study of international relations has historically focused on the activities of large, powerful states, dismissing the smaller entities of the international system as unimportant or merely objects and pawns of policy for the larger entities (Nohra, 2012). This truism extends especially to those entities that exist in a partially recognized limbo, neither a full part of the international system nor an ungoverned space. Yet in the post-Cold War world, following the dissolution of large multi-national states such as the USSR, these entities have begun to proliferate.
The idea of an African rebirth seems to be finding more and more acceptance within international relations, but the continent representation in the international system is somehow discouraging primarily due to the unpreparedness of some of Africa’s diplomatic players on the world stage.
This proliferation provides a significant challenge to an international system in which the primary participants are states, and to the institutions created to oversee their interaction. As such the study of these entities and their interaction with the world outside their borders is a study important for a universal understanding of contemporary international relations. This article aims to address the role of diplomats’ and the impact of diplomacy in this new era foreign policy of one such entity, (Abkhazia 2007).
If we are to single out few obstacles which continue to tie down progress and growth on the continent is bad governance, corruption, greed for wealth and political power and patronage with emphasis on abuse of resources and human rights. While on the other-hand, one factor which is primarily responsible for the transformation of Africa as it has done elsewhere in the world is undoubtedly modern international relations and diplomacy.
It is international relations which has been the gateway to link the continent to other continents, helping Africa to get in touch with other continents and influential multilateral institutions and organizations to establish its status among the comity of nations on the world stage. Africa has succeeded speedily in pushing and occupying key positions in the world, but on a large scale has failed to make an impact. A great deal has already been written on African international relations and the contributions of African countries and their governments in relationship to contemporary world’s politics.
In his recent book on democracy, Josephus Gray explained that this century perhaps more than any other period in human record has looked upon international relations and democracy as the vehicle of progress to establish ties with other sisterly governments and multilateral institutions and organizations. This new scramble for Africa’s resources is already engendering conflicts across the region. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, where copper and diamonds have inspired wars and mayhem, there is currently intense competition and militia rivalries over the mining and sale, a critical raw material used in mobile phones and electronic devices.
The battle over oil and uranium, used in feeding nuclear reactors, according to French diplomat, Mathieu de Lesseps, continues to be at the root of conflicts in Niger and Nigeria, while similar crises would soon spread to other countries in the African primarily due to the failures of the few privileges at the horn of political leaderships to account for resources from the oil. The connection between conflict and foreign exploitation of mineral resources can be drawn with respect to other countries, including Nigeria where Boko Haram is committing gross human rights violations. It has become clear that the discovery of significant oil and gas reserves in Nigeria’s northeastern Lake Chad Basin, the zone of the Boko Haram insurgency, is a major factor contributing to instability in the region ( Nicolas Matthieu).
The recent discovery has attracted the interest of neighboring countries, such as Chad, Cameroon and Niger, and international powers, including the United States, Britain and France. This also includes Sudan, Libya and Angola, while political crisis over lack of proper accountability over the use of natural resources especially oil is creating serious tension several other countries including Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Zimbabwe. In the post-independence eras, African states became weak pawns in the world economy, subject to Cold War rivalries, their path to development largely blocked by their debilitating colonial past. More recently, the West has choked Africa with an onerous debt regime, forcing many nations to pay more in interest on debts to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) than on health care, education, infrastructure, and other vital services combined.
Finally, by analyzing the likely impact on the economies of oil-producing states, it considers whether we should dismay or rejoice over the ‘new diplomatic scramble for Africa’. However let bear in minds that the emerging of this “neo scramble” or a US–Chinese diplomatic race for Africa should be treated with some caution and that the use of terms such as ‘scramble’ and ‘race’ are perhaps be overstated, while the economic impact of oil investments is likely to be bleak.
Both the American and the Chinese Governments were important in paving the way for American and Chinese oil interests in expanding in Africa. The US government used diplomatic instruments such economic incentives and military aid (Lionel de Moustier). China has proven more supportive and has provided loans, debt relief, scholarships, training, and provision of military hardware without political or economic conditionalities, in exchange for a foothold in the oil business.
In turn, incumbent African leaders have identified Chinese unconditional financial resources, cheap products, and know-how as an important tool to fend off pressure for political and economic reform from international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Western governments. China is the new ‘superstar’ and newest sensation on the African continent when it comes to new diplomatic ties, trade expansion and investments in large-scale development projects.
This was emphasized at the China-Africa summit in Beijing few years back. While most hailed the new Chinese drive, some fear a new scramble for Africa's vast natural resources. Widely believed to become the world's largest economy, China is successfully seeking its place under the African sun. Starting out with pariah nations such as Sudan and Zimbabwe, excellent relations are now held with almost all of Africa's 53 states.
For African governments, China's new interest mostly has been a blessing, partly a tipping point and now gradually becoming a game changer in the geo-political landscape. Diplomatically, their dependence on Western countries is eased, allowing new diplomatic competition as in the Cold War era, and giving pariah leaders an alternative backing. Chinese aid be it funds are also popular, because Beijing asks no questions on good governance and is fond of prestigious grand projects.
Several diplomatic scholars argued that economically, however, the Chinese advance has been a mixed-blessing for Africa. With China's admittance to the World Trade Organization (WTO), it has boomed into an economic superpower of cheap mass produced exports, giving no room for African competition. But Beijing is not only interested in gaining African export markets. Studies shows that the growing and soon to be economic superpower is not endowed with many natural resources, making Beijing dependent on mass imports of crude materials.
Most importantly, there is evidence of greater involvement of the United States and China in Africa, in terms of both commercial interests and political engagement. "China's bilateralism in relation to Africa" could undermine regional and continental institutions as "it replays the colonialist divide and conquer tactics." conflicts need money. From Sudan to Congo and Libya to Nigeria, natural resources such as timber, oil, diamonds and other most needed precious minerals have helped fund armies and militias who murdered, raped and committed other horrendous human rights abuses against civilians. Currently, there is an amazing infrastructure race taking place within East and West Africa, while on the other hand, the West especially powerful nations look on as Boko Haram continue to perpetrate gross human rights violations in Nigeria.
China is taking a very broad approach and accessing the region whole heartily, erecting infrastructural, building roads in Southern Sudan, Ghana, Liberia, and Ethiopia, just to name few. We are also seeing the French role in Mali, Ivory Coast and Congo while Japan’s involvement in Liberia and the British involvement in Sierra Leone. In recent time the US has strengthened its relations across the continent especially in Southern and West Africa including the north. The recent outbreak of Ebola disease gives the U.S. the advantage to enforce its relations in West Africa; the Britain and the French also enforced their presence in Sierra Leone and Guinea, while Beijing has also been active in combating the deadly disease from Liberia.
Battling to overcome its own created problems such as bad governance, Africa throughout the Cold War until the mid-2000s, played only an insignificant role on the world’s stage in the context of international relations and diplomacy most often pulled by the nose as surrogate force and launching path as appeasement to the will and pleasure of self-styled global policemen.
This is not to say that Africa was irrelevant but the developments of the Cold War somewhat overshadowed the continent on the global stage. During the Cold War period, most of Africa remained within the spheres of influence of the former colonial powers, which made use of the relative freedom they were given by the Great Powers to materialize their interests in Africa, but with the end of the Cold War, things somehow turns the other way in the interest of the continent.
Owing to the continent’s recent avancement on the world’s stage to occupy some major positions in the international system, there have been calls for the continent to occupy a seat on the Security Council with an equal veto, but the politically suppressed lingering question that arises is which of the three African countries to occupy the dedicated seat ? Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco are all vying and not ready to allow or apply at least a brake for either one of the three to repesent Africa if the occasion arises.
The continent in recent time has been repositioning in the international system as far as international relations and politics are concerned, but greed for power and wealth, and undermined by bad governance, are some of the major problems that are affecting growth and development of the continent on the stage of transparency and accountability. In the words of a French diplomat, Paul Claudel, most African diplomats lack a true representation of their countries, arguing that their presence bring no benefits to the sending state but a Russian diplomat, Gustavic Édupukiv writes that most African diplomats are politically strangers to the international system.
In the post-independence eras, African states became weak pawns in the world economy; most recently, the West and East have choked Africa with an onerous debt regime, forcing many nations to pay more in interest on debts. The legacy of Western domination has left Africa devastated with crippling rates of poverty, hunger, and disease. The continent today has a gross national per-capita yearly below that of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in most African countries, and an average life expectancy of only fifty years.
According to latest UN report, seventy-six percent of Africans have no access to standard pipe borne water, good healthcare delivery system, constant electricity, social security benefits, sanitation facilities and good meals a day. The report further indicates that 25.8 million people of the two-thirds of the total world population suffering from HIV/AIDS live in Africa. Africa remains a continent abundant in human and natural resources, but are managed to enrich only a handful of African leaders, corrupt bureaucrats, certain individuals and foreign capitalists who continue to exploit the continent.
. From the 1950s to 2000s, Africa has experienced lots of assassinations either by coup d'etat or by civil naughty including political detentions, thus depriving Africa of the men and women who would perhaps have built a better future. Each assassination, each coup d'etat, each civil disobedient and each political exile dealt a blow to Africa. All these ugly activities are direct results of bad governance which reduced the largest population to extreme poverty.
Battling to overcome its own created problems, Africa throughout the Cold War until the mid-2000s, played only an insignificant role in international relations and diplomacy. This is not to say that Africa was unimportant or even an entity apart from the international system but the big developments of the Cold War somewhat overwhelmed the continent on the world stage. During the Cold War period, most of the Africa continent remained within the spheres and claws of influence of the former colonial powers, which made use of the relative freedom they were given by the Great Powers to materialize their interests in Africa.
This situation perpetuated the hierarchical structures of the colonial past, not necessarily against the will of the African ruling influential leaders. The view of Africa as a subordinated entity in the international system was even further reinforced by the continent’s marginalization within the discipline of International Relations and world’s politics. Some political pundits and commentaries argue that the continent was described less important by the big powers in the face of international relations and politics but now a day the situation has proven otherwise.
Africa's bilateralism in relation to the world in recent time has been successful while bad governance still remains a critical issue of a major concern. As new nations emerged, the problems of nations’ building, economic reconstruction loomed on the horizon and that one cannot ignore the impact of the 1960s. This was the first decade of independent Africa and it has been characterized by violence from north to south, from east to west. What we saw at the beginning of the 1960s was a precursor of what is taking place now.
The Congo crisis, the secessions of Katanga and Kasai were symptoms of the malady of the continent. At the beginning of the 1960s it was fashionable then to look upon the Congo tragedy as the unique example of Belgian colonial ineptitude. Now with years of bitter experience behind us, we can say that the Congo’s situation pointed to all the issues which would afflict Africa from the ‘60s to 2000s. The Congo gave us also the first real taste of the cold war involvement in Africa. As the Congo became a battle sound of international strife, it was unfortunately the African who bore the brunt. It was once again the Congo which gave Black Africa the first indication of the importance of diplomacy in African politics. This has become a fact of life and no one in Africa today can think of resolving conflict without a diplomatic intervention and leave out militarism, which is the last course of action.
This has become a fact of life and no one in Africa today can think of resolving conflict without a diplomatic intervention which is the last course of action. Since the Congo-Brazzaville war in the 1960s, the continent experienced dozen of brutal wars in several countries including the Nigeria’s Biafra war, the rebels’ war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formally Zaire), Angola, Uganda, Somalia, Ethiopian-Eritrea war, Rwanda war between the Hutu and the Tutsi, Senegal-Casamance Region, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Northern and Southern Sudan’s wars, Kenya post-election violence, Libyan, and now Mali, just to name few. All these wars were direct results of abused of state resources and national wealth, bad governance, corruption, class system and abused of state power and authority by handful of African leaders and foreign capitalists.
But farsighted political figures, however, agree that Africa has entered a new phase of history, which is characterized by increased African actors on the world stage, with greater influences. For instance, a good marker of this change is the greater interest that the continent has received from Asian and other developing countries and the resulting competition between well-established and new actors on the African continent. Another critical juncture that contributed to the repositioning of Africa in world politics is the fight against terrorism. Virtually overnight the African continent gained new significance in relationship to the global war on terror.
In light of the political instability across the Middle East and North Africa, Africa has come to be ‘of major geo-strategic importance to the oil-dependent industrialized economies’, and giving an attention that Africa receives from actors all over the international system, the idea of an African rebirth seems to be finding more and more acceptance within international relations. Referring to the colonial scramble, which hit its peak at the end of the 19th century and the partition of the entire African continent along borders brokered between a handful of European colonial powers which some scholars see as a ‘new scramble for Africa’ emerging.
More cautionary thinkers who read international politics point to the prevailing poverty and corruption, civil defiance, bad governance and the weak political parties and institutions in Africa, while other analysts predict the continent will have a promising future. Most likely the truth lies somewhere in between with a 50-50 reality.
Evaluating the continent’s key actors performances on the global stage, many observers see Africa steadily moving towards Beijing, while others regard tales of a successful Sino-African future with suspicion and point to the robustness of US–African ties.
Nowadays more than ever, as Jean-François Bayart wrote rather provocatively a decade ago, the ‘discourse on Africa’s marginality is nonsense. The economic, demographic, and political developments on the African continent suggest that Africa is moving away from the periphery of the international system, not without consequences for the traditional international actors in the region.
But farsighted political figures, however, agree that Africa has entered a new phase of history, which is characterized by increased African actors on the world stage, with greater influences. For instance, a good marker of this change is the greater interest that the continent has received from Asian and other emerging countries and the resulting competition between well-established and new actors on the African continent.
Another critical juncture that contributed to the repositioning of Africa in world politics was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Virtually overnight the African continent gained new significance in relationship to the global war on terror. In light of the political instability across the Middle East and North Africa, Africa has come to be ‘of major geo-strategic importance to the oil-dependent industrialized economies’, and giving an attention that Africa receives from actors all over the international system, the idea of an African rebirth seems to be finding more and more acceptance within international relations, but the continent representations in the international system is somehow discouraging due to the unpreparedness of some of our diplomatic players on the stage, reducing them to mere spectators.
Referring to the colonial scramble, which hits its peak at the end of the 19th century and the partition of the entire African continent along borders brokered between a handfuls of European colonial powers. The governance crisis in the Arab world and elsewhere on the continent is fuelled. Part Two will discuss the doctrines of powerful world leaders in international relations. Watch out for part two.
Treatment Overview and Therapeutic Approaches of Ebola Virus Disease
Consult Question: A doctor friend called me and said she wanted to know a little bit more about this “secret serum” used in managing Ebola cases in West Africa. I gave her the following consult and I thought I should throw a little more light on the treatment overview and therapeutic approaches in managing the Ebola virus disease (EBV).This write up aims to throw some light on ZMapp – the “secret serum”, since there is not a lot of information on its safety and efficacy (at least for now) in the management of the Ebola virus disease (EBV).
The EBV is a severe viral hemorrhagic fever with a mortality rate of 50% - 90% and is endemic in central and sub-Saharan Africa. Its recent spread to West Africa, including Guinea, Liberia (my native country), Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, has caused the largest outbreak to date. A total of 1,848 patients with suspected or confirmed EBV infection leading to 1,031 deaths as of August 9, 2014.
- Living in or travel to endemic or epidemic regions - Contact with blood, bodily fluids, or human remains of infected persons, typically affecting health care workers, family members of infected patients
- Direct handling of bats, rodents, or primates from disease-endemic areas - The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, USA, stratifies risk for the current epidemic based on the degree of exposure:
High-risk exposures include:Direct care or exposure to body fluids of an Ebola patient without appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE)Mucous membrane or percutaneous (such as needlestick) exposure to body fluids of Ebola patientProcessing body fluids from an Ebola patient without appropriate PPE or Biosafety precautionsParticipation in funeral rites which include direct exposure to human remains in an area with active transmission without appropriate PPE
Low-risk exposures include:
- Residence in the same house as an Ebola patient
- Provision of care to an Ebola patient (without known high-risk exposure)
- Casual contact with an Ebola patient
- Defined as being within 3 feet or in the same room for prolonged periods while not wearing recommended PPE or brief direct contact (such as shaking hands) with an - - Ebola patient while not wearing PPE
- Brief interaction, such as walking by a person or moving through a hospital, do not constitute casual contact
The incubation period in humans ranges from 2 to 21 days (average 4 to 10 days). Primary target tissues appear to be the liver, spleen, and adrenal glands. Inability to mount an effective immune response may lead to uncontrolled viremia and ultimately death.
Symptoms typically arise 8 to 10 days after exposure. Initial symptoms are nonspecific and may include fever, headache, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, and myalgias. The rash is reported in 25% to 52% of patients in the first week of infection. Hemorrhagic signs are often seen in <50% of patients after several days of illness. Some patients may develop severe illness within 6 to 16 days after symptom onset, including mucosal hemorrhages (typically from the gastrointestinal tract), hypotension, shock, multiorgan failure and neurologic involvement such as headache, confusion, and coma.
What makes this infection worrisome, even more is that making the diagnosis can be pretty complex. Ebola symptoms include headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, or unexplained hemorrhage. Besides the unexplained hemorrhage, most of the other symptoms are very common in other tropical diseases like malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, Lassa fever, yellow fever, dengue, and meningococcal disease.
Are our folks just put in “Ebola camps” because of the fear of the EVD? Or ultimately acquiring the infection because of prolonged exposure to others that are truly infected? I absolutely trust the judgment of the healthcare workers, but since this outbreak is so unprecedented, it is very worrisome indeed.
Treatment overview:
There is no specific antiviral therapy available. Treatment approaches used in a limited number of patients have included:
- ZMapp, a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies directed at Ebola virus protein
- Convalescent sera or blood transfusion
- Plasmapheresis is used in a small number of patients but is not clearly associated with improved survival
Aggressive supportive care is typically needed and should focus on:
- Hemodynamic support such as administration of intravenous fluids, blood if there is hemorrhage, epinephrine or dobutamine
- Correction of electrolyte disturbances such as electrolyte and fluid replacement
- Blood transfusion
- Reversal of coagulopathy, using fresh frozen plasma and platelet transfusion
- Nutritional support
The ZMapp drug is developed by MAPP Biopharmaceutical Inc., a result of the collaboration between Mapp Biopharmaceutical, LeafBio, Defyrus Inc, the US government and the Public Health Agency of Canada. ZMapp is composed of three “humanized” monoclonal antibodies manufactured in plants, specifically Nicotiana bethamiana. It is an optimized cocktail combining the best components of MB-003 and ZMab. It was first identified as a drug candidate in January 2014 and has not yet been evaluated for safety in humans. Very little of the drug is currently available. In the light of the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa, an expert panel of the WHO has decided to use ZMapp “provided certain conditions are met”.
The panel said that ethical considerations must guide the use of experimental vaccines and treatments where efficacy and safety in humans had not been established. “These include transparency about all aspects of care, informed consent, freedom of choice, confidentiality, respect for the person, preservation of dignity and involvement of the community,” the panel said in its statement. It added that anyone making treatments available had a “moral obligation” to ensure that data on their safety and efficacy were collected, shared, and made available for scientific evaluation.
It would also be a decision made by the treating physician under the regulatory guidelines of the FDA.
So far in the use of ZMapp, convalescence may be prolonged and complicated by secondary infections and there is an increased risk of miscarriage.
In conclusion, even though there is very little information on the safety and efficacy of ZMapp, I am very glad that the health authorities are giving this a try. How can we live in such a technological world and be plagued by such a deadly disease and we stand so helpless! If ZMapp works, mankind will not be this threatened by Ebola anymore.
Thank you for your time. It will be a pleasure to get feedback from some of you and provide any follow up information needed.
Lee Freeman, Jr.
The Author is a Pharmacy Manager in Frisco
The Time Has Come To Vote Out Corrupt And Failed Legislators From The Senate
Today, our nation – Liberia, the onetime beacon of hope on the African continent is at a critical junction in its national history. The fourteen- year bloody upheaval has since ended and the nation is currently experimenting democracy at all levels across the country but perennial problem of corruption is impeding development and growth in the country. People who are greedy for money and have weak allegiance to the State considered the Senate not as a place to render due service to their various counties but as a place of rapid personal enrichment while majority of the population live in miserable poverty.
Just envisage, in the midst of hopeless, hardship and destitution in the country where greater part of the population lives on handout and the mercy of God, the top officials at the leadership of the First branch of Government-the National Legislature including House Speaker Alex Tyler, President Pro tempore Gbehzohngar Findley and Deputy Speaker Hans Barchue have allotted over US$3.5 Millions to their offices in the 2014-2015 budget. Speaker Tyler has allotted over 1.054,372 million to his office of which US$345,664 is allotted for compensation of employees in his office while civil service employees at the same office get US$62,810.
Those working in the Speaker’s office serve as his will and pleasure; he determines their monthly salary and benefits. In the 2013-2014 approved budget, Speaker Tyler’s office received the amount of US$1.174 million excluding other benefits. The draft budget fellow shows US$210,854 as general allowance for the speaker of which US$72,000 is appropriated for special allowance, while US$497,854 allotted for goods and services for the office of the speaker. Such a huge allotment is nothing like service but a personal enrichment and has the propensity to keep our people in poverty and increase their destitution.
The President Pro Tempore of the Liberian Senate Gbehzohngar Findley who is facing difficulties for his re-election in Grand Bassa County office is allotted over US$1.341 million in the draft budget for 2014-2015. Perhaps, Senator Findley is allotted more amount than the Speaker Tyler to helps strengthen his financial power for re-election in the October 2014 Senatorial polls. It has also been uncovered that compensation of employees in Findley’s office accounts for US$397,433 while civil servants employees in the same office are allotted US$97,133. Those working in the Pro Temp’s office serve as his will and pleasure; he determines their monthly salary and benefits. Senator Findley’s office gets US$228,300 for general allowance and US$72,000 for special allowance for the same office while goods and services the office of Senator Findley is allotted US$386,254, respectively.
Besides, the Draft Budget for 2014-2015 also appropriated US$742,387 for the office of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hans Barchue while US$236,297 is allotted as compensation for employee in the Deputy Speaker’s office. Also, US$64,740 goes towards civil service in the office while goods and services amounts take US$499,090. Those working in the Deputy Speaker’s office serve as his will and pleasure; he determines their monthly salary and benefits.
Despite of these huge allotments and benefits that go toward these state bureaucrats and capitalists, their leaderships are persistently being accused of rampant corruption. The transparency International 2013 report leveled the First Branch of government-Legislature in Liberian as the most corrupt public institution in Liberia. It has been reported that all nominees must make available cold water before they can be confirmed while no concession agreement is passed without giving members of the legislature cold water. I have no doubt while they are normally referring to as “cold water” legislators.
However, in less than seven months’ time, we will be at the polls to elect 15 new Senators who are expected to institute good laws in the interest of the masses and those greedy individuals who only care for the pockets will be booted out of the capitol. There is no doubt that the October 11, 2014 Senatorial Midterm Election is to decide whether or not to entrust the leadership of this nation to a new group of self center political elites or the old corrupt guards who are enriching their selves at the detriment of the improvised masses . This decisive and cardinal decision rests in our hands and let nothing cause us to make a bad choice. Some of these corrupt old guards have turned over night as humanitarians-to extend even if they heard that their neighbor’s dog die, they are ready to sympathize with that neighbor.
If we truly love our country and we want Liberia to rise again as a unified nation and people, and regain her once ruffled status amongst the comity of nations, then let us not repeat those same old mistakes to entrust our future to those corrupt bureaucrats and those who lack vision for this nation. This 2014 Senatorial Elections must be a point at which all Liberians of 18 or above can speak with one voice to make a sound decision to elect people who loved and cherished this nation and its people, and not those self-centered individuals who would want to enrich themselves at the detriment of the suffering masses.
This is another opportunity to decide whether we want a senator that subscribes to good governance, human rights, rule of law, social justice and sound economic policies and who would unite and build a strong and prosperous nation bordered on the country of law and not of one-track-minded men; a country free to and for all wherein all of us can be participants of the wealth and enjoy the luxury of peace, joy and happiness. Our country needs good senators with an exemplify leadership and sound policymakers who have genuine love for the masses and concern for peace, stability, and national development.
The time has come for us to make sure that those who violate the trust of the people, lack leadership ability and misuse the nation’s wealth and human resources to promote their own interest are shown the ‘red card’ and never again put in positions of trust to repeat their crimes. The final decision rests in our hands and not the international community. It is time that we make the best decision by electing people of trust and not greedy, corrupt, unproductive, failed politicians to the senate. Let me repeatedly emphasis that the time has come to carefully select the sheep from among the corrupt goats, come October 11, 2014, or we will bleed this country to death for another long unforeseeable years.