Dude, have you like, seen what’s happening in Liberia (wo)man?
Given I knew I was going to Africa for work this month (specifically Tanzania and Ethiopia, because we know Africa is not a country), I decided to load up my kindle with some Africa reading. This is how Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s book This Child Will Be Great made it into my head.
For those who don’t know, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the President of Liberia. She was also the first female head of state in Africa. And by Liberia I do mean the country that spent over a decade living through civil war involving all the horrors of child soldiers, displaced people, destroyed cities and massive loss of life.
It’s fair to say that Liberia was decimated, socially, politically and economically. Not only that, but its neighbours are far from peaceful too. Sierra Leone and Cote d’Iviore have experienced terrible conflict themselves. All of this makes it a fairly unstable, and cripplingly poor, region.
So the fact that such an educated woman was elected in Liberia, and has actually stuck by the country implementing policies to significantly reduce debt, bring government spending under control, and is resisting the temptations of corruption which is so common in leadership is seriously impressive.
Ellen Sirleaf Johnson has just been reelected for a second term of government, and while Liberia’s problems are far from solved, it’s hard not to see the turnaround as a beacon of hope, a good news story, for a country which was synonymous with hopelessness.
Further reading on Liberia - Chris Blattman
