Unscathed, Liberian President Returns

In the 35 years since she’s graduated from the Kennedy School of Government, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has spent time in prison for calling Liberia’s leaders “many idiots,” has been charged with treason by despot Charles Taylor, and has attained the distinction of being Africa’s first elected female head of state. Coming full circle, she returned to her alma mater last night and declared, “I’m pleased to be back.”

Sirleaf is president of a country still recovering from the horrors of two catastrophic civil conflicts during which “the economy and state collapsed,” she said. “Our objective is to make government work again.”

It’s an ambitious objective in Liberia, whose capital, Monrovia, went without electricity for 15 years before Sirleaf came to power this past January—and restored power this past July.

“We are at a critical junction as a nation,” Sirleaf said.

Liberia was a relatively peaceful country from its founding by former African-American slaves in 1847 until a 1980 military coup overthew then-president William Tolbert.

Sirleaf, who had served as finance minister in Tolbert’s government, fled to Kenya, where she worked for Citibank. She returned to her homeland briefly in the mid-1980s but was put under house arrest for opposing the military dictator.

The country deteriorated into a half-decade civil war that began in 1990. After the war, Sirleaf lost the 1995 presidential election to Taylor, who is currently facing charges of war crimes in The Hague. Taylor’s presidential term was a “period of darkness and insanity,” according to Sirleaf. She added that her administration “must address the deep wounds of that civil war.”

“Postwar countries quickly go back to war, especially in Africa. We must ensure that development contributes to peacekeeping,” she said.

Development is a focus for Sirleaf, who has served as a U.N. Development Programme official and a World Bank loan officer.

“Three-quarters of our people live below the poverty line­—a dollar a day—and half of those live in abject poverty, with less than 50 cents per day,” Sirleaf said.

She outlined a four-pillar program for Liberia: national security, effective governance, economic revitalization, and infrastructure construction. She cited corruption, violence, and the marginalization of ethnic and social groups within Liberia as the major factors behind the country’s decline but offered an optimistic view of the future.

“Africa’s problems have more to do with the quality of its leaders than with the scarcity or capacity of its human capital,” Sirleaf said. “We won because we offered a vision that excited the imaginations of our people and allowed them to hope again.”

Sirleaf’s speech filled every seat in the forum, and only winners of an online lottery could obtain tickets.

Kavita Sridhar, a second-year Kennedy School student and one of the lucky ticket-holders last night, said afterwards, “It’s amazing to see, as an alumna, how far you can go.”

—Staff writer Ariadne C. Medler can be reached at amedler@fas.harvard.edu.