Many Liberians are confused about the way things are going in a country that has witnessed 14 years of civil war and two years of relative peace under the leadership of a democratically elected government. It is this confusion that I am deavoring to ease with this piece. The piece made the Daily Observer Online Commentary column:
Many people will say that the President traveled too much this year; that the President should have stayed in Liberia and taken care of domestic issues; or that most of the reasons while the President traveled so much have no bearing on the lives of the people of Liberia. We all know in Liberia that when you plant rice, you don't start cutting or harvesting the rice one or two months later. You have to take care of the farm, especially driving the birds away, which takes months and months.
President Tubman never liked flying. And flying is not a pleasant thing. No one in his right mind will voluntarily jump into an airplane just for the fun of it. So if the President, Madam Sirleaf, is constantly in airplanes soliciting help from friends of Liberia, Liberians should thank God for the President and stop complaining. If you owe people, you cannot do anything for yourself. You are always worried until that debt is off your head. Most of the trips have been to ask countries that Liberia owes money, to wipe those debts away. As we can see, many of these countries have agreed to forgive us for what we owe them.
Many, many other things happened this year in Liberia, some good and some not so good. One good thing that happened is that electricity was brought back to some parts of Monrovia. Did you hear me? I did not say that the people of Voinjama, Lofa County were able to get electricity. I said some parts of Monrovia got light and some people, especially the students in those areas are happy. We need to thank the President and our friends who helped to make this small achievement possible. We have to appreciate the small things people do for us. By doing this, people will be encouraged to do more.
One other good thing that happened in 2007 is that we have not heard of the government sending opposition leaders to jail. This kind of thing can cause confusion in the minds of citizens. This kind of thing brings about distrust and lack of confidence in government. Can anyone remember what happened two years into CIC Doe's reign? Can anyone remember what two years into President Taylor's regime was like? We all can be grateful to all the stakeholders that 60% peace is back in Liberia.
Personally, one good thing that happened to me this year is that I sat in a room at a hotel in Washington, DC with the President of Liberia. I saw with my own two eyes the Medal of Freedom Award she wore around her neck. Sitting in a room with the President of Liberia does not happen to every ordinary Liberian. And for this, I am deeply grateful to the person who made this opportunity possible for me. For many, the medal means nothing. For me, being awarded the Medal of Freedom means the rule of law must be at the forefront of governance. It means before an action is taken, a lot of thoughts must come into play. Because the world knows that one has been given the Award for Freedom, it expects to hear the sound and see the sign of freedom in every nook and corner where that award is displayed. The spot light is on Liberia now and forever because of that award. All Liberians need to work for freedom for their people; not in a destructive sense, but in a way that the benefits of freedom will be seen and enjoyed by all.
One of the many bad things that continues to happen in Liberia in 2007 is the news that corruption is not going down, but instead, is in fact climbing into the sky. From Robertsfield to ELWA Junction; from Red Light to the Freeport of Monrovia; from the Gabriel Tucker Bridge to Buzzy (Lorma?) Quarters; from UN Drive to Capitol Hill, and from Broad Street to Camp Johnson Road and all the way to the Mansion, the news about corruption is not good.
What about places from Todee Junction to Butuo, Nimba County? What about places From Toe Town in Grand Gedeh to Rock Town in Maryland County? What about government entities from Owensgroove to Buchanan or from Suehn to Robertsport? Are the people who are working for government in Zorzor any better than those in Greenville when it comes to corruption?
As a Class III Border Patrol Officer with Immigration, I used to earned $133.33 per month. Now, I don't know what the situation is with the Class III Officer, but with $50.00 being the minimum Civil Servant pay, it is very difficult to preach a no-corruption sermon. A Wage increase will definitely help to stop the bleeding.
And finally, the last bad news that is still going on in Liberia in 2007, to me, is the FAWUL thing in Firestone and the LAC incident. In 1981 when President Reagan came to power in America, the Air Traffic Controllers went on strike. They were immediately fired by the president. There must be a lot of unemployed Air Traffic Controllers in the United States. For rubber tappers in Liberia, you can't do that. Even though people may think that rubber tapping is an unskilled endeavor, that is far from the truth. Rubber tapping is a difficult and dirty job.
A rubber tapper is a professional in his own right. Not every unskilled Liberian craves to be a rubber tapper. Owning a rice or sugar cane or cassava farm carries more pride, decency, and self-fulfillment. Being your own boss, with the help of governement, should be the theme of 2008. FAWUL should be given the go-ahead to continue to represent the workers of Firestone. Respect the choice of the workers.
Let the LAC issue be revisited. Let the people of the area get involved. Once our people recognize that they are part of the solution to any undertaking, there will be no need for distrust and lawlessness. The old way of ignoring reality must be wiped away from the old minds. Let's think big for our people and for the country. Anther thing that those in authority need to discontinue is stripping clothes off our people when they are accused of an offense. This kind of behavior is shameful and disgraceful.
We all should hope that 2008 will bring more jobs for our people. We should all hope that 2008 will see more people leaving Monrovia for places in other parts of the country to find jobs. This well help to reduce the crime rate and the hala hala we continue to hear in Monrovia. Remember, and idle mind is the devil's workshop.
Because we are all alive and able to enjoy peace in 2007, we can rightly say Merry Christmas to the President of Liberia and to the Government of Liberia; we can even say to ourselves, Merry Christmas and hope for a Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Taking Care Of Us
The Liberian people have been in the civilization-business for many, many years. History books tell us that civilization began in Africa. Our own history books tell us that a lot of our people were taken as slaves to far away lands and treated worst than animals by people whose skin color was different than ours.
Our history books tell us that there was a time when those who took our people away and used them as slaves decided that those slaves that had gotten their freedom could go back to the land from where their ancestors were taken.
Our history books continue to say that those free slaves who decided to go back to the land of their ancestors were put on ships and sent to Africa to a place that is today called Liberia. That was in the 1820s.
Resettlement in Africa was not easy for our people whose parents had been slaves. Those who came back to Africa had to negotiate with those they met on the land for a place to live We learn from our history books that some of the negotiations for land did not go well. Every Liberian who went to school in Liberia knows the joke we have on the the people of Grand Bassa County.
Who has not heard that the people of Grand Bassa County sold their country for smoked fish? Who can not remember "I will cut your heads off your shoulder as I did old King George....?" How can we in Liberia ever forget these incidents; whether we graduated from Harvard in the United States or from Tubman Technical College in Cape Palmas, Maryland County, Liberia? No matter what school we went to, we cannot pretend to not know our history. Liberians cannot continue to be oblivious and insensitive to the history of their own country.
According to Proverbs 22:6 in the Bible, parents are supposed to train their children so that what is imparted will forever remain with the children who will later become parents themselves. A. Doris Banks-Henries, the Liberian Historian, mentioned the inconsistent land deals so that Liberians, no matter which county they come from, would never again allow land dealers to dupe them. I literally take Proverbs 22:6 and the lessons from our history to mean just that: Liberians should never, ever sell their birth rights for "smoked fish."
The news coming from the Liberian Agriculture Company (LAC) in Grand Bassa County is a serious National Security issue for the country. The Liberian people have suffered a lot. 14 years of a brutal and barbaric civil war did a lot to our people. As I write this, I am still traumatized and have become psychologically deficient from the war that has so many of us scattered around the world. After such a mentally-draining time for all Liberians, the thinking is that those who have been given the responsibility to wake up our people to a new and better future will do things that will not remind us of the dirty and inconsistent deals of the past that eventually plunged the country into 14 years of hell.
We would think that those that the President has picked to help her change the mindset of our people would themselves have changed their mindset and are now in the vanguard of giving our people a sense of belonging, as President Siaka Stevens of Sierra Leone told President Tolbert after the 1979 Rice Riot. We would think that these Ministers and Representatives would be very sensitive to and mindful of the feelings of our people.
The majority of our people may look stupid and ignorant. That notion is so far from reality. My father never set foot in a classroom. He did not read much. But I can put my head on the chopping board, screaming at the top of my lungs, and telling my executioner that my father was never an idiot. Those he worked with at the Firestone Rubber Company, again in part of Bassa Country, can attest to the sagaciousness and Solomonic-behavior of a man who never got a first-grade education.
If our people were considered dumb in the 1800s, we should all admit by now that after more than 186 years and especially after 14 years of eye-opening civil war, the 60% or 70% of Liberians the world considers illiterate are not ignorant.
In Gio and Mano country, there is a saying, the interpretation of which is: I am not educated but I know myself; or, we are not educated but we know ourselves. The less-fortunate people of Liberia know themselves. They know what is good for them. The people of Liberia know good from bad, fake from real; they know when you are just showing off your teeth and when a real smile is emitted; the Liberian people know for sure when a deal will benefit a few and when a deal will benefit the majority.
It is a shame that since 1847 when Liberia declared her independence, we are still talking about a new-found democracy. I live in a place in America where traffic jam is an every-day headache.The authorities want to build or extend a road that would ease the traffic jam. The people who live in the areas where this proposed road is to pass are vehemently against the idea. Even though these people also suffer the traffic jam, they have refused over many years to allow the government to extend the new road through their areas. I have not heard that the people being offered more seeds to plant corn or a reduction in their taxes as tokens of appeasement.
Right now, the authorities are sending people to find out whether the animals presently living in the areas that the proposed road would one day pass, will not be affected by this new road-extension. The authorities want to even make sure that turtles that might want to cross to the other side of the road in the future will not be harmed!
Most of the Ministers in the Liberian government have lived in America. They know exactly what the democratic process is when a development proposal is put on the table. Dr Toe from the Ministry of Agriculture knows this to his finger tip. As President of Strayer University, he knows what he went through to get some of his proposals through the Board of Regents. Like President Doe used to say to General Smith who used to be my ROTC Instructor at LU: Go to Nimba County and show those rebels some of your Fort-Benning tactics. Why did Dr Toe not show some of his Strayer-University tactics during the negotiations with LAC? Why did Minister Johnson not show some of his Internal Affairs tactics during at negotiations. Why didn't they remember the land-for-smoke fish deal that has haunted the people of Grand Bassa County for more than a century and a half?
Don't tell me, Ministers and negotiators, that I know more than you know. Don't even go there by impressing upon the people of Liberia that you have forgotten your own history. Don't try to make our people fell good by allowing rubber stumps to be issued to some of them by LAC or Firestone or any other rubber company.
It takes seven years before a rubber tree begins to produce latex. I wonder how many years does old man Zoegar have to wait before he starts to dig up the cassava he planted sometime in July? I wonder how long Sherporo Kerkula has to wait to harvest the rice he is preparing to plant this year. I wonder and I keep wondering how long will Uncle Nyema Toe in Pleebo wait to sell the peanuts he and his family planted a few months ago? And, I wonder whether Firestone has finally agreed to allow employee Yahkpawolo to plant sugar cane in one of the swampy areas on Division 7.
One thing I have learned from the American people: They take care of their own. When I heard President Clinton saying that America should never allow her people to fend for themselves, and that America takes care of its own, I said to myself: Oh, I see. From that day in the 90s when I heard this, I began to further question the unbelievable, unpatriotic acts and numerous missteps our government continues to shower upon our country and our people.
I was in class at LU with some smart people. We used to compete to be on that Honor Roll List. Many of those I sat with at the College of Agriculture and Forestry went on to get advanced degrees in various specialties in Agriculture and Forestry. One of the smartest guys I ever sat with is Dr Roland Massaquoi. The man had a photographic memory. Who can beat a guy who has a PhD in Plant Genetics and Physiology?
Liberia has many of its citizens living in Liberia who have advanced degrees in Agronomy, Wood Science, Agricultural Engineering, Forest Management, etc, etc.
Liberians need to take care of their own.
Our history books tell us that there was a time when those who took our people away and used them as slaves decided that those slaves that had gotten their freedom could go back to the land from where their ancestors were taken.
Our history books continue to say that those free slaves who decided to go back to the land of their ancestors were put on ships and sent to Africa to a place that is today called Liberia. That was in the 1820s.
Resettlement in Africa was not easy for our people whose parents had been slaves. Those who came back to Africa had to negotiate with those they met on the land for a place to live We learn from our history books that some of the negotiations for land did not go well. Every Liberian who went to school in Liberia knows the joke we have on the the people of Grand Bassa County.
Who has not heard that the people of Grand Bassa County sold their country for smoked fish? Who can not remember "I will cut your heads off your shoulder as I did old King George....?" How can we in Liberia ever forget these incidents; whether we graduated from Harvard in the United States or from Tubman Technical College in Cape Palmas, Maryland County, Liberia? No matter what school we went to, we cannot pretend to not know our history. Liberians cannot continue to be oblivious and insensitive to the history of their own country.
According to Proverbs 22:6 in the Bible, parents are supposed to train their children so that what is imparted will forever remain with the children who will later become parents themselves. A. Doris Banks-Henries, the Liberian Historian, mentioned the inconsistent land deals so that Liberians, no matter which county they come from, would never again allow land dealers to dupe them. I literally take Proverbs 22:6 and the lessons from our history to mean just that: Liberians should never, ever sell their birth rights for "smoked fish."
The news coming from the Liberian Agriculture Company (LAC) in Grand Bassa County is a serious National Security issue for the country. The Liberian people have suffered a lot. 14 years of a brutal and barbaric civil war did a lot to our people. As I write this, I am still traumatized and have become psychologically deficient from the war that has so many of us scattered around the world. After such a mentally-draining time for all Liberians, the thinking is that those who have been given the responsibility to wake up our people to a new and better future will do things that will not remind us of the dirty and inconsistent deals of the past that eventually plunged the country into 14 years of hell.
We would think that those that the President has picked to help her change the mindset of our people would themselves have changed their mindset and are now in the vanguard of giving our people a sense of belonging, as President Siaka Stevens of Sierra Leone told President Tolbert after the 1979 Rice Riot. We would think that these Ministers and Representatives would be very sensitive to and mindful of the feelings of our people.
The majority of our people may look stupid and ignorant. That notion is so far from reality. My father never set foot in a classroom. He did not read much. But I can put my head on the chopping board, screaming at the top of my lungs, and telling my executioner that my father was never an idiot. Those he worked with at the Firestone Rubber Company, again in part of Bassa Country, can attest to the sagaciousness and Solomonic-behavior of a man who never got a first-grade education.
If our people were considered dumb in the 1800s, we should all admit by now that after more than 186 years and especially after 14 years of eye-opening civil war, the 60% or 70% of Liberians the world considers illiterate are not ignorant.
In Gio and Mano country, there is a saying, the interpretation of which is: I am not educated but I know myself; or, we are not educated but we know ourselves. The less-fortunate people of Liberia know themselves. They know what is good for them. The people of Liberia know good from bad, fake from real; they know when you are just showing off your teeth and when a real smile is emitted; the Liberian people know for sure when a deal will benefit a few and when a deal will benefit the majority.
It is a shame that since 1847 when Liberia declared her independence, we are still talking about a new-found democracy. I live in a place in America where traffic jam is an every-day headache.The authorities want to build or extend a road that would ease the traffic jam. The people who live in the areas where this proposed road is to pass are vehemently against the idea. Even though these people also suffer the traffic jam, they have refused over many years to allow the government to extend the new road through their areas. I have not heard that the people being offered more seeds to plant corn or a reduction in their taxes as tokens of appeasement.
Right now, the authorities are sending people to find out whether the animals presently living in the areas that the proposed road would one day pass, will not be affected by this new road-extension. The authorities want to even make sure that turtles that might want to cross to the other side of the road in the future will not be harmed!
Most of the Ministers in the Liberian government have lived in America. They know exactly what the democratic process is when a development proposal is put on the table. Dr Toe from the Ministry of Agriculture knows this to his finger tip. As President of Strayer University, he knows what he went through to get some of his proposals through the Board of Regents. Like President Doe used to say to General Smith who used to be my ROTC Instructor at LU: Go to Nimba County and show those rebels some of your Fort-Benning tactics. Why did Dr Toe not show some of his Strayer-University tactics during the negotiations with LAC? Why did Minister Johnson not show some of his Internal Affairs tactics during at negotiations. Why didn't they remember the land-for-smoke fish deal that has haunted the people of Grand Bassa County for more than a century and a half?
Don't tell me, Ministers and negotiators, that I know more than you know. Don't even go there by impressing upon the people of Liberia that you have forgotten your own history. Don't try to make our people fell good by allowing rubber stumps to be issued to some of them by LAC or Firestone or any other rubber company.
It takes seven years before a rubber tree begins to produce latex. I wonder how many years does old man Zoegar have to wait before he starts to dig up the cassava he planted sometime in July? I wonder how long Sherporo Kerkula has to wait to harvest the rice he is preparing to plant this year. I wonder and I keep wondering how long will Uncle Nyema Toe in Pleebo wait to sell the peanuts he and his family planted a few months ago? And, I wonder whether Firestone has finally agreed to allow employee Yahkpawolo to plant sugar cane in one of the swampy areas on Division 7.
One thing I have learned from the American people: They take care of their own. When I heard President Clinton saying that America should never allow her people to fend for themselves, and that America takes care of its own, I said to myself: Oh, I see. From that day in the 90s when I heard this, I began to further question the unbelievable, unpatriotic acts and numerous missteps our government continues to shower upon our country and our people.
I was in class at LU with some smart people. We used to compete to be on that Honor Roll List. Many of those I sat with at the College of Agriculture and Forestry went on to get advanced degrees in various specialties in Agriculture and Forestry. One of the smartest guys I ever sat with is Dr Roland Massaquoi. The man had a photographic memory. Who can beat a guy who has a PhD in Plant Genetics and Physiology?
Liberia has many of its citizens living in Liberia who have advanced degrees in Agronomy, Wood Science, Agricultural Engineering, Forest Management, etc, etc.
Liberians need to take care of their own.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Being Over Protective
Welcome To My Blog.
am moved by Emmanuel Paulus' letter. Emmanuel wonders why Liberians go to other countries to study and go back home, leaving all the good things they studied at JFK, Brussels or Heathrow Airport. Emmanuel, I want to tell you that I have always wondered the same thing. Just imagine the number of Liberians who graduated from the best Universities in the United States of America during the reign of William Tubman. Imagine those who did the same during the short reign of William Tolbert. With that knowledge and expertise in every field imaginable, why in God's name wasn't a highway built from Monrovia to Harper, Cape Palmas along the coast line of the Atlantic Ocean? Why in the world was the road from Yekepa to Sanniquellie, the home of the OAU, not paved? Why was the road from Bong Mines to Kakata allowed to remain dusty through out Bong Mines' Iron Ore exploitation? Why, my people, why was the Liberian Mining Company allowed to ruin beautiful Bomi County, leaving behind a No-Way-Camp avalanche that buried more than 200 of our people?Look at the 14 other counties. The development of those counties is an eye sore. The living condition of the people in those counties has not changed. Many go bare footed, like days of the 50s and 60s. How passionate were these highly educated Liberians about the masses that many of them talked about? How impassioned were their desires to change Liberia for the better, only to get the government jobs and dry the system through corruption?What lifted my spirit a few days ago was a letter written by Benedict Kojo Brown in which he warned me of reversed discrimination, especially when I continuously scratch my skin whenever I think of the number of Chinese who might be taking over our small space in Liberia. He ended his letter with these words: "Mr Kweme may mean well for Liberia, but I think he is being over-protective."I love that. I love being over protective of my country. That is the only place I know. That is the place my navel string is buried. No matter where I live in this world, nothing new can change that special feeling that continues to burn inside of me. That is why the hope has been that those who, by God's grace, were able to live to tell the story, would go back to Liberia and promise themselves never again to do anything that would cause us to run away from that country. That is why I am for anything that will protect that country from countries like China,who is right now,mad as hell because a guy from Tibet, a country under the Communist Regime, is being honored at the White House in Washington, DC. Why would anyone get mad because someone wants freedom for his people? Is China trying to tell us that what is going on in Sudan is OK? Was Nelson Mandela wrong for wanting freedom for his people in South Africa? Was Rosa Parks an idiot for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a mean white man? Asking a bigger question, is it wrong for the group we know as "country" people in Liberia to ask those known as "Congo" or "Americo-Liberian" why in the world is Liberia still in the condition it is after 160 plus years of Independence? Is friendly China willing to allow us to ask any question at all?I may not get my wish, but I am praying. Nothing will please me more than to see the Headquarters of Africom built in Liberia. If I had my own way, military dictatorships and those leaders who still believe that keeping their people down forever is the best way to go, especially in 2007, these entities would be history. It is just inconceivable to live in America, see all these good things here, and go back to your home in Africa and drop the vision over the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean.
am moved by Emmanuel Paulus' letter. Emmanuel wonders why Liberians go to other countries to study and go back home, leaving all the good things they studied at JFK, Brussels or Heathrow Airport. Emmanuel, I want to tell you that I have always wondered the same thing. Just imagine the number of Liberians who graduated from the best Universities in the United States of America during the reign of William Tubman. Imagine those who did the same during the short reign of William Tolbert. With that knowledge and expertise in every field imaginable, why in God's name wasn't a highway built from Monrovia to Harper, Cape Palmas along the coast line of the Atlantic Ocean? Why in the world was the road from Yekepa to Sanniquellie, the home of the OAU, not paved? Why was the road from Bong Mines to Kakata allowed to remain dusty through out Bong Mines' Iron Ore exploitation? Why, my people, why was the Liberian Mining Company allowed to ruin beautiful Bomi County, leaving behind a No-Way-Camp avalanche that buried more than 200 of our people?Look at the 14 other counties. The development of those counties is an eye sore. The living condition of the people in those counties has not changed. Many go bare footed, like days of the 50s and 60s. How passionate were these highly educated Liberians about the masses that many of them talked about? How impassioned were their desires to change Liberia for the better, only to get the government jobs and dry the system through corruption?What lifted my spirit a few days ago was a letter written by Benedict Kojo Brown in which he warned me of reversed discrimination, especially when I continuously scratch my skin whenever I think of the number of Chinese who might be taking over our small space in Liberia. He ended his letter with these words: "Mr Kweme may mean well for Liberia, but I think he is being over-protective."I love that. I love being over protective of my country. That is the only place I know. That is the place my navel string is buried. No matter where I live in this world, nothing new can change that special feeling that continues to burn inside of me. That is why the hope has been that those who, by God's grace, were able to live to tell the story, would go back to Liberia and promise themselves never again to do anything that would cause us to run away from that country. That is why I am for anything that will protect that country from countries like China,who is right now,mad as hell because a guy from Tibet, a country under the Communist Regime, is being honored at the White House in Washington, DC. Why would anyone get mad because someone wants freedom for his people? Is China trying to tell us that what is going on in Sudan is OK? Was Nelson Mandela wrong for wanting freedom for his people in South Africa? Was Rosa Parks an idiot for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a mean white man? Asking a bigger question, is it wrong for the group we know as "country" people in Liberia to ask those known as "Congo" or "Americo-Liberian" why in the world is Liberia still in the condition it is after 160 plus years of Independence? Is friendly China willing to allow us to ask any question at all?I may not get my wish, but I am praying. Nothing will please me more than to see the Headquarters of Africom built in Liberia. If I had my own way, military dictatorships and those leaders who still believe that keeping their people down forever is the best way to go, especially in 2007, these entities would be history. It is just inconceivable to live in America, see all these good things here, and go back to your home in Africa and drop the vision over the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean.
Friday, October 5, 2007
The Person and the thought
My Name is Cooper Kweme. For some unknown reason, I find writing to be my new phenomenon. This passion started very late in my life. Nevertheless, I am enjoying the fun and I hope that those who read what I write will also find something worthwhile to punder about.
Some of what I write may be considered extremely controversial. Some of the writings may plug feathers into my hat. All in all, I think, this is what it is all about.
I have wrtten a lot. Some of my past writings will be posted here for all to read. They will include letters to the editors and thoughts that overwhelm me as I travel around the globe of life.
I strongly think it is ok for anyone who is literate to write his or her story of life. Keeping what's in your heart a secret will only help to degenerate the longevity that you would otherwise enjoy had you taken the other route.
Let me see what happens as I post this premier blog.
Some of what I write may be considered extremely controversial. Some of the writings may plug feathers into my hat. All in all, I think, this is what it is all about.
I have wrtten a lot. Some of my past writings will be posted here for all to read. They will include letters to the editors and thoughts that overwhelm me as I travel around the globe of life.
I strongly think it is ok for anyone who is literate to write his or her story of life. Keeping what's in your heart a secret will only help to degenerate the longevity that you would otherwise enjoy had you taken the other route.
Let me see what happens as I post this premier blog.
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