| by Thomas C. Mountain
( January 31, Asmara- Eritrea , Sri Lanka Guardian) While Liberia could afford an election in which the President Ellen Johnson ran unopposed the people of the country have neither electricity or running water.
In six years as president and hundreds of millions in western aid the only visible benefit seems to be the profit margin of Firestone Rubber, Liberia’s #1 industry.
No electricity but plenty of “democracy”, western style that is.
The whole recent election process in Liberia turned out to be an embarrassment for Ellen Johnson's western handlers. The first round was so rife with ballot stuffing and fraud that the entire opposition managed to unite and boycott the final round in protest.
The international media has cooperated and turned a blind eye to the story and everyone is supposed to pretend that Liberia conducted an election and is a “democracy”.
In Africa traditional democracy and conflict resolution is based on a consensus based policy. A council of elders sits and all parties finally agree, with no one completely happy but all agreeing to accept the outcome. No winning and no losing, and everyone united rather than divided.
This is the way things worked for thousands of years and it was only the western imposition of their version of “democracy”, neocolonialism, that has brought so much murder and mayhem in Africa as a result.
As long as you hold “elections” you are welcomed with open arms by the banktators. Plenty “democracy” and no electricity seems to be the west's solution to the suffering of Africa’s people.
Thomas C. Mountain is the only independent western journalist in the Horn of Africa, living and reporting from Asmara since 2006. He can be reached at thomascmountain at yahoo dot com.
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