I was swimming on Tuesday because I wanted to loosen up my muscles in preparation for a run the next day and I ended up with my first injury. It was a cut under my small left toe. It happened when I was trying to kick off the pool wall and instead placed my left foot on an underwater fixture. Ok so it's not as bad as the title makes it out to be but nonetheless it is the first injury that could be a potential problem.
Luckily, it did not bother me after jogging this evening so I am hoping it will go well on the day of the race. Thank goodness I am not running the marathon this weekend otherwise it could have potentially been a non-event.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Breakdown of the Liberian Referendum 2011
There are four issues being voted on by Liberian Voters on August 23, 2011 namely:
1. Reducing presidential residency requirement from 10 to 5 years
2. Increasing mandatory retirement age of judges from 70 to 75
3. Moving election date to the second Tuesday of November; staggering presidential and municipal elections
4. Using single-round first-past-the-post voting for all legislative and municipal elections in layman's terms simple majority wins
After speaking to a cross-section of Liberian's I did not come away with a clear sense of what is going to happen but I will try to make a few predictions based on what I have heard so far.
From my understanding each issue being voted on is independent so people can choose to vote yes or no for each issue. Additionally I was made to understand that no matter how high or low the turnout what matters is whether there are more Yes votes in order for an issue to pass or No votes for an issue to not pass. So I am really surprised that some political parties are calling for their voters to boycott the election.
The way I see it, there are the die-hard President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson fans or Unity Party Fans who will vote yes for all four issues and how much of the population that is I cannot say for sure. Then there are those who may or may not be President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson fans that will choose to vote Yes for between 1-3 issues. All have their reasoning for a Yes or No vote but below are some reasons for voting Yes or No to an issue.
Issue 1: No vote because, people believe that the 10 year residency should stay as this proves that candidates are serious about serving Liberia and not parachuting in and out from the USA.
Issue 2: No vote because, "We do not want a situation where the Chief Justice gets sick and then things don't get done because there is someone acting in his/her place." One youth stated that he was in school studying public administration and was hoping to go to law school and was aspiring to serve the country so it wouldn't be fair for those coming up if these positions are filled for any much longer.
Issue 3: No vote because it really didn't matter to them whether it was October which is equated with rainy season or November equated with dry season but skewed because all the people I spoke to were in Monrovia.
Issue 4: Only Clear Yes vote because most people agree that a simple majority is sufficient and will cut down on cost of elections which is pragmatic view as they are hoping those resources can be channeled into actual development but some have said the current system is better because it forces candidates to reach to other tribes and groups and not just pander to one group especially when they are the biggest group.
So my final predictions are that the Yays will have it for Issue 4 while the Nays will have it for Issue 2. Issues 1 and 3 could go either way. Issue 3 could go to the Yays if more people vote outside Monrovia and Monteserrado County while I'd say I am leaning towards the Nays taking Issue 1.
Maybe the final quote will help you understand how tough it is to gauge public opinion in Liberia. "Well I really don't understand it, so I'll do as I am directed at the polling station." Directed by whom? Good question.
Stay posted for Post-Referendum Analysis
1. Reducing presidential residency requirement from 10 to 5 years
2. Increasing mandatory retirement age of judges from 70 to 75
3. Moving election date to the second Tuesday of November; staggering presidential and municipal elections
4. Using single-round first-past-the-post voting for all legislative and municipal elections in layman's terms simple majority wins
After speaking to a cross-section of Liberian's I did not come away with a clear sense of what is going to happen but I will try to make a few predictions based on what I have heard so far.
From my understanding each issue being voted on is independent so people can choose to vote yes or no for each issue. Additionally I was made to understand that no matter how high or low the turnout what matters is whether there are more Yes votes in order for an issue to pass or No votes for an issue to not pass. So I am really surprised that some political parties are calling for their voters to boycott the election.
The way I see it, there are the die-hard President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson fans or Unity Party Fans who will vote yes for all four issues and how much of the population that is I cannot say for sure. Then there are those who may or may not be President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson fans that will choose to vote Yes for between 1-3 issues. All have their reasoning for a Yes or No vote but below are some reasons for voting Yes or No to an issue.
Issue 1: No vote because, people believe that the 10 year residency should stay as this proves that candidates are serious about serving Liberia and not parachuting in and out from the USA.
Issue 2: No vote because, "We do not want a situation where the Chief Justice gets sick and then things don't get done because there is someone acting in his/her place." One youth stated that he was in school studying public administration and was hoping to go to law school and was aspiring to serve the country so it wouldn't be fair for those coming up if these positions are filled for any much longer.
Issue 3: No vote because it really didn't matter to them whether it was October which is equated with rainy season or November equated with dry season but skewed because all the people I spoke to were in Monrovia.
Issue 4: Only Clear Yes vote because most people agree that a simple majority is sufficient and will cut down on cost of elections which is pragmatic view as they are hoping those resources can be channeled into actual development but some have said the current system is better because it forces candidates to reach to other tribes and groups and not just pander to one group especially when they are the biggest group.
So my final predictions are that the Yays will have it for Issue 4 while the Nays will have it for Issue 2. Issues 1 and 3 could go either way. Issue 3 could go to the Yays if more people vote outside Monrovia and Monteserrado County while I'd say I am leaning towards the Nays taking Issue 1.
Maybe the final quote will help you understand how tough it is to gauge public opinion in Liberia. "Well I really don't understand it, so I'll do as I am directed at the polling station." Directed by whom? Good question.
Stay posted for Post-Referendum Analysis
Running in a/an Election/Marathon/From Corruption Charges???
Please pardon the interruption. I was on vacation till last week.
So back to Business!
So some of you guessed that I was running for some sort of political office, others running from corruption charges and others in a marathon. So Tabb was the first to guess correctly that I am planning to run in a Marathon in or before 2015. It's not the BHP Biliton Liberia Marathon that is slated for August 28th 2011, that would be crazy. Why would I wanna do such a thing? I'll be running in the 10K instead on the 28th because it is a more manageable, attainable goal for me at this point. Don't want to burn out on my first attempt at something that is completely foreign to me i.e long distance running.
Yeah some of you are thinking this dude is crazy and this is probably a valid thought. I have thought it as well especially after running 8 km this past Sunday. So why do it, you ask? Well let's just say that I think running a marathon is like the Elusive Quest for Development. You know the goal and what you want to accomplish and unless you are crazy you don't just get up one day and decide you will run the marathon in a week. Same with development, you cannot just expect to be able to develop a country overnight. There is a lot of planning and thought that goes into both.
As a '"former" sprinter who has no business running long distances I want to make a point here and send a clear message to my people in Africa, and other developing countries that Development is not easy and along the way to development there will be many challenges and the key is to be able to adapt but persist in your efforts. You will surely hear of my struggles but I do plan to preserve through it all and attain that elusive goal :)
So being that I am a 'sprinter' the only way I'll be able to run a marathon which seems like a daunting task is by coming up with a training plan which I think can get me there by or before 2015. You know I flirted with the idea that I could prepare in one year and my initial goal was to run a marathon by 2012 but who am I kidding. Again since long distance running is not my area, I call on all well wishers who can support my efforts to give me some free Technical Assistance. Anayo, Swavo and Vanessa immediately come to mind.
It's the same story with Development. Let's use GDP as a metric for development, today a country has a real GDP of $360 billion and plans to double that in one year or lets say 5 years. This is highly unlikely but if a country said we plan to double our GDP in 10 years then that's definitely more realistic and it means the country will need a growth in real GDP of 7% or more every year for ten years in order to double its real GDP according to the rule of 70. So the target is pretty clear upfront, how they get there is another issue.
So the point here is that in order to make progress towards achieving a set goal or target you have to come up with a PLAN. In my case a training plan with certain milestones and in the case of a country a economic development plan with certain milestones. I hope the Technical Assistance pays off.
So back to Business!
So some of you guessed that I was running for some sort of political office, others running from corruption charges and others in a marathon. So Tabb was the first to guess correctly that I am planning to run in a Marathon in or before 2015. It's not the BHP Biliton Liberia Marathon that is slated for August 28th 2011, that would be crazy. Why would I wanna do such a thing? I'll be running in the 10K instead on the 28th because it is a more manageable, attainable goal for me at this point. Don't want to burn out on my first attempt at something that is completely foreign to me i.e long distance running.
Yeah some of you are thinking this dude is crazy and this is probably a valid thought. I have thought it as well especially after running 8 km this past Sunday. So why do it, you ask? Well let's just say that I think running a marathon is like the Elusive Quest for Development. You know the goal and what you want to accomplish and unless you are crazy you don't just get up one day and decide you will run the marathon in a week. Same with development, you cannot just expect to be able to develop a country overnight. There is a lot of planning and thought that goes into both.
As a '"former" sprinter who has no business running long distances I want to make a point here and send a clear message to my people in Africa, and other developing countries that Development is not easy and along the way to development there will be many challenges and the key is to be able to adapt but persist in your efforts. You will surely hear of my struggles but I do plan to preserve through it all and attain that elusive goal :)
So being that I am a 'sprinter' the only way I'll be able to run a marathon which seems like a daunting task is by coming up with a training plan which I think can get me there by or before 2015. You know I flirted with the idea that I could prepare in one year and my initial goal was to run a marathon by 2012 but who am I kidding. Again since long distance running is not my area, I call on all well wishers who can support my efforts to give me some free Technical Assistance. Anayo, Swavo and Vanessa immediately come to mind.
It's the same story with Development. Let's use GDP as a metric for development, today a country has a real GDP of $360 billion and plans to double that in one year or lets say 5 years. This is highly unlikely but if a country said we plan to double our GDP in 10 years then that's definitely more realistic and it means the country will need a growth in real GDP of 7% or more every year for ten years in order to double its real GDP according to the rule of 70. So the target is pretty clear upfront, how they get there is another issue.
So the point here is that in order to make progress towards achieving a set goal or target you have to come up with a PLAN. In my case a training plan with certain milestones and in the case of a country a economic development plan with certain milestones. I hope the Technical Assistance pays off.
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