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Launching the National Vision Project
By Nvasekie N. Konneh 30 July, 2010  Twenty
years from now where will Liberia be? By then will we be self-sufficient
in food production to feed its growing population? Will we be identified
simply as Liberians or by our ethnicity and religion? Is Liberia is
multi-cultural society or a nation founded on Christian Principle? Where
is our sense of cultural pride and nationalism? Can Liberia achieve the
developmental levels of Ivory Coast, Ghana, or Nigeria in the next 25
years or even surpass them? For those of us living in the metropolis of
the west, do we expect to come home one day and see multi-lane highways
crisscrossing the length and breathe of Liberia without any effort on
our part or do we want to come back home and join efforts to make all
these happen in the motherland? If you attended the opening of the National Vision Conference on July 28, 2010 at the Paynesville Town Hall, these are some of the questions you here and plenty of answers from the speakers and the members of the audience. Though there were other speakers, the two presenters at the event were the former Interim President Dr. Amos Sawyer speaking on the theme Socio-Politico Dimension and the Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs, Amara Konneh speaking Economic Dimension. Minister Konneh in his presentation said the process of national visioning is a long term agenda for the country in its forward march. He said that for the nation to move ahead in term of progress and development every citizen must get involved and that was the reason for the gathering of citizens. The series of consultative meetings scheduled are expected to involve cross section of the Liberian population representing various groups as well as political parties. As such the opening program brought in people from the faith based institutions and civil society organizations. According to the young energetic minister, Liberia as a nation has had a challenging past but he urged Liberians not to dwell on the past in such a way that it may prevent us from moving forward. As such he said, “We need to start thinking long term for our country as a way of formulating national vision.” He asked, “How do we get jobs for our people so they can take care of their families?” This according to him is an important question for everyone no matter who we are. He went on to say that when the national vision is formulated, it will be something that will be passed on from president to president. This will prevent the scenario where every new president will have to start his or her own project with no agenda for completing the projects started by his or her predecessors. Further on in his presentation, the minister said that our economy is too small and needs to expand. He said government alone is not the solution but the government supports strong private sector. “We must go into the private sector to grow our economy which will lead to the creation of more jobs and better standard of living.” With the current GDP around $200.00, the goal of the visioning project is $600.00 by 2017; $1200.00 by 2024; and $2500.00 by 2030. To get there will mean an expanded economy, which is a strong private sector. We can’t get there from the handouts alone from the international community. In my own thinking, I have come to the realization that no matter how much we talk or what agenda we formulate, if the Liberians are not in the driving seat of the economy of their country, poverty reduction strategy may not produce the desired results. Liberians should see the challenge and the opportunity to get involved in the private sector with the ultimate objective of taking over the economy of their own country. Dr. Sawyer’s presentation, as already started, was on Social Political Issues. Social Political objective cannot be achieved under one administration. As such the well respected former president went on to say that the national visioning exercise must be above partisan politic. “This national visioning process is for all Liberians to participate with their own inputs.” Speaking further he said, “No one can do this for us but us.” Whether we want to see a better Liberia, and be united as one people, Dr. Sawyer challenged us to be involved in the process of moving the nation forward. Among other things, he enumerated the goals of national visions as developing a strong sense of unity, consolidating the institutions of good governance, change of our psychology of dependence, review our national cultural policy, decentralization among others. Another interesting point stressed by Prof. Sawyer is national identity. At 163 years of nationhood, there are still two competitive identity issues, native or congon. We must go beyond this as people of one nation. He made reference to the vision and mission of those who established the nation that came to be known as Liberia. He described such mission of the settlers as “Christianizing and civilizing.” Even though that was the way the settlers thought back then, today, we must develop the new Liberian vision and mission that will take into account all segments of the Liberian nation irrespective of tribe or religion. Along that line he said the new Liberian vision and mission must develop new psychology self-dependency. Depending on others to do for us what we should do for ourselves will not take us to where we want to go developmentally. Expanding further, Dr. Sawyer said we must revise our narrative about ourselves. Instead of dwelling on our history of conflicts, we must celebrate our diversity. He called for setting up a national youth service where students upon graduation will go to different parts of the country to serve. He called for the creation of national theater, appreciating our culture as well as speaking our native languages. After the presentations, the two groups representing the faith based institutions and civil society organizations went into separate sections where each participant were given the opportunity to share his or her views with others. Among the faith based group, several topics came up. A pastor said that we need “sustainable reconciliation.” This, according to him, means that reconciliation must form part of our curriculum from grade level and up. An imam talked about our moral and ethical values. He asked, “How can you reconcile with someone with poor sense of moral and ethics? He suggested that moral and ethical values must be thought in our schools. Then another pastor said that our children need home training and we must not only be concerned with our own biological children because it takes a village to raise a child. She went further to say that both Christians and Moslems must teach and preach reconciliation in their churches and mosques. Another imam who is from the Vai ethnic group said that there is a tendency on the part of some Liberians to view anyone who is not a Christian as not Liberian and such people cannot separate between Islam as a religion and Mandingo as ethnicity. He said if we are to reconcile, we must get raid of such negative thinking. Then there was the issue of dual citizenship and someone said we must look at the positive side of this issue and see how it has benefited Ghana, Nigeria and other countries. Also there was a call for new flag, and motto for the nation. |
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