Introduction to Liberian Government and Political System

By Monie R. Captan

The primary purpose of this book is to introduce readers to basic Liberian civics and related topics. It is also a useful introduction to Liberia for non-Liberians who seek a better understanding of the country.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Apr 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483448787

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CAPTAN

Copyright © 2016 Monie R. Captan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means---whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic---without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

Monie R. Captan

Enterprise House, B-1036

Tubman Boulevard, Congo Town

1000-10, Monrovia Liberia

Email: [e-mail]

[phone]

ISBN: 978-1-3129-6659-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4878-7 (e)

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 03/23/2016

CONTENTS

Preface

Acronyms

Chapter 1: A brief history of Liberia

Chapter 2: Introduction to Liberian political system

Chapter 3: General principles of national policy

Chapter 4: The three branches of government

Chapter 5: Nationality and fundamental rights

Chapter 6: Elections

Chapter 7: Transparent and accountable governance

Chapter 8: The Liberian economy

Chapter 9: Liberia's foreign policy

Chapter 10: The challenge of economic development

Chapter 11: Conclusion -- The challenge of governance

Annex 1: Liberian national symbols, pledge of allegiance, and national anthem

Annex 2: Presidents of Liberia

Annex 3: Counties, capitals, population and the political map of Liberia

Annex 4: The first sale of native land -- 'The Ducor Contract'

Annex 5: The Declaration of Independence

Annex 6: Constitution of The Republic of Liberia, 1986

Bibliography

For my two mothers, Vulate C. Tate and Grace B. Minor

who passionately and selflessly championed the

cause of democracy in Liberia through their activism,

advocacy, service and sacrifice.

PREFACE

I have taught at the University of Liberia as a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science since 1992 but with some breaks due to conflicts and war. Currently, I am an Adjunct Associate Professor lecturing at the IBB Graduate School of International Relations, University of Liberia. Over the past twenty-two years of teaching, I have observed that students have not had access to basic textbooks because either there were no textbooks available in the country or the few available were far too expensive for students to afford. Students therefore have had to rely only on lecture notes and research, thus limiting their access to essential learning tools.

More critically, there were very few textbooks written on the basic subject of Liberian civics and those that were available were outdated, limited in scope or historically prejudiced. This gap, and the importance I attach to learning and education at all levels, motivated me to write a Liberian civics textbook covering the topics of history, governing principles, government structure, fundamental rights, elections, the economy, development, foreign policy, and governance. This book does not attempt in any way to be exhaustive in relation to these topics, but rather aims to serve as a broad foundation that can be developed and made richer in content and context, while also raising awareness for further research into Liberian civics.

The primary purpose of this textbook is to improve knowledge and competence in civics. It therefore seeks to introduce Liberian students to basic Liberian civics and related topics, explain their rights and responsibilities, trigger analytical reasoning and inquiry into challenges facing the country, serve as a tool to assist in nation building, and motivate them to fulfill their responsibilities as citizens of the Republic of Liberia. This book is also a useful introduction to Liberia for non-Liberians who seek a better understanding of the country.

I have also attempted to raise the important issue of leadership and its implication for good governance, something that has eluded our country since its inception. Liberians would do well to carefully consider their choice of who they vote for and to what standards they hold their elected officials. Democracy is more than elections; it is also about the relationship between those who govern and the people they govern, whereby the fundamental guiding principle is that all power is inherent in the people. It is my hope that this book will provoke specific debates about how we can better address the challenges of governance and development.

Monie R. Captan

Monrovia, January 2015

ACRONYMS

CHAPTER 1

A brief history of Liberia

I am an African, and in this country [USA], however meritorious my conduct, and 'respectable' my character, I cannot receive the credit due either. I wish to go to a country where I shall be estimated by my merits, not my complexion; and I feel bound to labor for my suffering race. (Lott Cary, Baptist Minister and founder of the Providence Baptist Church)

The Republicans had already built up a caste system. The official classes now regarded themselves as patricians, whilst the masses of the common people of the Americo-Liberians, including Congoes, were looked upon as plebeians in the old Roman sense. The original population, or natives, were not by then considered at all. (Prof. Abayomi Karnga)

A history of Liberia could explore the origins of inhabitants on the territory known today as Liberia; it could also chart the history of the formation of the modern state of Liberia, or it might, indeed, consider both approaches. For the purpose of this book, this chapter will focus on both the origins of the inhabitants of the land and the founding and establishment of the modern Liberian state. Bearing in mind that this is not a history book, and that there is very limited literature and no definitive published studies on the subject, Liberia's history will be explored in brief so as to provide a basic background understanding for the reader.

THE TRIBAL INHABITANTS

The tribes of Liberia are divided into three linguistic groups, namely the Mel (Gola, Kissi), the Mande (Vai, Bandi, Dan/Gio, Kpelle, Lorma, Mano, Mandingo), and the Kwa (Bassa, Dey, Grebo, Kru, Belle, Krahn, Grebo). Some tribal groups, including the Vai, Bassa, Grebo, Kpelle, and Lorma, have developed written scripts.

According to various accounts, the original inhabitants of present day Liberia are the tribes of the Mel linguistic group who migrated from the Niger Delta sometime between 1300 and 1500. The Kwa linguistic groups followed them later while the Mande linguistic groups arrived between 1500 and 1550. These inhabitants may have migrated to present day Liberia in search of fertile land made necessary by the desertification of their original habitats near the Sahara Desert. Another contributing factor to migration was the decline of the Western Sudanic Empires of Mali in 1375 and Songhay in 1591, which followed periods of instability and turmoil, thus forcing a gradual migration (Robin Dunn-Marcos, 2005).

Social order was maintained through tribal structures that comprised a group of elders, a chief and subordinate chiefs, and traditional priests also known as 'Zoes' in some societies. The Chief normally administers the civil affairs of a clan or larger entity; elders advise the chiefs, and the traditional leaders or Zoes administer the traditional affairs of the society. Most leaders in pre-modern tribal society assumed their positions through lineal succession. In some tribal groups, especially the Gola, Bassa, Kpelle, Kissi, Lorma, and Vai, there exist secret societies that are gender-based such as the Poro, which is a male society, and the Sande, which is a female society. These societies are under the control of the Zoes who inculcate traditional values in the citizens through the initiation of youths prior to entering adulthood. For many years, the Kongba Gola were the primary custodians of the secret societies, which were used to consolidate their influence over other tribes. Because tribal groupings extend beyond modern borders, the secret societies can also be found in modern Guinea and Sierra Leone. Secret societies remain an integral institution of some tribal societies and contribute to their social order and cohesion.

Prior to the coming of the colonists from the United States in 1822, Liberia was known as the Grain Coast, an area which extended from Cape Mesurado (present-day Monrovia) to Cape Palmas (present-day Harper). The territory was named the Grain Coast by the Portuguese sailor Pedro de Cintra who first arrived in the region in 1461 (Robin Dunn-Marcos, 2005). The Grain Coast became known for its production of the malagueta pepper which was in high demand in the spice markets of Europe. Trade in malagueta pepper was mainly monopolized by Portuguese traders who started the trade as early as the mid-fifteenth century. Trade along the Grain Coast was primarily conducted in palm oil and pepper by local inhabitants in exchange for rum, gun, gun powder, iron bars, and knives supplied by European traders, mainly Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish and French. This commerce later transitioned to the more lucrative slave trade which peaked in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Inter-tribal warfare produced many captives and defeated foes that were sold to European slave traders by the victors.

THE BAN ON THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE

In 1807, Great Britain banned slave trading and this was followed by the United States in 1808. The naval forces of both nations were deployed in the Atlantic to enforce the ban by intercepting slave traders attempting to evade the ban. Some slave traders successfully evaded the ban and shipped their slave cargoes to the United States. Some states auctioned off slaves that were illegally brought into the US thus increasing the slave population in the United States despite the ban on slave trading. One of the challenges faced by the US Government and the naval forces was what to do with those illegally brought into the United States and those interdicted from being sold into slavery. The idea of a colony in Africa for the return of Africans illegally brought into the United States and the return of those interdicted from being sold into slavery became a very appealing idea that found support within the United States and the US Congress.

THE COLONISTS

The emergence of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade would later shape modern Liberian history and provide the motivation for the establishment of the American Colonization Society (ACS) and consequently the Colony of Liberia in 1822, the Commonwealth of Liberia in 1839, and then the Republic of Liberia in 1847. Cassell has argued that the slave trade was the central fact in the history of Liberia:

The slave trade is the central fact in the history of Liberia. Over four centuries ago, the indigenous populations of Africa south of the Sahara lived a sheltered, relatively carefree life, conducting their own affairs, possessing their own culture and civilization, running their own governments, and leaving the rest of the world strictly alone. They knew no masters except, sometimes, men of their own color who, possessing the same predatory nature as other races and peoples, from time to time raided tribes and carried off captives, whom they made work for them. This form of enslavement was mild compared to that which twenty million Africans were to suffer at the hands of other races. (Cassell, 1970)

In the early 1800s, white Americans began to contemplate a United States with free blacks and the challenges their assimilation into mainstream white society would create. During that period, Robert Finley, a Presbyterian minister from New Jersey advanced the view that colonization was the solution to the challenge of the integration of blacks into American society. He held the view that the integration of blacks would never be fully achieved in the United States, and thus the potential of the black man would never be realized in that country. He therefore argued for colonization to Africa (land of their fathers) where the black man's potential could be fulfilled, contributing to an end to slavery and the spreading of Christianity to Africa; Finley considered colonization as a charitable work. His view gained currency among many powerful persons in the United States which led to the formation of the American Colonization Society (ACS) in 1816.

Some of the prominent founders of the American Colonization Society included Andrew Jackson, James Madison, Henry Clay (Speaker of the US House of Representatives), Bushrod Washington (nephew of George Washington), and Francis Scott Key, among others (Cassell, 1970). The motives of the advocates of colonization varied from the desire to end slavery, to the genuine welfare of blacks, and to ridding the United States of free blacks while maintaining slavery. Ciment captures these sentiments in his book Another America:

For the 'coloured' people in the crowd, it [departure of colonists on the Elizabeth] was a solemn occasion; some were there to bid farewell to friends and loved ones, others to witness a bittersweet moment in the history of their people. For the whites in attendance, there was satisfaction of various sorts. A few saw a group of despised and degraded people at long last set free. Many others simply subtracted ninety or so 'niggers' from a population that darkened the soil of a white man's republic. (Ciment, 2013)

According to Ciment, the first meeting of the founders of what was to become the American Colonization Society took place in the winter of 1816 at the Davis Hotel in Washington, DC. The meeting was chaired by Henry Clay, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, who said in his opening remarks, 'Can there be a nobler cause, than that which, whilst it proposed to rid our country of a useless and pernicious, if not dangerous portion of its population, contemplates the spreading of the arts of civilized life, and the possible redemption from ignorance and barbarism of a benighted quarter of the globe!.'¹

The ACS and its founders embarked on plans to establish a colony in Africa by first fielding a mission of inquiry to England and then Africa to determine the feasibility of setting up a colony in Africa, and to identify a suitable site for the establishment of a colony. The ACS, which was known as the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States at the time, held a Board of Managers meeting on November 5, 1817. At the meeting, the Board passed a resolution appointing Samuel J. Mills of the American Bible Society as its Principal Agent and Ebenezer Burgess of the University of Vermont as Assistant Agent to carry out the mission. Their first destination was England to seek advice and gather information on establishing a colony in Africa since the British had already succeeded in establishing a colony on the West Coast of Africa known as Sierra Leone in 1817.

The colony was founded to resettle blacks that were evacuated from the United States to England during the American Revolutionary War.

After consulting eminent persons in England, including the well-renowned abolitionist William Wilberforce, Mills and Burgess continued on to Sierra Leone in 1818 with an introductory letter to the Colonial Governor of Sierra Leone, Charles MacCarthy. Mills and Burgess arrived in Sierra Leone on March 12, 1818 and were welcomed by the Colonial Government. During their visit, they were joined by John Kazell (who was chosen to facilitate negotiations with the local kings upon the recommendation of the British colonial authorities) to explore for land along the West African coast. They arrived at Sherbro Island on April 1, 1818. They met King Sherbro and negotiated to buy land at Sherbro. He agreed in principle to provide land for the reception of the colonists, but conditional upon consultations with all the local headmen.

On May 22, 1818, Mills and Burgess departed Sierra Leone for the United States on the Brig Success. On their return journey to the United States, Mills died leaving Burgess to make his report. As expected, Burgess reported in favor of colonization and expressed enthusiasm at the many opportunities for commerce in Africa. He however warned that the slave trade hampered trade and commerce, and thus suggested colonization as a remedy to curtail slave trading. A colony would provide a homeland for those intercepted at sea by the US Navy, thus deterring further slave trading. It would also provide a 'station' where slaves smuggled into the US after the slave trade ban could be returned.

It was this argument that the ACS used to convince the United States Government to support its efforts. Although the US did not favor direct colonization and would not commit to the purchase of any territory, it did support the ACS through the establishment of an 'African station', which essentially provided the means for the establishment of a station that was actually an ACS colony. On March 3, 1819, the US Congress passed 'An Act in Addition to the Acts Prohibiting the Slave Trade.' The new Act provided for the interception of vessels engaged in slave trading and the turning over of recaptured slaves to US Marshalls. The Act also allowed for the removal of all recaptured slaves from the territory of the United States to territory beyond that of the US. It further allowed for the appointment of US agents resident in West Africa to receive the recaptured slaves. An appropriation of $100,000.00 was made for the repatriation and reception of recaptured slaves. The Act was actively promoted by President James Monroe (whom Monrovia is named after).

On January 17, 1820, the US Government appointed Samuel Bacon as Principal US Agent under the Act, and John Bankson as Assistant Agent. On the same date, the ACS appointed Samuel Crozer (after whom Crozerville was named) as its sole Agent.

The ACS recruited the first group of settlers/colonists comprised of 88 persons, of whom 33 were men, 18 women, 17 male children, and 20 female children. These colonists sailed along with the agents of the US Government and the ACS on board the Brig Elizabeth on February 6, 1820. The colonists were considered employees of the US Government sent to build an African station to receive recaptured slaves (Huberich,1947). To the ACS, these people were the first wave of colonists they would send out to Africa. The Elizabeth was escorted by the US Naval Vessel, the USS Cyane (Cassell, 1970).

The founding of Liberia was a dynamic mixture of interests and motives. For some, it was a solution to end the slave trade, and a solution to the problem of unwanted blacks, yet for others it was the beginning of true freedom and the opportunity to realize dreams and human potential. For those who chose