Flawed Elections and Doe's Ambitions
by Ben Mensah
Liberia has not been known to be a genuine democracy and this was one of the reasons Master-Sergeant Doe staged his coup to redress. Dr Doe’s amendment of Section 4 of the election laws is reminiscent of the banning by the Tolbert regime of the Progressive People's Party of Bacchus Matthews and group for their socialist orientationIs General Samuel Doe holding fast to his plans for elections to return Liberia to civilian rule in 1985? What type of civilian administration does he intend to usher Liberia into? Is he going to divest himself of his military credentials and adorn a civilian title as Dr Samuel Kanyon Doe, President of the Republic of Liberia?
It seems that despite all his prevarications over the timetable for return of Liberia to a constitutional civilian government, the run down towards the 1985 target date has begun, albeit on an inch by inch pace.
A revised time table has set 26 July as the date on which the ban on politics will be lifted but the decrees and measures that are being churned out of the Presidential Executive office in recent weeks seem to confirm suspicions that Dr Doe wants to continue in office after 1985.
The choice before Dr the moment he and his Peoples Redemption Council decided to return Liberia to constitutional civilian rule, as opposed to the rhetorical questions being asked by the military rulers in Ghana and Upper Volta to hand power to whom, was limited to two courses of action.
The first is the carrot-and-stick tactics that would enable the military to promise an end to military rule in exchange for the politicians' acquiescence in unpopular measures that indemnify the military before they hand over power. Along this line the military may even attempt to foist on the nation, politicians of their choice to control their policies. Any resistance to their programme will be met with the soldiers reneging on their promise to return the country to civilian rule.
The second option is for Dr Doe and colleagues to transform themselves into civilian administrators. This line of approach usually begins with chiefs and other traditional leaders instigated to lead delegations of their traditional areas not only to pledge their “unflinching support for the military leadership but also to plead with them to continue their good work ad infinitum”.
Then in a singular act of patriotism, the soldiers would yield to “popular” pressure from the people and begin to mobilise a mass movement to sponsor their presidential candidacy.
In both courses of action, Dr Doe has the benefit of a precedent in nearby countries to guide him. The soldiers who overthrew Dr Nkrumah of Ghana in 1966 were said to have taken measures that ensured the victory of their favourite candidate, Dr Busia and his Progress Party in the ensuing general elections. In Nigeria Gen. Obasanjo and his military government were openly accused by Chief Awolowo and his Unity Party of ensuring the victory of Alhaji Shehu Shagari and his National Party in the 1979 General elections.
Examples of the second option can be found in both Togo and Benin where General Eyadema and Col Mathieu Kerekou in Togo and Benin respectively, Dr Doe will not be faulted in following the Togo and Benin experience.
An indication of Dr Doe’s intentions was revealed in a letter said to have been written by Major John Rancy, then Minister of Presidential Affairs to Dr Doe mapping out strategies that would ensure the latter’s continued stay in office beyond 1985.
The letter was described as fictitious by Major Rancy and the Liberian authorities. The timing of its release to the press by opponents of Dr Doe made the subsequent denial appear plausible. For it was argued that the opponents of Dr Doe, suspecting the intentions of Dr Doe, took a good look at the measures taken by his government in connection with the impending elections and decided to embarrass him with their compilation into a letter that would confirm a deliberate plan by Dr Doe and his associates to perpetuate their rule.
Major Rancy also took pains to expose, on purely technical grounds, that the letter was fabricated by the opponents of the military regime.
However, if these denials were beginning to stick, recent measures that have been decreed by Dr Doe’s government after the release of the controversial letter seem to confirm the worst fears of the opposition and revived interest in the contents of the letter.
One the Doe/Rancy plans revealed in the letter published last April dealt with the ways and means of eliminating potential opposition. Several measures have indeed been instituted to neutralise the various sources of opposition but whether these have achieved the anticipated impact could only have been gauged when the ban on politics was lifted on 26 July.
Choosing between the fate that befell the Ghanaian/Nigerian soldiers and the continued reign of General Eyadema and Col. Kerekou in Togo and Benin respectively, Dr Doe will not be faulted in following the Togo and Benin experience.But Dr Doe doesn't want to leave things to chance. His Peoples Redemption Council (PRC) has issued a new decree amending section 4 of the election laws. Under it the special commission has been empowered to deny the registration of political parties or independent candidates whose members or officers at any time whatever have “engaged in activities or have otherwise expressed converse and/or adverse ideological aims and objectives that are repugnant to our intrinsic values as people and our republican form of government which has been laid for the benefit of the Liberian people for over 136 years of independence.”
Liberia has not been known to be a genuine democracy and this was one of the reasons Master-Sergeant Doe staged his coup to redress. Dr Doe’s amendment of Section 4 of the election laws is reminiscent of the banning by the Tolbert regime of the Progressive People's Party of Bacchus Matthews and group for their socialist orientation
Apart form suggesting a lack of self-confidence among Dr Doe and his friends, the amendment of the election laws threaten not only to flaw the elections but also confirm the suspicions of the observers of the Liberian scene that Dr Samuel Doe is on course to become President Samuel Kanyon Doe of Liberia after 1985.
