Indeed a death trap and no longer afraid of simply revealing the truth, no matter how costly it may be but exercising true faith in the Almighty God and not mortal beings, several local and international non-governmental organizations have over the year seriously engaged themselves into the propagation of democratic ideals, using various methodologies and under various canopies, however now yielding fruitful results on the part of the very legally-registered few.
Whilst it may have been wrongly conceived that international partners would have filled all of the vacuums of facilitators at the ongoing three-days training workshop of staffs of the Legislature at the Corina Hotel, the signals have proven wrong with the fullest participation of Liberians and other nationals taking full charge, indicating that having had the nation to have gone through protracted period of crisis and with the assistance of relevant partners, Liberia is getting somewhere at which citizens and Africans will take full charge at empowering their respective target groups.
Well selected by organizers of the ongoing training workshop, involving the National Democratic Institute (NDI), an intensive exercise expected to end, the over 60 participants have in the last two days been drilled in various aspects of the subject-matter that has Mr. Paul Nyulaku from the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Mr. Jasper Cummeh, Secretary-General of the National Society of Civil Society Organizations of Liberia (NASSCOL) and the Liberia National Law Enforcement Association (LINLEA), headed by democratic-minded Colonel Cecil Griffiths taking full charge.
Having dwelt upon processes leading to the writing of effective policy papers buttressed by its definition on July 18, 2012, meaning Day One, with in-depth theoretical and practical experiences on is purposes and network, yesterday’s session produced the more participatory with a group of four put to work in practicalizing the lessons been handed down in making their roles at the Legislature more dynamic, dependant upon the level of cooperation and collaboration required of their bosses, meaning the Honorable Representatives themselves, most of who are overly-busy to read policy study in toto and must therefore be assisted through policy briefs that are compacting as opposed to the detailed nature of the study.
Whilst structure of the policy paper and its preparatory paper” policy, policy proposal, policy statement, policy evaluation and others connected therewith as effective measure to keeping participants abreast of their mandatory roles in keeping with terms of reference at the Legislature to been more functional than becoming “sleeping giants.”
With an exercise conducted by the trained facilitators who have used every psychological and professional means to keep participants glued to the objective of the intensive workshop, howbeit the studiousness by others evolving from the establishment of a modern library by the NDI at the Legislature, today’s session is expected to prove more challenging with in-depth analysis of the policy brief and policy writing exercises expected to surface as means to having participants fully assimilate the challenges ahead for full practicalization at the good of the Liberian people.
Having targeted Chiefs-Of-Staff, a position still considered self-creation that is not duly indicated in the administrative structure within the offices of the august body, at least various senior staff positions intertwiningly acknowledged by the offices of the Chief Clerk, Ms. Mildred Sayon, involving a resource officer, an administrative officer and executive secretary, amongst others, the 53rd Legislature, beginning with the House of Representatives headed by the Speaker, Honorable Alex Tyler, may just be on its way to experiencing the democratic fruits that must come to bear in uniting all citizens, with full participation into processes seeking to ensure substantive socio-economic growth and development of the nation becoming primary concerns.
The undercurrent in the above therefore becomes the sustenance of the democracy that has been achieved by the Liberian nation, something that many may still be considering an overnight affair not requiring gradual processes.
