The Crisis In Zimbabwe, Etc.

A myriad of things are going on in Liberia and in the minds of Liberians world-wide. The situation in Zimbabwe is shameful and uncivilized. I had to say something:


I will start this letter by asking: What's up Liberia? What's up Liberians? What are we complaining about now? Here are some of what I've been hearing around town:

Mr James Hunder gave a statement at the TRC hearing here in America. As an SSS officer at the Executive Mansion he was assigned to the Post Stockade at BTC in Monrovia after the coup of 1980. Mr Hunder revealed that he was there when General Wehsen and others were killed. He talked about how traumatized he was when these people were killed right before his eyes. As an SSS officer, Mr Hunder also revealed that he used to take messages written on toilet papers from AB Tolbert to some of AB's friends. Mr Hunder was attending one of those errands when he came back to the prison to find out that AB Tolbert and others had been taken away and butchered.

I would be so scared carrying messages from one person to another if I knew that as an SSS officer, I was being watched by members of the People's Redemption Council, who, like Joseph and the new Pharaoh in the Bible, did not know me. I believe Mr Hunder, but many others have doubts about his testimonies. Some are asking: How did Mr Hunder know that AB and others were killed in Schefflin and buried in unmarked graves? Skeptics never sleep!

Another revealing thing at the TRC was a statement given by the American Ambassador, Mr Cohen. Mr Cohen talked about how Prince Johnson was "wild and incoherent" during the period of the civil war when President Doe wanted all his Krahn soldiers to leave the country through the Liberia-Sierra Leone border. Personally, I feel that it is wrong for any President of Liberia to take his entire tribal group out of the country, especially so if the president is supposed to be for all Liberians. Why would Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf want to take the whole of Montserrado County and Gbarpolu County to Ivory Coast after she leaves office?

For his part, Prince Johnson is so mad by the statement of Mr Cohen that he, Senator Johnson, has threatened to expose and tell everything that happened, especially the roles America played in Liberia's civil war. Won't that be wonderful? We have all heard the rumors and they-say about the parts Uncle Sam played to bring us where we are today. Like Ross Perot, I am all ears to hear the Senator from Nimba County. But again, America is our mentor. Liberians love America like nobody business. In the end, with Liberians so in love with America, we can only sit and say: Dat som there. Again, what can water do with rock?

Maybe, not everyone is complaining about the situation in Zimbabwe. I am, and I want Liberia to take a stand. I want Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who has an Award for Freedom, to take a stand for freedom in Zimbabwe. Liberia should condemn President Robert Mugabe in no uncertain terms and call on the International Community to bar this crazy man from traveling outside of the country. If Robert Mugabe is saying that only God can take the presidency from him, then all God-fearing nations of the world should get together and march an army into Zimbabwe and cage this mad, 82-year old tyrant. This is where George W Bush comes in handy.

Lastly, Liberians in America are very skeptical about the security situation in their home land. Besides the police stopping some of us for speeding, we are not used to Senators instigating the massacre of their own people. Senators are law makers and should be law keepers. It is just inconceivable to think that those who are clothed to protect are the ones finding great pleasure in the demise of the innocent.

I remember when armed robbers, on a weekly basis, faced firing squads after the Nigerian civil war and when military coups were a yearly past time for Nigerians. I know people are doing everything to prove that the government of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is out to kill the Liberian people. Senators and armed robbers who are found guilty of their crimes must be given a new home at a new Belle Yalla some where in the Sapo National Forest. This government should not be the one to spill the blood of any Liberian for the six or twelve years of its reign. The temptation to kill those who find pleasure killing others is all over the place. Unity Party must not take the bait. All death penalties must be commuted to life imprisonment. After the killing of 200,000 of our people, it is time that we give ourselves a break.

It is good to know that we are now 3.5 Million people. All during my high school years and many others to follow, our population was always 2.5 Million. I wish the census had asked each household how many family members were killed during the civil war. That would have given something close to the actual number of Liberian lost during our years of destruction and mayhem. Those counties that are least developed need to be given priority. To have a million or so people in Montserrado County, especially in Monrovia, is insane. As serious focus is given to Maryland or Grand Kru or River Gee, people will begin to migrate out of Monrovia. Stealing and armed robberies could be highly reduced.