Met a broken nation
•Encounter with IBB, OBJ and Yar’Adua
•Me and George Weah
By ERIC OSAGIE, who was in Monrovia

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (right)

The Liberian President, Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has sensationally revealed the monumental decay she met on ground when she took office to lead the once war-torn country.
Speaking exclusively with the SUNDAY SUN, at her office in Monrovia, Mrs.Johnson-Sirleaf, said: “Frankly, I did not really know it was that bad. We did not realise that corruption had  so penetrated the society at every level. The extent of destruction of infrastructure throughout the country, bridges and roads that have not been maintained for over 15 years, to rebuild them was quite a challenge.”
Fondly called Mama Liberia, billboards across the capital city of Monrovia enjoin the citizens “to show your love for Mama Liberia by paying your taxes as and when due.”  Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf reciprocates this love by putting in her best towards the development of her country.

Even at 71, Mama Liberia, gets to the office early in the morning and the day doesn’t end for her until well past 9-10pm. She’s definitely passionate about the  future of her country.
The visit from the Nigerian team coincided with the Liberian National Thanksgiving Day, when all Liberians gathered to pray for their country. Former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, a key investor in the Liberian economy; Progressive People Alliance (PPA) chieftain, Chief Sam Nkire, Lady Philomena Desmond and AIT’s Austin Agbonsuremi were amongst the select group at the prayer session held at the Cecil King auditorium at the basement of the Ministry of foreign Affairs which Sirleaf-Johnson currently occupies as temporary office. The Executive mansion is currently undergoing renovation.
The prayers over, the president led the reporter to her office where she opened up like never before. She spoke on efforts to rebuild her country, her second term ambition, life as Liberian president, encounter with Nigerian leaders, amongst other issues.
Excerpts…

Madam president, you just had your national thanksgiving day. What does prayer mean in the life of your nation?
Prayer is very important to our country because we see ourselves as blessed having come out of a period of devastation and conflict. Today, we thank God we have passed our six years of peace and we are now able to accelerate our reconstruction efforts. So, for us, prayer has been an important part of healing and restoring our nation.

What have been your challenges since you assumed leadership?
The biggest challenge has been creating employment for our thousands of young people, many of who were involved in the conflict and don’t have the skills and education for them to fit into job positions. So, we are trying to get them trained. But there are still many of them unemployed. That’s probably our biggest challenge.

Would you say your aspirations have been largely met?
I would say yes I’m satisfied with the progress that we have made. We met a broken nation. We’ve been able to get our institutions functioning again. We have resolved our massive external debts that we inherited. By next year, all of that debt would be gone away. It was $4.9 billion. Today, it’s down to $1.7 billion. When we reach the completion point about mid next year, it will all be gone away. We have started trying to restore infrastructure by rebuilding the roads and streets. There is still a lot of work to be done because the rainy season has interrupted the work. But now that we have the dry season coming, we expect to do all of that. We are in post primary education today. We had over 40 per cent increase in enrolment at the primary level in the public schools. We are now concentrating on agriculture to get people back to the farms so we can be self sufficient. We are negotiating to reopen our mines and our agriculture concessions. Forestry is now opening and they are starting to work right now. But the challenges remain and we still have a long way to go.

Did you envisage the enormity of the problems you met because running for office is one thing but actually getting there is a different kettle of fish? What was the degree of rot you met in Liberia?
Frankly, I did not really know it was that bad. For example, the capacity issue, the lack of skills; we had people in the institutions that did not have the level of training to be able to perform at the level to even secure our agenda. We did not realise that corruption had  so penetrated the society at every level and you know that takes away from our efforts to be able to manage our resources well. The extent of destruction of infrastructure throughout the country, bridges and roads that have not been maintained for over 15 years, to rebuild them was quite a challenge. But, as I said, I think in three years, we’ve made some solid progress and today, more importantly, the Liberian people have hopes. They now believe in the future. They now have freedom that they never enjoyed before. The people enjoy freedom, the media, there is freedom of association and freedom of religion. All of those, I think have just inspired and motivated all of us to say that we know we can make Liberia prosperous again.

How useful have your brothers in other African countries been? What manner of support have you really got from the other African countries?
Very strong support. First of all, it was the West African brothers and sisters who first intervened to bring us peace and Nigeria was a key leader in this regard. Before the United Nations scheme, we had the ECOMOG forces that came and brought us peace. Since that time, it’s our brothers and sisters who have also been strong advocates for us, not only to get the UN here but to also bring back some of our bilateral partners in the multilateral ones we have. Many of them are still involved in ensuring our security. In the ongoing peace keeping forces, the key contingents come from our neighbouring countries – Nigeria and Ghana. Those are the ones that are providing that and today you know the Chief of Staff of our army is a Nigerian General and he is providing much of the training for our new army. Many of our young soldiers are now in training in Staff Colleges in Nigeria. Our Police Force has been greatly helped by the government of Nigeria. They have just stood by us in every way and ECOWAS supports us in advocacy. So, we can’t say enough for how Liberia has been helped and has benefited from the support of our neighbouring countries.

What of the Americans?
Well, the US is still Liberia’s major external partner and today, they are the number one in terms of the resources that they provide to help us with the rebuilding of the country. There was a strained relationship before. Today, the relationship between Liberia and the US is very strong. They also have been advocates for us in the UN for the continued support of the ongoing peace keeping force until such a time that our own security forces are ready to take over these responsibilities.

After being president for three years, do you think you are achieving the capacity building which was a big challenge when you took over because I know that there are too many unskilled workers in Liberia. How are you bridging this gap?
We have tried to strengthen our higher institutions of learning and we are trying to reform the universities. We’ve opened up another University that had been closed for years. We’ve also tried to repatriate Liberians in the diaspora to bring them home. That created a little bit of tension some time between the locals and those who have returned, but that has helped our capacity programme. We also have encouraged some of our African brothers and sisters to also come to fill those capacity gaps, until such time that we have trained enough people. But capacity still remains a problem for us. We also have to improve the compensation system. When we took over, the minimum government salary for government workers was 15 US dollars, but today, it’s $80. It’s still not enough but it has come a long way.

When you take a look at the future of Liberia, how much role do you still expect to play because I have heard people say mama Liberia is elderly; the American president is 48 and the problem in Liberia requires a young and energetic person?
Obviously, at some point in time, it will pass to a younger generation and it has to. But for now, I’m strong and I’m able to carry out my functions. If you talk to my staff, I think I tire them out.

Did you have any peculiar experience with Nigeria that you want to share with us?
I have had two wonderful experiences. One was  in the home of former President Ibrahim Babangida where I actually spent a night with him and his wife. This was before our campaign. I just went to consult him as a big brother…I mean small brother not big brother. At another time, I was able to spend several hours at that farm of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Those two occasions gave me an opportunity just to be an ordinary person talking to somebody like a brother and to talk to them about African politics and thank them for their support for Liberia. There was another occasion during the campaign that I went and the women decided to have an event. At that time, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was Minister of Finance. They received me during the campaign. We had a wonderful session with the women dancing all night in order to promote my campaign.

You spent time with two former Nigerian presidents and the incumbent, Umaru Yar’Adua. How do you rate them?
They are all great men, different in character. But let me give you another experience and this one was just coincidental. I was going for the inauguration of President Yar’Adua but our plane was late. By the time we arrived in Abuja, the ceremony was just ending. But we got the protocol officer and said no, I must congratulate him since I have come here. He had just gone to his house. But I happened to have launch with President Yar’Adua on his inauguration day in his house with his wife and others. That was exceptional because, as I said, it was pure coincidence. I was just lucky because he had gone to the house. When the protocol went and said the President of Liberia has come, but she was late to see you and congratulate you, and she wants to congratulate you, he said okay tell her we are going to lunch. Tell her to just come and join. We went there with my group and that again was a wonderful experience.

If you were a male president, would the challenges have been the same relating with other countries? In Africa, we are not used to having female Presidents. Do you find any peculiar challenge in terms of gender?
Our challenge in Liberia was specific because we were coming out of war. We had many people who came out of warring factions, warlords and all of that we had to deal with. But I think my ability to move the country forward tells everybody that a woman can do it. If you have the right qualification, the courage and the commitment, you can do it. I hope that would set an example for others. Their task may not be as difficult as mine. If they are in countries where the institutions are functioning and things are moving and they don’t inherit the kind of broken systems that we have, they will be even stronger than I am to make more progress. But I hope that I will succeed sufficiently to send that message to all women and particularly young girls that they can compete at every level and they can succeed.

I understand you appointed a lot of opposition people into your government. Can you expatiate on why you did that?
Yes, I did because I believed in inclusion. Many former Presidential candidates are holding positions, Ministerial positions and deputy positions. Even today in some of our key Ministries, there are people who hold senior positions from other parties. My only requirement is that you believe in our agenda and you work to carry out our objectives. I don’t care if you want to remain in your party as long as you are committed to the principles, to the agenda and to the policies that we announce.

But weah is not there. Did you reach out to him?
No, he did not want to. In the beginning, I did, but he wanted to go back to school, which I think he has done.

What’s a typical day like for madam president?
Get up in the morning and do some small exercise so my body stays fit, have a good healthy breakfast and come to work and work through. Some times, my day does not end until 10.00 o’clock in the night. After 10, I go home and take my rest. But if you want to test my strength, I’m playing football at 4.00 o clock today at the stadium.

Apart from exercise, what other things do you do to keep fit? What books do you read?
I try to read some of the latest books. There are some good books coming out by Liberians and Africans. I’m just reading a book by one of our Professors who is writing something about Liberia and it’s relationship with America. I myself have put out my own book on my life story.

Music?
I listen to music when I can. I don’t have time for too much of that. I like to swim for example but I don’t get time to do too much of that any more except, perhaps, on weekends and Sundays. I like to listen to pop music, current music and country music.

Do you listen to Michael Jackson? He sang Liberian girl?
I know Liberian Girl but Michael Jackson’s music is too fast for me.

What food do you like to eat?
Pepper Soup. Nigerian Pepper Soup, Liberian Pepper Soup. I eat that every night because I try to stay away from the heavy oil because it’s not good for cholesterol. So, I tend to eat more soup than anything else.

You are the first African female president.  How does that make you feel?
I feel wonderful. I have opened the doors for all the other African women to follow. Today, many of them are calling me that they are preparing themselves to run.

Do  you have Nigerians among them?
Yes, and I’m encouraging them.

Do you have a second term ambition?
That’s my secret.

What of third term if your constitution allows that?
I think that I will not want that.

Does the pressure of job not affect your family life?
Fortunately, many of my family members are still here. Most of my sons have returned home and they are working. My sister and brother have returned home and their families are here. But I don’t have any dependant because I married very young. So, most of my sons are like my young brothers.

I went round the city and saw a lot of billboards on HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. What is the prevalence level?
The HIV prevalence level is not that high – about 5 per cent or so but we are trying to be precautious by making sure that we have a very robust education programme, so that we can try to prevent and control it. Rape is a more difficult challenge for us. The rape of young girls is a big problem for us. We’ve tried to address it now by establishing a special court to handle domestic violence against women and rape cases. We’ve got a special prosecution unit established for that. The biggest issue now is to change the mindset of those who are victimized and are afraid to be exposed. So, they have been silent. There are the difficulties of poverty in which the offender is able to make a deal with the family and to cover up and the difficulty of the mindset of judges who still do not see rape as a crime against humanity, although it is now backed by international standard. So, we continue to fight that problem.

What will you like to be remembered for when you leave office?
For changing Liberia and moving it from despair to hope, from dependency to self-sufficiency and from poverty to prosperity. I hope I will make that transformation so that those who follow me will have an easier task to carry on.