Meaning of "Monkey still working let Baboon wait small"

The Farafinna blog explains this

There is a saying in West Africa 'Monkey woke, babu eat'. This means that the baboon doesn't do any efforts but is always ready to reap the benefits of the monkey's labour.

and then talks about the new slogan

Here, Sirleaf and her team i.e. MONKEY apparently achieved a lot since they came to power after 14years of civil war, so why would they go now; people should give them another mandate to complete their work. Only after can the 'BABOON' i.e. opposition come and reap the fruits of the post-conflict administration's labour.

There is also the more general comment

I noticed in the UP posters is the fact that the party uses broken english, a lingua franca spoken by Liberians; something i am yet to see on other parties' posters. A way to be closer to the people?


It is broken Liberian english, similar to Jamaican patois. "Let baboon wait small" means "let the baboon wait a little." For example, "Open the window small" means "open the window a little" in Liberia.


In West African creole (e.g. Sierra Leone's Krio) babu (baboon) is the name for a chimpanzee,which is more clever than a monkey, and thus elite. Baboons, interestingly, are called "gorilla". Lost in translation is a two way street! Di old ma is cautioning rent seekers to stand down (or at least be patient).