Light for Liberia: President Ends 15-Year Blackout

Aug. 14, 2006 — -- With the flip of a switch, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf turned on a streetlight in Monrovia last month, restoring electricity and ending 15 years of darkness in Liberia.

The lighting ceremony on July 26 marked the nation's 159th Independence Day and the beginning of the Emergency Power Program, Johnson-Sirleaf's campaign to rebuild Liberia's decaying infrastructure after 14 years of civil war.

As a part of the program, piped water is just beginning to flow through Monrovia. On hand for the festivities were the presidents of Ghana, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.

The festivities were cut short when a fire broke out in the executive mansion.

Although no one was injured in the fire, a floor of the building was destroyed.

The fire sparked controversy and finger pointing, prompting Johnson-Sirleaf to bring in a South African team of investigators to determine the cause of the blaze.

Despite the damage to the executive mansion, Johnson-Sirleaf continues to focus her work on constructing Liberian social systems.

Johnson-Sirleaf is the first to say that rebuilding Liberia will be more difficult than she imagined.

Africa's first elected female head of state took office in early 2006 after running on a campaign of aggressive nation building.

Johnson-Sirleaf now acknowledges that when she promised to restore electricity to Liberia in the first six months of 2006, she was an outsider without perspective on the extent of damage to the Liberian electric grid.

Achieving preliminary power in Liberia required substantial foreign aid from Ghana, the United States and the European Union.

Ghanaian engineers brought in to help were astonished by how much work was required to turn on a few streetlights.

Getting supplies for the project required Liberia's main port to be dredged. Many light poles were riddled with bullets, strung with power lines leading nowhere.

Although electricity has only been brought back to main streets, hospitals, schools and police stations in the capitol, Johnson-Sirleaf's administration is hopeful this first step will lead to the restoration of more public services in Liberia.