Liberia: A Rich Nation With HUNGRY People

An partial view of West Point in Monrovia

Liberia turned 166 on July 26, 2013. This transition reminded Liberians that this oldest republic on the African continent had for 166 years, remained a low-income country, in spite of being so rich with natural resources including iron ore, gold, diamonds, natural rubber, vast forests for logging and timber harvesting, and abundant agriculture land for tilling.

And yet, throughout these 166 years, the most popular description of Liberia has been “one of the poorest and underdeveloped countries of the world.” Of course, Liberia will continue to be described this way because the pockets of the economic, political and social heavyweights continue to get deeper and deeper, while the poor are left to live and die in abject poverty, they say.

 

Prior to the 14 years of civil war fought in Liberia, the country’s economy relied heavily on the mining of iron ore and on the export of natural rubber. Liberia stood among its peers as a major exporter of iron ore on the world market. But now, the country remains heavily reliant on foreign assistance for revenue. It is a shame that even at 166, a bulk of the vegetables and fruits consumed in current-day Liberia are brought into the country from the mountainous city of Man in neighboring Cote d’Ivoire. Among these are fresh tomatoes, deep purple, glossy eggplants or “black beauties” (as they are referred to by their importers), cabbage, bene-seed, fresh and dried peppers, paw-paws, and avocadoes, among other fruits. When will we begin to produce our own food?

Now, check this up: the maiden edition of the Daily Observer, published on Monday, February 16, 1981, carried the newspaper’s first lead article, written by the paper’s first chief reporter, Keith Neville A. Best, captioned: “West Point Dwellers Angry”. Thirty-one years later, while touring the Observer’s Library at its McDonald Street office in 2012, former U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, spotted a framed copy of that maiden edition and remarked: “And they are still angry”. 

Why are they still angry? Because their slum community has yet to be upgraded; since time immemorial up to now, they continue to lack safe water supply, sanitation, improved access to health, education and other social services. West Point dwellers have declared “poverty as their worst enemy” because for them, the poverty level in their community keeps swelling by the day. This goes contrary to government’s conventional poverty reduction approach which seems to be reaching only those at the top [and maybe middle] of the ladder, leaving those at the bottom of the ladder even poorer.

Residents of this slum community are compelled to go out and fish on the high seas, (sometimes staying out for short but indefinite periods,) or do some short-spanned petty trading. Failure to do these means going day after day without food. This is why at least 50% of dwellers of Kru Beach survive principally on fishing. And when the fish are caught, some are sold fresh and the rest preserved by drying or smoking in preparation for sale, to make ends meet.

Sixty-two year-old Lorpue Kollie [of West Point] feeds her family of six from income generated from the sale of fish. Pot goes on fire no more than thrice a week in Lorpue’s home. She spends LRD$400 on meals per week. Besides, all of Lorpue’s five children have never stepped foot into a classroom. “I cannot send my children to school because I can’t raise the school fees for them. I manage to save LRD$400 as our weekly budget. We do not cook everyday because we cannot exceed that amount. If we cook, it would be once a day. We don’t even cook until by 9 p.m. when my children return from selling fish,” revealed this single mother.

Of course, in the midst of plenty, many are still unable to command even the cheapest when it comes to food, water, education and health care. Dwellers of some of Monrovia's densely populated slum neighborhoods have blamed their pennilessness not on the lack of resources, but on the “negligence and discrimination of government”.

“Let me tell you this, my friend: in Liberia today, there are many more prisoners of poverty than ever. There are millions of us who continue to endure the pangs of hunger and slow death from preventable diseases simply because we are poor,” 28-year-old Patrick Johnson, of Slipway, said. “Life these days is becoming unbearable because yesterday seemed somehow better than today. You know what I mean? I mean we have never stopped worrying how the next day would turn out." 

As you can see, there is certainly no hope for tomorrow. You often hear people say ‘tomorrow will take care of itself’. Someone somewhere, needs to listen and pay heed.