President Sirleaf faces large-scale challenges but she remains motivated and optimistic. Photo Credit: Flickr

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told allAfrica in a 1986 interview, shortly after being arrested and fleeing the country, that her goal in life was to "bring good governance to Liberia before I die." Since her inauguration in January 2006, she has had the chance to try, and she acknowledges the magnitude of the challenge. Twenty months into her presidency, she thinks the campaign against corruption and the process of delivering health services, education and jobs has gained traction, and she is encouraged. But she says the region is troubled, peace is fragile and Liberia must have help to deliver a democracy dividend and preserve stability.

The questions below are excerpts from an interview earlier this month in her Monrovia residence:

Q: What is it in the last 20 months that brought you the most joy in this job?

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: Seeing the children smile again. As I went around during the campaign, the children looked so down-hearted and despondent. I said in my Inaugural speech that the greatest joy I would have is to make them smile again. I am so pleased today that whenever I get out of the vehicle and go to children- they all rush as soon as they hear the siren and know I am coming. They are all smiles, and they are all laughing, and they all call me 'Ellen'! So that's my greatest joy!

What specific accomplishments most please you?

If we are talking qualitatively, it's the restoration of hope. People now see that there is indeed the light at the end of the tunnel. It is possible for us to move toward achieving our national potential. That to me is also one of the things I find very satisfying.

"The restoration of hope… is one of the things I find very satisfying."

In terms of the quantitative things, we can go through the list: training of the new professional army and police; having sanctions lifted off our timber and our diamonds; restarting the forestry sector; qualifying for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa); completing a one year Staff Monitoring program with the IMF and restoring our good relations with those institutions just about to the place where we will resolve our USD 4 billion external debt problem and get the relief that will put us on the course toward the heavily indebted poverty reduction program.

On the economic track, our revenues increased by over 44 percent - from USD 80 million, when we took over from the national transitional government, to today closer to USD 200 million, with the potential to double that in the next couple of years.

You've put special emphasis on fighting corruption. How successful has that been so far?

We've got a very aggressive anti-corruption strategy, although I'll be the first to say it is a big challenge. Corruption has so penetrated the fabric of this nation that it's hard for me to think that we will solve it right away. But we have made important first steps. We have taken to court high government officials who violated the public trust. We have done a code of conduct that is before our legislature. We've done an anti-corruption policy and strategy.

What about improvements in living conditions here in Monrovia and around the country?

This capital city was dark for fourteen years. We have brought some electricity - not enough - but some street lights. Because it's not affordable for many families, we now have children doing home work under the street lights. A bit innovative, a small step, but we hope that we can expand that.

Water: there is water now coming into many of our communities either through the pump or pipe borne water into homes in places like Paynesville, Congo Town and lots of other places in Monrovia.

"We've got a very aggressive anti-corruption strategy, although I'll be the first to say it is a big challenge."

Our road reconstruction program - that's one that everybody places priority on. It's a bit delayed because our raining season stopped us from working. But some of the roads in the rural areas have been done. Now that the dry season has started, we have a very aggressive program to repair some of the Monrovia streets. And we have been able to mobilize some resources for that. So we just need to get the work done.

And we have our literacy program that falls under the Liberian Education Trust, in which market women have an opportunity to learn to read and write. It's exciting to hear them talk about how it has transformed their lives.

My promise to market women who supported me so well in the election was to improve their conditions. From private foundations, we raised about USD 2 million to improve or build new markets, here in the capital city and around the country. If you look around you will see so many of the markets are under renovation.

You've expressed gratitude for the support Liberia has received from the international community. What is your message to the international community today?

We'd like to see more urgency in the support that they give. The processes take too long. We lost a whole season, because road construction that should have started last year and didn't happen [before] the rains came.

We hear that nobody on your staff can keep up with you. Clearly you are motivated. How do tackle you each day? Do you find time to relax or exercise?

I'm up every morning about 5:30. We have a room here with a treadmill and bike, and I hit the treadmill for about an hour. Everyday I'm thinking about what I want to accomplish. How do I address this challenge and that challenge and the other. There's so much potential.




Reprinted with permission from allAfrica Global Media. Copyright © 2007 AllAfrica. All rights reserved.

To read another Global Envision article about President Sirleaf's plans to reduce poverty in Libera, see Government Takes Aim at Unemployment in Liberia.



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