March 11, 2009, Wednesday marked Liberia’s 93rdNational Decoration Day. Cemeteries and memorials were packed with people laying wreaths on graves. Students paraded the major streets of downtown Monrovia. The Ministry of Education (MOE) staff laid Wreaths on the grave of President Daniel B. Warner on Camp Johnson Road, the State Cenotaph and William V. S. Tubman Tomb on Ashmun Street. Dr. Joseph D. Z. Korto, minister of education, concluded the Event by laying Wreath on President William V. S. Tubman Tomb. As he left the Pavilion, I engaged him in a Discussion. And this is what we talked about.
I asked him why the Ministry of Education single-handedly hosted such a National Event without the rest of National government. This is what Dr. Korto told me.
His Ministry (MOE) championed the Event to keep the “tradition” alive. He said “our fallen heroes must be honored. They made valuable contributions and sacrifices to our country.” He laid emphasis on those who died in military service. When the Event concluded, Dr. Korto said it was successful in his opinion. Because the number of students he expected to turn out came enmass. He said “As the next generation of leaders, it was good they turned out.” He continued by saying, “The students had a civic lesson from my remark. And I am glad for that!" But he expressed some disappointment, though. The rest of the National government did not turn out. But he draws confident next year’s Celebration will be better. It seemed to me then that after all was concluded, looking at Dr. Korto's smiling face, he might have considered his job done as the Man responsible for Education in the country. That is to say, he educated the students and people of Liberia on the Event appropriately. But his wish was not granted. The Legislators did not turn out. "But that's okay!" he said. I asked if he were pleased with the Celebration. He gave a resounding “Yes!” And that closed that particular chapter of our discussion.
We moved on to another topic that Dr. Korto knows very well – ULAA & its Post Election Crisis
For those who don't know what ULAA is. It is The Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas. It was founded by students more than thirty years ago. Many Presidents have come and left. Dr. Korto is one. He was a two-term President. So he has the leverage and authority to discuss problems facing the Institution. What then is the problem? This how the current problem has been laid out. ULAA recently had its Presidential election. Suddenly, two opposing leaderships emerged. Chaos erupted. Since then. Each of the leadership is claiming legitimacy to the throne. Essentially, ULAA is split! Such a split, in its current state, is hampering the progress of ULAA and Liberians in the US, especially those faced with immigration problems.
I asked Dr. Korto about all this unfolding chaos in ULAA. And this is what he told me.
He said he “regrets” what’s happening in ULAA today. He thinks ULAA has a bigger job than it can ever imagined. As such, it needs to be serious. It needs to pay special attention to the immigration problem facing over 10,000 fellow Liberians in the US. This split, according to Dr. Korto, touches him at the core of his heart. Because when he was President, his administration succeeded in discussions with the US government to grant Liberians Temporary Protective Status (TPS). And he is proud his successors took the matter to another level to obtain The Deferred Enforcement Departure (DED) status. He said what this administration needs to do, instead of engaging in an in-house fight, is to forge the future of the Organization and Liberians at-large in the US. To get entangled in nonessentials makes him "sick." Dr. Korto brags his administration succeeded because of a good relationship it developed with the US government, ULAA Board, ULAA Chapters and Liberians in America. So he expects this current-day ULAA leadership to complete the task of his administration. Dr. Korto says Liberia cannot absorb the number of Liberians on DED. That is, if for our "carelessness," they were deported to Liberia.
He said, there are no jobs to absorb all of those Compatriots if they were deported. So “ULAA needs to put its house in order. When it puts its house in order, then it can address the needs and aspirations of its members and Liberians in the US.” He warns, if the two groups do not compromise and continue the business of ULAA, they will hamper and damage his and previous administration’s assiduous efforts towards legal status for Liberians on DED and democracy in Liberia.
Dr. Korto, a candidate in the 2005 Liberia Presidential election, former President of ULAA and current minister of education, said that there are several advantages for those Liberians to remain in the US for now. Among the many advantages, he stressed only one. And that is because time was against us in the Dicussion. Everybody was leaving the Pavilion. And he had to leave too. Hurriedly, he looked me in the eye and said "Remittances from Liberians in the US are very “significant” to the economy of Liberia. And so there is a need for ULAA leaders to unite and forge the Immigration Issue at hand." He couldn't elaborate any further. So I did my research. And this is what I discovered.
2005 United Nations figures suggested that remittance from African abroad were $17 billion United States dollars per annum. Virtually overtaking foreign direct investment flows which averaged $4 billion dollars in US foreign aid to all of Africa. Delightfully an irony becomes apparent: Africans are the best source of foreign currency for their respective countries. Instead of holding out begging bowls each year African governments should find ways of harnessing this source by allowing dual citizenship, facilitating overseas voting activity courting Africans abroad to invest at home and offering Diaspora tourism packages.
According to Charles Abugre in 2005 article in Pambazulla News, “some estimates suggest that Africa’s accumulated stock of capital transferred abroad between 1970 and 2000 amounted to over $280 Billion United States dollars.
The research goes further.
There is an increasing global attention on the Africans in the Diaspora as their influence not only in terms of skills but their financial impact is now being acknowledged as an alternative source of funding for ailing economies in Africa. Remittances flow from Africans in Diaspora is on the increase, sometimes accounting for almost 25% of GDP of some African Countries. It is estimated globally at $200 billion - far more than official development and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).
"Remittances to developing countries from overseas resident and non-resident workers are estimated to have increased by US $10 billion (8 percent) in 2004, reaching $126 billion," noted the report, this amount is very conservative as data on remittances is very hard to capture. [http://siteresources.worldbank.org/] For example, according to Western Union, Nigerians in the Diaspora remitted up to over USD$28b into Nigeria over the course of 8 years., averaging over $3 billion annually whilst Ghanaians living abroad sent back US$ 800 million to the country – more than Ghana earned from cocoa or gold. "
In its new report 'Global Development Finance 2005: Mobilizing Finance and Managing Vulnerability' the World Bank noted that "workers' remittances provide valuable financial resources to developing countries, particularly the poorest".
AfricaRecruit with a mandate to 'create an environment that will enable Diaspora Investment flows compliment traditional financial assistance to Africa' has been using the annual Africa Diaspora Investment Forum (ADIF) as a vehicle to drive forward this agenda.
This Africa Diaspora Investment Forum attracts participants from across the globe to lead discussions on business issues and developments as well as find ways in which the potentials of the African Diaspora can be further utilized for the positioning of Africa on a global stage.
The conference has an established a history of over 20 multi-industry corporate bodies including stock markets, real estate and numerous Small / Medium Enterprises. Attendance at the event has been rising steadily with over 2,000 investors from across Europe and North America as well a robust participation from Africa. As a direct results of an increasing number of Africans in the Diaspora have engaged in various investments in Africa estimated at over 1 billion US dollars. http://www.africadiaspora.com/2005/events/ag/index.php
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