The Level of Political Prostitution in Liberia is Sickening

My trip to Liberia was a great success and I want to use the opportunity to extend my thanks and appreciation to my hard working organizing staff and the people of Montserrrado County District # 3 for making my trip a success. While in Liberia I observed the resurfacing of political prostitution in post Liberia reconstruction and this trend had motivated me to write this article and engage fellow Liberians on the issues. The spate of politicians abandoning one party for the ruling Unity Party (TWP) is a cause for concern, an issue which the civil society body in the Liberia as well as the media must peer into due to its apparent implication for the health of the Liberia’s political culture. These are interesting times. These are disconcerting times.This is not a UP problem but problem that had existed in the Liberian political culture since the days of the True Wing Party (TWP). The political space we find ourselves in Liberia is called the window of opportunity but in reality, it is the window of opportunism. It is time for broke politicians to march for offers from the ruling party (the highest bidder). It has now become the usual occurrence for so-called prominent political personalities aligned with the ruling party in Liberia by declaring their support and abandoning their old parties just because they are no longer in power or may see need to cross carpet for rosy but insidious reasons. Although this is not strange in democratic dispensations the world over, the way and manner in which it is carried out in Liberia is morally disingenuous and smacks of greed and political incredulities. One certainly cannot stop any one from exercising his or her political right to associate whenever one feels doing so; but to do it with awkward and greedy motives is very inimical to the health of the Liberia’s political processor the democratization process unfolding in Liberia. Most often than not, these political infidels shift tents for reasons that can only be described as selfish rather than pitching tents to effect changes that their former parties could not get them to do as per their usual allegations. We saw the trend during the regimes of the True Wing Party (TWP), National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL), National Patriotic Party (NPP) and now observing the trend in post Liberia reconstruction under the Unity Party (UP). Political prostitution is not appropriate for consolidating democracy in Liberia. What we are witnessing is the liquidation of democracy. It is actually 419 scams dealing because people are made all kinds of secret offers. So-called opposition members including member of the national legislature who have no integrity sell themselves into a system of patronage. These individuals are thieves. They steal and use property that is not theirs for their own selfish ends and personal aggrandizement. Political prostitution encourages corruption, self-interest and patronage politics. It violates the electoral right of the voters. The voters mandate is treacherously betrayed with impunity in the name of democracy which means political prostitution pass as democracy in Liberia. As I write this article, a group of supporters have already left the Congress of Democratic Change (CDC), Alliance for Democratic Change (ADP), Liberty Party (LP), Free Democratic Party (FDP), Liberian National Union (LINU), etc and have and have surreptitiously taken membership forms for the Unity Party(call it survival tactics). These are the ones that are often used as Trojan horses of political warfare and mischief making. Political prostitution is entrenching corrupt politics in Liberia and will eventually destabilize our country. People will lose confidence in the democratic process andfind another mean of assuming state power. The politics of jumping from one party to the ruling party undermines the values and principles that the broader citizens believe in. Politicians are not pledging the supports or joining Unity Party because they believe the ruling party can deliver poverty eradication, free education, health for all and the right to work. Political prostitution is shredding the values and issues that matter to the masses of our country. In the case of the CDC, a lot of people initially joined with the expectation that George Manneh Weah will win the elections hands down. However, when Weah ended up second, a mass abandonment of the party ensued. In most cases, those who abandon their parties usually do so because it is no more in power (as in the cases of TWP, NDPL and NPP) but rather it is in the opposition and therefore not economically viable to survive in opposition parties in Liberia. Beneath the shades of shifting to the ruling Unity party lies the aspect of greed and that is accompanied by political mischief and corruption of the highest degree. In Liberia, people join other parties (most importantly the ruling party) because they want to benefit, benefits they can’t presently get being in the disadvantaged position (opposition). Political prostitution is creating a new political, economic and social hegemony in Liberia. It is privatizing freedom of expression, and constructing a culture where it is objectionable to offer alternative thinking and ideas. When one examines closely the ruling parties that had benefited from political prostitution in Liberia one will concludes that after the ruling parties of President Tolbert, President Doe, and President Taylor left the presidency, their own high ranking officials started establishing links with the person that was in power in Liberia with the hope that they might be considered for jobs, and even though there were a lot of malpractices and evils being perpetuated, these so called personalities were only interested in protecting their economic interests. In conclusion, political prostitution encourages corruption, self-interest and patronage politics. It violates the electoral right of the voters. The voters mandate is treacherously betrayed with impunity in the name of democracy which means political prostitution pass as democracy. It is also entrenching corrupt politics in Liberia and will eventually destabilize our country.