[allAfrica.com] [celtel.com] A Task For the Transiction Team Liberian Observer (Monrovia) EDITORIAL December 8, 2005 Posted to the web December 8, 2005 By Stanton Peabody In July 1990, about seven months after the outbreak of the civil war, Liberia found itself divided into two camps: the capital city remained under government control while the rest of the country, known at the time as "Greater Liberia," was under the authority of rebel Leader Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front. This division brought numerous hardships to citizens on both sides of the divide. At one point there was an attempt to strangulate the citizens of Monrovia by cutting off all trade and commerce between the people on both sides. Agricultural foodstuff was prohibited from coming into Monrovia; travel across the line was either barred or a highly risky venture. This economic warfare intensified when the then Interim Government under Dr. Amos Sawyer suddenly declared the currency used on both sides as invalid and introduced a new Liberian currency to the market. This was intended to squeeze the NPFL into submission. But they survived and prospered because they had to their advantage, which they were exploiting helter skelter. Monrovia had the banks, some of which were looted; it had supermarkets and the beer factory and both sides carried on a black market trade in Mount Barclay, the military demarcation zone dividing the two Liberias. This place was known then as "Kuwait." At night trucks and pickups loaded with goods - even gasoline - would drive to "Kuwait" and under the watchful eye of ECOMOG, a bustling trade and barter would take place for hours. It even became a point where lovers separated by the war met and exchanged pleasantries. More than a decade has passed since that time but there are legacies of those days, some of which have left a sour taste in our economic life and now need to be seriously addressed. We are referring to the complete disappearance from the market of any Liberian coins. The one-cent, the two cents, the nickels, dimes, quarters and fifty cents are all gone. What happened to the coins is anyone's guess, but they are all gone. There used to be two cents ground peas, a ten cents cup of farina and twenty- five cent cigarettes, even a two-cent pinch of snuff. Not even a fifty cent Jill of cane juice can be bought today. Nothing of the sort exists anymore. As a result, we live in a very peculiar market atmosphere where the price of everything begins at the five-dollar mark. Nothing is below five dollars; there is no one dollar, $5.50, or a twenty cent item. We do not know what the economists call this type of market situation, but we think it is a matter to be tackled by the technocrats in the Transition Team's Banking and Insurance Committee, Trade and Commerce Committee as well as the Finance, Budgeting and Economic Management Committee. One of these committees, we are sure, should address this abnormal situation and make the necessary recommendation. A press release from the Unity Party last week explained that the team is mandated to "gather and collate information " about the government and we may add as well, the state of affairs in the country. We think this economic condition causes some sort of hardship and complicates as well as alters the commercial life of the people. It therefore falls within the purview of one of these above named committees to "look at the issue " There are many other leftovers of the 1990 civil war, all of which must be corrected, either by legislation or by executive action. But they should be done away with in time. As the saying goes, "Time heals all wounds." If now is the time for the healing process, then let us attend to this economic wound and move on with life.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2005 Liberian Observer. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================