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This Tuesday Special Assignment brings you TAYLOR VERSUS JOHNSON, an exclusive report on Africa’s first female president and her efforts to bring hope and optimism to one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries.
A Special Assignment team travelled to the West African country of Liberia to interview President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf a year after coming to power. A former World Bank economist, mother of four and grandmother of eight, she faces the daunting task of reconstructing a country devastated by decades of dictatorship, civil war and economic neglect.
Johnson-Sirleaf was democratically elected in January 2006. One of the first steps she took was to declare war on corruption and fired the entire department of finance and retrenched thousands of policemen and soldiers. She embarked on a programme to sort out the infrastructure, bring fresh water to people and create jobs.
A year on however, Liberia remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Only one in five adults can read and write and unemployment stands at almost ninety percent. Only a small section of the capital of Monrovia has electricity. The city remains without water or sewerage.
The man accused of looting his country was Johnson-Sirleaf’s predecessor, Charles Taylor, currently on trial in The Hague in the Netherlands for a series of war crimes. His trial will probably start towards the middle of this year. Taylor is accused of fuelling the civil war in Sierra Leone and employing boy soldiers.
Taylor might be out of the country, but his ghost and legacy looms large – especially in the person of Jewel Taylor, his wife and former First Lady. She was recently elected as a senator and wields enormous power in Liberia.
“I’ve spoken to Charles over the phone just yesterday,” she said when Special Assignment interviewed her. “He will prove his innocence and I hope he can come back to Liberia.”
In the interview, President Johnson-Sirleaf speaks about her childhood, her conviction of sedition, her rise to power and her dreams and goals for Liberia.
The relationship between the two women? “Strained,” says the President.
TAYLOR VERSUS JOHNSON is produced by award-winning journalist Jacques Pauw and was filmed by Jan de Klerk |
