Constitutional Racism Finds a Challenger

Liberia has a very interesting clause in its constitution. Article 27 b) states that in order to be a citizen of Liberia, you must be “of negro descent.” Beyond the moral issues of the racial aspect of this, or the fact that Liberia may be the last nation with such a clause, it also presents another issue.

The constitution also demands that in order to hold land, one must be a citizen. So, you have to be black to hold land.

The law is rooted in the unique history of Liberia. Founded by freed slaves from the US in 1822, when Liberia became an official nation in 1847, it created a clause that would protect them from ‘white masters’ taking up all the land, and colonizing it as in the rest of Africa.

This, says Darius Dillion, a senior legal aide to Jewel Taylor (estranged wife of Charles, and the current Senior Senator of Bong county), needs to change.

“We Liberians leave from here, and want to become citizens and enjoy the comforts of the white man’s land. Then why isn’t it good vice-a-versa? We think that in this day in age, it is time to cohabitate,” he insists.

The fact that lingering fears keeps this law active. And some of them are valid.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, the Lebanese dominate West Africa. They control the supply chain, own most of the big businesses, hotels, grocery stores and restaurants that cater to expats. Indians and Chinese own most of the rest, with some American and South African owners also edging out local Liberians.

Some fear that changing the law – which has been attempted two or three times since the end of the war in 2003 – will only facilitate this problem, that land, as well as businesses will fall into the hands of foreign owners, and Liberians will never get the chance to prosper.

Looking at other countries in the region, with laws that do permit foreign land rights, Dillion does not see this problem happening.

Plus, with no right to citizenship, foreign nationals send all of the money they make out of the country, avoiding taxes, and not investing at home. This ‘capital flight’, says Dillion, is killing Liberia, robbing it of money it desperately needs.

He encourages that writing laws in tune with the interests of Liberian people will get the best of both worlds, and erase what he calls a ‘primitive law.’

“The best thing to do is to open our Liberian citizenship, but before we do that, we put in the proper laws, so that one citizen will not use advantage over another citizen unduly.”