Senator calls for repeal of racist law

Lofa County Senator Keikura Kpoto has called for a review of constitutional clauses that discriminate racially and deny non-Liberians land ownership, independent Star radio reported on Tuesday. Kpoto was speaking in Monrovia on Monday when he launched the Liberia-Lebanese Friendship Association. Under the 1847 constitution, crafted by Liberia's founding fathers who had escaped slavery in the United States, only people of Negroid descent can be citizens of Liberia and own land. They embedded this provision in the constitution to protect themselves against future domination by non-blacks, a legal analyst said. The Liberian deputy justice minister for administration and public safety, LeRoy Urey, told IRIN on Wednesday the definition of Negroid descent covered blacks of mixed race. "Liberians have remained unanimous on this," Urey said, and they remained so throughout the 1980s. However, he said that since the Liberia civil war in 1989, attitudes could have changed and a referendum would decide on any constitutional amendments on the question. "Personally, I would not want a repeal because of its implications," Ted Brooks, director of research at the Liberian Human Rights Chapter told IRIN. "However, if there is a consensus by Liberians to repeal this clause, I don't have a problem." An example of the implications, Brooks said, was the economic choke-hold non-blacks would have on the local population. The community most implicated by this and most concerned by the discriminatory laws are the Lebanese who form the largest non-black community in the country. Many families have been in Liberia decades and form a merchant class, as they do in most West African countries. In a recent meeting with officials of the World Lebanese cultural union, Star reported, Liberian Labour Minister Christian Neufville said his ministry would host a conference early in year 2000 to seek views on the Liberianisation policy. The head of the Lebanese delegation, George Haddad, told Neufville of his concern about denial of citizenship and land ownership for the community.