By: Togba-Nah Tipoteh
During the recent partisan political campaigning, the only talk was about what to expect when the candidates got re-elected or elected, respectively. So far, the records show that whatever expectations that they raised were never fulfilled. This means that whatever promises that they made never got delivered. It is most important to bring this problem out because it is a source of frustration that leads to violence.
Upon re-election or election, the campaigners run around doing their respective selfish things rather than pursuing the selfless things that the people are interested in. The re-elected and elected remain in the everybody for self, God for all mode, meaning that they do not carry out their promises made to the voters. Upon realizing that the re-elected and elected are not serious, the voters become frustrated and they become violent, as they did in the Liberian experience of the coup d’etat and the civil war that took the lives of at least 300,000 people and injured many more.
With this record of violence, many people locally and globally became surprised that the October 10, 2023 General and Presidential Electoral displayed no violence to speak about. Well, this non-violent posture in the first and second rounds of the Election did not happen because of the awareness raising that took place. The awareness raising informed the voters about the fact that violence does not solve any problem. Therefore, with this information, the voters were motivated to vote non-violently. The voters of Liberia are receiving praises locally and globally for their non-violent posture during and after the voting. Seeing this posture, the President of Liberia of Liberia declared acceptance of the election results and congratulated the Unity Party (UP) for being elected. This declaration is receiving praises locally and globally.
As awareness raising continues, some violence has taken place after the Election of October 10th, but it is at once minimal and unacceptable. Witness the violence that took place less than a week ago, a few yards from the Police Station and the Market Place in the Red Light area of the Paynesville Community. The victim is a woman who was mistaken to be a motorbike rogue. Fortunately, the badly beaten woman was rushed to Ghana for appropriate medical treatment, given the poor medical facilities here. We await the investigation, the results and the punishment. The post electoral violence would be significant were it not for the continuous awareness raising that leads to the correct management of expectations and the minimization of violence.
On account of awareness raising, people are taking non-violent action through the Rule of Law to minimize the unfair and unconstitutional practices of the National Election Commission (NEC), to minimize the violence of the October 10th Election and the second round Election and to maximize the voting for candidates with good records. It is only through this awareness raising that the prevailing unfair electoral system is being transformed into the enduring fair electoral system. It is only through this transformation that that persons with good records can get elected to bring in the system of Justice, the ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other Country.
