I asked the same questions five years ago; I carried inside of me the same feeling of disgust and helplessness as others do today. People still want to know why war lords and financiers of the civil war in Liberia continue to enjoy rights and privileges that should have been taken away from them when the war ended in 2003?
I understand the anger and frustration. I have to make the case for why things are as they are:
I feel your pain, Eva. What ever agreement was hammered out in Abuja or wherever to bring our war to an end in 2003, also gave war lords and others in Liberia the rights to the freedom they enjoy today. Had the United Nations taken over Liberia instead of an Interim Government and had it banned all participants or financiers of the war from political activities in Liberia, we won't be having this discussion right now. Perhaps, Charles Taylor himself would have been in Liberia had he not ventured into Sierra Leone.
With that setup in play, all of us had the a choice to make when it came to supporting a candidate for president in 2005. With the same United Nations in Liberia and with 22 candidates wanting to be president, ominous clouds hanging over them or not, some of us chose and continue to support Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to guarantee the future of our country. It is that setup that has General Butt Naked roaming about today as a pastor in Liberia. It is that setup that has Prince Johnson and many others in the Senate and House of Representatives.
The whole thing is a sad phenomenon; but that is the reality of our time. Liberia cannot just sit there. Our people need time to heal in a peaceful environment. The past five years have provided that peace. Our people are getting their lives back. It may not be the perfect, all-encompassing way we want it to be; but all in all, good things are happening and we must appreciate and be grateful for what is transpiring in Liberia.
With all of this in play, the TRC should have come in, hear the stories of the atrocities, recommend reconciliation, and allow the Liberian people to move forward with their lives. To undo what was agreed to in 2003 will open up a new Pandora Box that we may not be able to reseal.
After what you have just read, and knowing all that you know, what do you think?
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Promoting the Positives
Some are hammering the President for not accomplisning anything since she took over the presidency in Liberia five years ago. I couldn't let that pass me by without kicking and screaming. I wrote this to the editor or Frontpageafrica:
Weedor and Flomo are best friends. Weedor has an inquiring mind. Flomo, on the other hand, is not too accommodating and wishes they were playing soccer instead:
Weedor: My man Flomo, come here let me ask you something.
Flomo: Weedor, my man, I coming; let me finish eating my cold bowl
Weedor: OK, but hurry up.
Flomo: OK, Weedor, what is it you want to ask me?
Weedor: Flomo, I know you are a big Unity Party man and you go around here boasting about it. What have you and the oldma done for the Liberian people?
Flomo: Weedor my man, don't give me hard time. Don't you listen to ELBC; don't you watch TV?
Weedor: Da all you will tell me? I don't listen to ELBC and I don't watch TV. Don't give me cheek; just tell me what your Party has accomplished in five years.
The sentiments from Weedor are the same concerns being voiced out by most Liberians living in the Diaspora. Unity Party members and sympathizers are of the opinion that the accomplishments of the past five years by the government are not being enthusiastically conveyed to the world. If the good news is out there, most people are not aware.
An all-out war on information dissemination needs to be taking place, for if the government does not sell itself, no one will know what is happening. Right now, people are wrapping themselves around the negatives and are completely oblivious of the positive things that the government of Liberia has accomplished.
Corruption has overshadowed news of the new Fendell campus of the University of Liberia. Corruption has covered over the news of the modern-day hospital in Tappita. How many Liberians have been employed since the beginning of 2010? How many schools have been refurbished and how is the transportation business in the country?
How is the hospital in Tappita being staffed? Is the hospital functioning in any capacity? How are the people in Belle Yalla? Are they benefiting from the road that just connected their town to greater Liberia, since 1847? How are the road conditions from Grand Gedeh to Maryland? What's in the pipeline when it comes to modernizing our highways?
Right now, the government of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf needs an Ed Bouey (sp), the roving reporter. Liberians need to know about all the positives in every nook and in every corner of the country, since Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took the ship of state. No positive stone should be left unturned. Liberians all over the world want to be able to boast about accomplishments. The opposition will take care of the negatives, but the positives must prevail, especially as elections season draws near.
Another thing that needs tackling is the eye sore that is West Point. The government cannot afford to allow the opposition to mesmerize the people of West Point with rhetoric and good-for-nothing talk. West Point has been in the news since I first heard about the place. And that was during the Tolbert administration. My sister lives there; I have been there. The place is an insult to humanity. West Point is a project that the government must take head-on with an infusion of cash and humanitarian efforts.
No matter how tough our people are, replacing those shacks with high-rise apartment buildings will change minds in West Point and other areas in similar condition. Is anything in the pipeline regarding these areas? We want to hear about it.
Finally, and for once in a long time, the Iron Lady has done something that many of her supporters wish she had initiated long ago. If EJS can hire you, EJS has the constitutional right to also fire you, especially if a pile of documents on her desk continues to implicate people she thought were genuine and patriotic, honest and trustworthy.
It was a good thing that the president threw out the babies with the bath water. Those loud-mouth and crying babies will remain out there, wet and dazed and sore. The good babies will be picked up, wrapped up, hugged, and brought back into the house. Unlike God and Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf made sure the good and wicked suffered the wrath, knowing all along that the good ones will prevail over evil doers.
Information, information, information! We want to hear all the positive news about happenings in Liberia since January, 2006. The Ministry of Information must make this priority number one. Information in this age should not be scarce.
Weedor and Flomo are best friends. Weedor has an inquiring mind. Flomo, on the other hand, is not too accommodating and wishes they were playing soccer instead:
Weedor: My man Flomo, come here let me ask you something.
Flomo: Weedor, my man, I coming; let me finish eating my cold bowl
Weedor: OK, but hurry up.
Flomo: OK, Weedor, what is it you want to ask me?
Weedor: Flomo, I know you are a big Unity Party man and you go around here boasting about it. What have you and the oldma done for the Liberian people?
Flomo: Weedor my man, don't give me hard time. Don't you listen to ELBC; don't you watch TV?
Weedor: Da all you will tell me? I don't listen to ELBC and I don't watch TV. Don't give me cheek; just tell me what your Party has accomplished in five years.
The sentiments from Weedor are the same concerns being voiced out by most Liberians living in the Diaspora. Unity Party members and sympathizers are of the opinion that the accomplishments of the past five years by the government are not being enthusiastically conveyed to the world. If the good news is out there, most people are not aware.
An all-out war on information dissemination needs to be taking place, for if the government does not sell itself, no one will know what is happening. Right now, people are wrapping themselves around the negatives and are completely oblivious of the positive things that the government of Liberia has accomplished.
Corruption has overshadowed news of the new Fendell campus of the University of Liberia. Corruption has covered over the news of the modern-day hospital in Tappita. How many Liberians have been employed since the beginning of 2010? How many schools have been refurbished and how is the transportation business in the country?
How is the hospital in Tappita being staffed? Is the hospital functioning in any capacity? How are the people in Belle Yalla? Are they benefiting from the road that just connected their town to greater Liberia, since 1847? How are the road conditions from Grand Gedeh to Maryland? What's in the pipeline when it comes to modernizing our highways?
Right now, the government of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf needs an Ed Bouey (sp), the roving reporter. Liberians need to know about all the positives in every nook and in every corner of the country, since Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took the ship of state. No positive stone should be left unturned. Liberians all over the world want to be able to boast about accomplishments. The opposition will take care of the negatives, but the positives must prevail, especially as elections season draws near.
Another thing that needs tackling is the eye sore that is West Point. The government cannot afford to allow the opposition to mesmerize the people of West Point with rhetoric and good-for-nothing talk. West Point has been in the news since I first heard about the place. And that was during the Tolbert administration. My sister lives there; I have been there. The place is an insult to humanity. West Point is a project that the government must take head-on with an infusion of cash and humanitarian efforts.
No matter how tough our people are, replacing those shacks with high-rise apartment buildings will change minds in West Point and other areas in similar condition. Is anything in the pipeline regarding these areas? We want to hear about it.
Finally, and for once in a long time, the Iron Lady has done something that many of her supporters wish she had initiated long ago. If EJS can hire you, EJS has the constitutional right to also fire you, especially if a pile of documents on her desk continues to implicate people she thought were genuine and patriotic, honest and trustworthy.
It was a good thing that the president threw out the babies with the bath water. Those loud-mouth and crying babies will remain out there, wet and dazed and sore. The good babies will be picked up, wrapped up, hugged, and brought back into the house. Unlike God and Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf made sure the good and wicked suffered the wrath, knowing all along that the good ones will prevail over evil doers.
Information, information, information! We want to hear all the positive news about happenings in Liberia since January, 2006. The Ministry of Information must make this priority number one. Information in this age should not be scarce.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Remembering November 12, 1985
After all that we have gone through, many are still inciting the minds of our people toward the same evil that almost ended our existence as a people. I still remember vividly what some of us experienced:
The talk of the town after the incident of November 12, 1985 was that General Quiwonkpa came with a Bible in his right hand to overthrow a military government. Apparently, the people of Liberia wanted a blood bath; for what happened in 1979 and 1980 was not horrendous enough to rattle their psyche. When the tide changed, the General was accused of being a weakling.
Then the witch hunt began and many people lost their lives. Then came 1989, and more and more people died. What General Quiwonkpa did not do to the Liberia people, others of more vicious minds and character did.
What happened to us will never leave our minds. It's like an indelible ink on the face of a stone.The evil deeds of our past are now in the history books for generations unborn to read and talk about. One thing we should all commit to:We should never, ever allow the devious and destructive past to ever show its ugly head again. We should never again encourage war; we should never again raise the rhetoric to a level that will open up the wounds that almost ended our existence as a people.
Those that died in our war did not die, I think, so that we the living can further tear each other apart. Those that died from 1979 to 1989 and the 250,000 or more who made the ultimate sacrifice from 1990 to 2003 did not passed so that we become more vocal to cause another mayhem. The blood shed was shed so that we pick up the pieces and move on into a brighter future.
Showcasing the skulls and bones of our dead relatives is not a good way to remind us of our past. As we reflect on the incident of November 12, 1985 as well as other dark days in our country's history, we should always be reminded that those who died want us to remember them by lifting ourselves up in unity to build our lives and the country they loved and left behind.
The talk of the town after the incident of November 12, 1985 was that General Quiwonkpa came with a Bible in his right hand to overthrow a military government. Apparently, the people of Liberia wanted a blood bath; for what happened in 1979 and 1980 was not horrendous enough to rattle their psyche. When the tide changed, the General was accused of being a weakling.
Then the witch hunt began and many people lost their lives. Then came 1989, and more and more people died. What General Quiwonkpa did not do to the Liberia people, others of more vicious minds and character did.
What happened to us will never leave our minds. It's like an indelible ink on the face of a stone.The evil deeds of our past are now in the history books for generations unborn to read and talk about. One thing we should all commit to:We should never, ever allow the devious and destructive past to ever show its ugly head again. We should never again encourage war; we should never again raise the rhetoric to a level that will open up the wounds that almost ended our existence as a people.
Those that died in our war did not die, I think, so that we the living can further tear each other apart. Those that died from 1979 to 1989 and the 250,000 or more who made the ultimate sacrifice from 1990 to 2003 did not passed so that we become more vocal to cause another mayhem. The blood shed was shed so that we pick up the pieces and move on into a brighter future.
Showcasing the skulls and bones of our dead relatives is not a good way to remind us of our past. As we reflect on the incident of November 12, 1985 as well as other dark days in our country's history, we should always be reminded that those who died want us to remember them by lifting ourselves up in unity to build our lives and the country they loved and left behind.
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