UL, UNESCO End Two-Day Workshop
By Kelvin Gonlah, gonlahkelvin1995@gmail.com
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization has held a seminar for youths to build their capacities on citizenship engagement for peaceful democratic elections, ahead of the October 10 elections in partnership with the University of Liberia (UL) and civil society organizations and political party representatives.
The Liberia Institute of Policy Studies and Research and the Kofi Annan Institute of Conflict Transformation at the UL last week hosted the forum with a partner from UNISCO multi-sectoral regional office represented along with 60 participants who brainstormed on election violence and conflict in Liberia.
In over a month, Liberians will go to the polls to choose from among 20 presidential candidates and to elect representatives to fill all the 73 seats in the House of Representatives and half of the 30-member Senate.
Serving as the keynote speaker, the Director of Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation at the UL, Prof. T. Debey Sayndee stressed the need to prepare youths for citizenship engagement and political participation, as research study shows that during the Liberian civil war which officially ended in 2003, that over 80% of the Liberian population was internally displaced.
“Key factors driving conflict in Liberia today include the level of serviceability of our youth to mobilization and exploitation for political and other interest, the uneven and rapid operation of our Justice system, and additional, the uneven application practice and perception of law enforcement, driving conflict in Liberia arising from the mechanism of governance especially relating to the level of decision-making themselves to public interest and allocation and management of inclusion of the benefits for natural resources,” Prof. The fourth factor that driving conflict in Liberia today has to do with access and the benefit associated with land and the management of the complex claim and grievances from land ownership and the availability and access”, keynote speaker Sayndee informed the gathering.
“My plead to you, let’s start re-visiting those old issues, Let me call each of you, Liberians and those who love Liberia to work and contribute to the solution of those challenges in our nation for over forty years. The political reality of Liberia, Liberia has no political party, we are individuals with the conglomeration around them. Take Alexander Cummings out of ANC and see what am talking about, take George Weah out of CDC and see what am talking about. We do not have political parties here, and that’s why even basic things like primaries are very confrontational because is not in the interest of the political institution”, the keynote speaker added.
According to him, service has become the only means of survival to serve eat and pay children’s tuition in Liberia.
The UL Kofi Annan Institute’s official added that as a result of this, nobody is willing to show kindness to volunteer in Liberia today.
“As a result, Liberians that used to be kind to each other, have become brutal to each other and the kindness culture has disappeared in this country. Liberia is perceived as a farm; all that you do on the farm is when the fruit grows on the farm, you harvest it and carry it. What you plan today, is what you will harvest tomorrow. We are among the most undeveloped countries in the world. But other people were like us, some people used to come and beg us. We need to do something and move ourselves to that level; we can rise again. This can only be done through the level of tolerance, peace, honesty, and sincerity that have prepared to plan today,” Prof. Sayndee maintained.
The Executive Director of the Liberian Institute of Policy Studies and Research at the University of Liberia, Dr. Agnes Taylor explained that the workshop centered around the electoral process in Liberia.
According to her, the purpose of election is a principal way of legitimizing governance at local, national, and regional levels which enables every citizen of a country to recognize their political power to choose who they expect to lead and represent them in the future.
“Free fair and transparent elections are some of the Cardinal pillows of every Democracy, the participation of youth in disposes is very important for a country like Liberia where we have 63% of the population falls with the right of the youths. You have a very important role to play in this process; you are vulnerable sometimes and can be misused for the wrong purposes. The purpose of this workshop is to try to leverage the great potential that you the youth of Liberia have and what you can contribute to transparency, credible, free fair, and peaceful elections,” Dr. Agnes Taylor told the youth during the two-day workshop.
An ex-wife of former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor, Dr. Agnes Taylor added:
“The consequences of conflict hurt the society or position and we also envisage that you will realize your value and potential and be honest about that value and potential for the betterment of our society and the betterment of our country. Youth can be the angel of change, so your participation here and taking back what you learned and the discussions that you have heard you will spread back in your communities; you will resist all forms of violence.”
Also at the occasion, the social and Human Science Specialist of UNESCO Dr. Nneka Okafor explained that studies have shown that youths are mostly the group that are exploited by politicians and other people that contribute to violence during and after elections.
According to her, it’s the main reason for which the workshop was designated to discuss the imbalances of conflicts during the electioneering period and recognize young people’s basic human rights.
“The UN has long recognized that youths are a major human resource for development and key agent for attaining a peaceful election and Democratic society. UNESCO has a mandate to promote a peaceful and inclusive society for sustainable development. UNESCO works with young people and we are committed to accompanying them to work together to drive social involvement and change participating fully in their society eradicating poverty and inequality and fostering a culture of peace,” Dr. Okafor stated.
“The essence of this training is to sensitize your knowledge and awareness on the danger of election violence among youth groups. To expand your knowledge around electoral conflict prevention to empower youth and build their resilience. The upcoming election can only be peaceful, free, and fair if the youth come to an agreement and put it into practice; you youth become an ambassador of peace. Youths, you are the backbone of this nation,” the UNESCO official added.
For his part, University of Liberia President, Dr. Julius Sarwolo Nelson said that his main intent is to build the capacity of Liberian youths and their participation in the election process peacefully and civilly, in order to avoid election violence in Liberia.
Election violence has the propensity to derail their hard-earn peace they have enjoyed over the last twenty years, the UL President noted.
“Twenty years ago, the people of Liberia through their representatives gathered in Accra to ensure that after the senseless civil war, we put our heads together and make sure that we fight war no more, we have gone through two successive presidential elections in Liberia. We believe that you the young people, the majority in the Republic of Liberia can help us so that there can be no violence and we will have peaceful, transparent, Democratic, and credible elections in Liberia. I anticipate that the deliberation here will resonate and bring about a new approach and navigate to interact with each other especially members of various political persuasion during the electioneering period,” Dr. Nelson told the youths.