GAIL DRAKE: Honoring Africa’s ‘Iron Lady’

“She is clothed with strength and dignity … without fear of the future.” Proverbs 31:25

“The future belongs to us, because we have taken charge of it, we have the commitment, we have the resourcefulness, and we have the strength of our people to share the dream across Africa of clean water for all.” — “This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life” by Africa’s first woman president

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Ellen Johnson was born into poverty in Monrovia, Liberia, in 1938, to a Gola father (prominent indigent people group) and a mother who was German and Kru (another tribe). Situated on the West African coast south of Sierra Leone, Liberia holds the distinction as the oldest republic in Africa. It was founded in 1822 by freed American slaves who traversed the Atlantic back to their ancestral home.

The land was rich in spices, rubber, iron ore, palm oil, gold and diamonds. These freed slaves formed a sovereign nation in 1847, modeling their government after the United States. Because of their American background and education, the repatriated “Americo-Liberians” controlled the government and dominated the 20+ indigent tribal groups in the nation until a military coup in 1980.

Johnson attended the College of West Africa, then married James Sirleaf at the tender age of 17. After four sons and a divorce, she then studied at the University of Colorado and Harvard University. She returned to her nation in 1971 to serve as Minister of Finance until then-President Talbert was executed. She fled back to the U.S. and worked for World Bank, Citibank, then Equator Bank.

Sirleaf returned to Liberia in 1985 to contest a corrupt senate election. She was arrested for openly criticizing the military government and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment but was released after public outcry.

Sirleaf ran for president in 1997, came in second, and fled into exile. Meanwhile, Liberia’s economy declined and descended into decades of civil war. Political factions and tribal groups warred against each other, killing thousands and destroying the country’s infrastructure, roads, schools, and government services.

“Why are some countries able, despite their very real and serious problems, to press ahead along the road to reconciliation, recovery and redevelopment while other cannot? These are critical questions for Africa, and their answers are complex and not always clear. Leadership is crucial. …. Liberia, like Serra Leone, is resource-rich, a natural blessing that sometimes has the sad effect of diminishing the human drive for self-sufficiency, the ability and determination to maximize that which one has.” From “This Child”

With intervention from the United Nations, elections were held in Liberia in 2005. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ran again on an anti-corruption campaign. The people called her “Ma.” She was elected Liberia’s 24th president. She focused on debt reduction, clean water, education, and rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure. She encouraged foreign investment in the country’s resources, utilizing her finance experience and hard-learned wisdom, and facilitated having debts forgiven.

Unfortunately, she encountered corruption throughout her tenure.

“I underestimated the low level of capacity,” she wrote in “This Child.” “I also underestimated the cultural roots of corruption.” 

Sirleaf was re-elected president in 2011. She also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her efforts to bring women into the peace-keeping process and has been honored with numerous other international awards.

During her second term, she played a central role dealing with the Ebola outbreak in the region and worked to improve the nation’s health systems.

“In terms of being able to renew my nation, to be able to bring back a devastated country, to restore hope to your people, to lift women and to give them a new horizon, a new ambition and new dreams, in respect of all of that, I think we’ve accomplished it, and I feel very good about that,” Sirleaf wrote in “This Child.”

A remarkable daughter of Africa who rose above humble beginnings, availed herself of education and work experience, spoke publicly with courage, worked hard, and rebuilt a noble but destroyed nation back to stability. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is recognized today as one of the 20 most significant leaders in Africa’s history.

Gail Drake practices probate, adoption, mediation and children’s law in Albany. She is a regular contributor to The Albany Herald.