Many Liberians, taking cue from the role played by the United Kingdom in the Sierra Leonean crises in both security and economic terms, believe the U.S. has a moral obligation to underwrite Liberia’s recovery from the scourge of 14 years of civil inferno.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Cabinet officials engage with counterparts from a U.S. Congressional delegation on Liberia's development priorities. Photo: Adama B. Thompson

In their view historically, Sierra Leone is to the UK what Liberia is to the US. But the Bush Administration has different idea – it will not give Liberia fish. Rather, it will teach Liberia how and/or encourage Liberia to fish.

How much the administration’s rule of engagement influences the U.S. Congress is not known to date, but a bipartisan Congressional delegation currently visiting Liberia believes the U.S. has a commitment to Liberia’s recovery.

The Analyst Staff Writer has been looking the delegation’s comment.
  A 7-member select US Congressional Delegation from the Republican and Democratic parties currently visiting Liberia has reaffirmed the commitment of the U.S. government to the socio-economic recovery of Liberia.

A government release on the visit quoted the head of the delegation, California Congressman Howard Berman, as assuring President Sirleaf that the US lawmakers were keen on ensuring that the United States fulfills its commitments to Liberia’s recovery programs.

The release, though, was not specific on what defines Congressman Berman’s commitment, but many expect that it will include tangible fiscal support, technical assistance to government ministries and agencies, underwriting of some thematic areas in Liberia’s poverty reduction program, and invigorated cooperation in Liberia’s drive for debt forgiveness, IMF completion Point Goal, and more support in politico-detached grants.

They say it is only when the Sirleaf Administration is given the wherewithal to execute its development and recovery agendas, officially called the Poverty Reduction Strategy, that the Liberian people will be able to fairly judge it on its own merits in October 2011, the next presidential election year.

“But when you don’t trust the government and passed support through USAID, UNDP, the UN system, and NGOs, what you are doing is you are cutting your noise in order to spite your face. In the end, as the past showed, the aid will leave no impact on the population even though billions of dollars in aid had been expended.

You may say you helped Liberia; but, who do you blame for the flop and the taxpayers’ money that was dumped in the hands of foreigners for a sovereign country?” wondered one observer.

The definition and level of the commitment affirmed by Congressman Berman’s congressional bipartisan delegation may remain a cause for more discussions in Washington and Monrovia, but the release said the delegation, which toured Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, and Ghana prior to coming to Liberia, held what a Liberian government official called “fruitful dialogue” with President Sirleaf Monday this week.

It hinted further that Liberia was the delegation’s last leg of a five-nation tour of Africa and that the delegation’s talk with President Sirleaf centered on two core issues of Liberia’s thematic recovery agenda - security and investment.

The release gave no details on the discussion but it indicated that the delegation and President talked lengthily about security and the need to strengthen Liberia’s police force in order to help provide the secured environment that is crucial to investment.

Members of the delegation, in separate remarks, praised the President for what the government statement described as “the sound fiscal policies” instituted by Government to enhance national reconstruction and development.

The US Lawmakers also praised the President for the stance she and other African leaders have taken regarding the political situation in Zimbabwe.

They expressed the hope that African governments will bring more pressure to bear on the government of Zimbabwe to find a way out of the political crisis in that southern African country. 

The visit of the bi-partisan delegation, said the head of the delegation, Rep. Howard Berman, is another testimony of the continued admiration US lawmakers have for the Liberian President.

In response, President Johnson Sirleaf thanked members of the congressional delegation for the support Liberia continues to receive from the administration and the American people as well as the U.S. Congress in supplementary budgetary allotments.

The support, the President said, has enabled her administration to carry out its development agenda. The President briefed the congressional delegation on ongoing efforts by Government towards national development, including the recent Liberia Poverty Reduction Forum (LPRF) in Berlin.

The Liberian leader expressed the hope that with the cooperation from the country’s development partners, Liberia will be able to embark on its development agenda, using the Strategy as a framework.

She then assured the congressional delegation that the Liberian government was determined implement its reform agenda despite challenges.

“We've made steady progress, but we still have a long way to go,” the President said, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf urged U.S. bipartisan Congressional delegation currently visiting Liberia to continue their support to these efforts.

The seven select members of Congress from the Republic and Democratic parties include the head of the delegation, California Congressman, Howard Berman, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee; Congressman George Miller of the 7th District of Columbia, Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee; and Representative Ed Royce, a senior member of Foreign Affairs and Financial Services Committees.

Others are Congressman Tom Davis, a member of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on the District of Columbia; Congressman Donald Payne, a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor; and Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, a member of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education.

It is not clear what effect the visit of the congressional delegation and the reported “fruitful dialogue”, which borders on the apparent affirmation of the obligation of the U.S. government to the recovery efforts of the Liberia government, will have on US-Liberia relations that critics say have been extremely diluted in recent years.

Prior to the first-ever visit to Liberia by a sitting U.S. President since Jimmy Carter in 1978, President Bush told a congressional hearing that the era of paternalism for Africa was over.

Without setting aside a place for Liberia’s post-war desperation and the need for a Marshall Plan for quick recovery, he noted that the United States will only relate to Third World African nations purely from a business perspective.

According to him, African leaders that got US assistance drawn on U.S. taxpayers will be held account for every dollar used. He implied at the time that only those who service their debt to the U.S. will receive further aid in substantial and sustainable terms.

He said paternalism was working against the interest of ordinary Africans and warned countries like China that were lending without political strings to desist as they were encouraging corruption and bad governments in Africa.

“America is serving as an investor, not as a donor. We have also revolutionized the way we approach development.

“Too many nations continue to follow either the paternalistic notion that treats African countries as charity cases, or a model of exploitation that seeks only to buy up their resources. America rejects both approaches,” Bush was quoted by an Associated Press reporter as saying in a tone-setting preview of his six-day trip to Africa.

Whatever anyone makes of this position, analysts say the bottom-line that will make the difference is how deep is the U.S. Congress “keen on ensuring that the United States fulfills its commitments to Liberia’s recovery programs”.

They say to what extent the Democrat-dominated Congress is committed to Liberia’s quick recovery will move mountains to compel the Bush government, as well as its successor in January 2009, to fulfill its historic and moral obligation to Liberia’s recovery just as Britain is doing in neighboring Sierra Leone.

Whether that will happen during the life of the Sirleaf Administration, some say, depends on the charisma of the Liberia presidency and empathy in Washington.