The Oldma Had Good Intentions For Liberia

About 400 International guests, mostly women, will be arriving in Monrovia in March, 2009. Besides the massive corruption and inefficiency of some of the President's cabinet members, there is news that Mulbah Morlue, a human rights activist, is calling for a massive demonstration to let the guests know that the President of Liberia is a war criminal and should face a War Crime court.

Liberians know by now that the President of Liberia contributed to to the destruction of her country and the killing of hundred of thousands of its citizens. Her role, she told the people, was minimal. She was remorseful for what she participated in in order to usher in a better day for the people of Liberia. She was elected on what she told her people. I am convinced that she told the truth and that her original intentions to join the group to free Liberia were good. I couldn't wait to join in the conversation:

My son woke me up at 5:30 this morning to ask whether I was going to work. Between dreaming and wondering why would this guy wake me up so early, I answered in the affirmative. "Get up and look out side," he demanded. I get up, part the window blinds, and look outside. The entire neighborhood is covered in snow...three to four inches.

Getting to work today will not be easy. I will have to first clear the snow from the steps leading to my truck whose cargo bay is almost filled with snow. I will then remove the snow from the windshield and the windows and the top of the truck. I will then shovel snow from around my truck to make way for easy passage onto the street in our neighborhood that has not yet seen the snow-removing and street-treating vehicle that usually comes around during days like this one.

What I just described is what most Liberians who left their sunny country go through all the time, whenever it snows in the cities where they live. Many of us are tired going through this. We have had enough of this wonderful experience of living in America and in Europe. Many of us who have experienced the sweetness of real freedom want to go home and share our experiences with a people who have known hard times all the days of their lives.

Our country was shaken at its core in 1979 when the rice riot occurred. The world really got to know Liberia when the coup happened in 1980. All these occurrences, many thought, would have brought fundamental change to Liberia. Nothing fundamentally new happened. In fact, fear and insecurity took over the daily lives of Liberians. Then came December 24, 1989.

Those who had not left Liberia by then were elated that at last, a new day was dawning. People could not wait for the liberators to enter Monrovia. The liberators of the 80s had become vicious tormentors. Liberians were hopeful that the beginning of the 90s would bring relief and civilization to their country.

Most Liberians had no idea who the new liberators were. One thing they knew: Charles Taylor was the leader. The air wave carried the voice of the man who would free our country from the evil that had encapsulated our people. Those who were not happy then and who were vehemently opposed to this new era that was ushering in, were those who benefited from the chaos that had engulfed the country. Those who were preparing to throw their lappas and country gowns on the ground for the new liberators to walk on, were those who were being threatened with death and considered enemies of the state. Oh yes, many of us could not wait for Charles Taylor and the freedom fighters to liberate us and our country from the claws of tyranny.

I will never know what the gut feelings were of all those who started the Charles Taylor Liberation Movement. After assessing my own gut feelings and turning things over in my mind, I am of the strong opinion that even though Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was part of the movement to change the way things were being done in Liberia, her intention was not to come and eliminate 250,000 of her people in order to be President of Liberia.

These gut feelings of mine continue to lead me to think that among the hundreds who wanted to liberate Liberia the second time around, the only one who was fit and qualified to bring fundamental change to our people was and is still, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Those who were part of the Movement and whose intentions were embedded in corruption are all around for all to see. It is not difficult to pin point those so called liberators who came intentionally to prop up the status quo and to continue with the old ways of doing things in Liberia.

If the United Nations, after all the analyses and gut feeling of its members, decided to support Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, if the UN decided to send troops to Liberia to help bring the freedom Liberians have craved for for so long, why can't Liberians of all persuasions and stripes join in and help liberate our people and country, once and for all?

I think it is time to look forward and stop being mean to ourselves. Like someone said: We should not foolishly continue to wash our dirty laundry in front of strangers.