Gabriel Bacchus Matthews and the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) were not mistaken in their audacious attempt to emancipate Liberia from the suffocating grip of the True Whig Party (TWP), whose one hundred and thirty‑three years of uninterrupted rule had calcified into political absolutism. The PAL movement did not merely oppose; it envisioned. It erected a foundation upon which a new nation could be reborn—one guided by clarity of vision and a roadmap toward genuine democratic participation.
Matthews and PAL, indistinguishable in their mission, sought a Liberia where individuals of every social class, religious persuasion, economic standing, educational echelon, and tribal identity would possess unequivocal equal rights in determining the nation’s leadership. Their advocacy was not for privilege, but for principle.
The unblemished rights they championed gave birth to Liberia’s multi‑party system, spawning the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), United People’s Party (UPP), Liberian Action Party (LAP) of the late Jackson Fiah Doe, Unity Party (UP) of the late Dr. Edward B. Kesselly, Liberia Unification Party (LUP) of the Late William Gabriel Kpolleh, National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) of the late Samuel K. Doe, and others. Though the military coup of 1980 led by Samuel K. Doe was bloody and tragic, it nonetheless cracked open the door to pluralism. The revolution was a two‑sided coin: one face celebrated as victory for progressives, the other foreshadowing the malevolent suffering of civil war.
Democracy, as a philosophy of free will, carries its own intricacies. When misunderstood or mismanaged, it risks unintended consequences. Psychologists call this the Cobra Effect—where attempted solutions worsen the very problems they seek to resolve.
Plato, in The Republic, warned that governance is a specialized skill, akin to steering a ship. To entrust leadership selection solely to popularity, he argued, is to risk disaster. His disillusionment was sharpened by the trial and execution of Socrates, which revealed democracy’s susceptibility to emotion, ignorance, and manipulation.
Today, Liberia’s democracy faces its own distortions: corruption, voter apathy, polarization, democratic backsliding, money in politics, weak institutions, and identity‑based divisions. These maladies entangle our democratic experiment, demanding not disenchantment but renewal.
Against this backdrop, the recent assertion by the National Elections Commission that escalating candidate registration fees is the solution to party proliferation is deeply troubling. Such a proposal is not merely administrative—it is philosophical betrayal. It commercializes democracy, transforming leadership into a commodity accessible only to the wealthy. It is divisive, manipulative, and cruel, standing in stark opposition to the vision of Gabriel Bacchus Matthews, the father of Liberia’s multi‑party democracy.
Matthews’ legacy insists that democracy must be judged not by liquidity of bank accounts but by the wisdom, empathy, compassion, and sagacity leaders bring to national decision‑making. To price‑tag candidacy is to enthrone elitism, to reduce politics to economic gangsterism, and to reverse the hard‑won gains of inclusion.
The untied bolts of Liberia’s multi‑party system lie not in its openness but in its undefined nature. Proliferation of parties is not caused by low fees but by the absence of contextual boundaries. Democracy thrives on unity without uniformity, diversity without division. To preserve Matthews’ vision, Liberia must contextualize multi‑party democracy—defining its upper limits without eroding inclusivity. For instance, capping registration at five parties with allowance for independent candidates could balance pluralism with coherence.
The path forward is clear: do not commercialize democracy, contextualize it. To do otherwise is to betray Matthews’ dream and to reduce the sacred right of participation into a privilege for the affluent. Liberia’s democracy must remain a covenant of equality, not a marketplace of exclusion.
Contributed by:
Prof. Dr. Jeremiah Z. Whapoe, Sr.
Dean of Graduate Studies
Starz University
Sinkor, Airfield
Monrovia, Liberia
Note: Prof. Dr. Jeremiah Z. Whapoe, Sr. is a two-time presidential candidate and the political leader of the Vision for Liberia Transformation Party (VOLT)
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