Ms. Ade Wede Kekuleh, who served as Master of Ceremony for the launch of my 12-Chapter fiction Book—“GRADE SIN”—in the Township of West Point (Saturday, August 6, 2016), lost her mobile phone to an unknown person when she was on her way to the event’s venue: West Point’s Administrative Building. Her driver was on the wheel.
I met Ms. Kekuleh, my colleague at the Liberia Association of Writers (LAW), at the venue, read despondence inscribed on her face, and inquired about factors responsible for her sorrowful un-natural facial make-up.
She replied: “Somebody in the community snatched my phone from my hand on the West Point’s Main Street while I was on my way to here (program’s event). My driver was driving. One young man appeared at my side of the car and told me somebody was lifting the booth of my car. I looked behind to see the person lifting my car’s booth and I felt my phone leave my hand. My phone disappeared with the young man who told me somebody was opening the booth of my car.”
I was distraught by the phone-snatching, especially it happening on the crowded West Point’s ‘Broad Street’ at clear daylight! I began pondering: Why God allowed this to happen on the day I, a prominent West Pointer, am launching my Book in the community, which is aimed at showing the Township’s good image to outsiders? What was emotionally tormenting me most about the missing phone was a portion of Ms. Kekuleh’s narration: “I’m in West Point ten years after my last visit in the community.”
To Ms. Kekuleh’s last words, I reacted: “Ay! That’s a bad stain on my Public Relation stunt through the launch of my Book!”
Empathetically, Ms. Kekuleh said at the end of the program: “I cannot say all West Pointers are thieves on one person snatching my mobile phone.” But this comment—from a real intelligent mind—couldn’t soothe my emotional pain from the action of my ‘colleague’ who stole the phone. I felt, from this experience, Ms. Kekuleh would hold the general outsiders’ perception of my community.
But God intervened! West Point, Mr. Sampson J. Nyan, who is my kinsman of the Wedabo ethnic group of Grand Kru County, traced the snatched phone on the same day (after Ms. Kekuleh had left the community) at where the snatcher took and kept it: a “Base” anything stolen from outsiders, which is under the custody of the “leadership” in the thieves of the Township.
Commissioner Nyan returned the phone to Ms. Kekuleh three days later. But the thief had removed most of the phone’s features—installed by its owner—before the community’s political leader reached it!
During a brief discussion on the retrieved phone, I told Commissioner Nyan: “The eternal disappearance of this phone would have eternally rubbished my image-laundering effort through my Book launch and would have undermined the effort of your leadership to provide maximum security to visitors to the community as you do for those living here.”
Commissioner Nyan replied to my presumption: “You’re right, Sam. Thank God, it didn’t go that way.”
On another Saturday—exactly two weeks after my Book launch in West Point—I witnessed a scene in the community—relating to Ms. Ade Wede Kekuleh’s experience in the community two weeks earlier. I was on my way to the home of my mother and my stepfather in West Point.
When I entered West Point’s Street, from Water Street, I saw a large group of fearsome-looking young men (majority in tattered clothes) escorting two Lebanese nationals (man and woman) together toward the community’s entrance.
I asked one of two men, beside the Water Street branch of Ecobank (Liberia), about cause of the incidence.
One replied: “One of their colleagues jerked the white man’s phone. Some of the other guys went for the phone where the jerkers took the phone—where the gronna boys’ leadership is based. But the huge group of gronna boys is now escorting the white man and his wife, all demanding for a ‘tip’ from the white man on each person’s contributing to the rescue of the phone.”
“These guys are jerking phone on the street in daylight when a Police Depot is near to this place?” I asked the two guys, referring to the West Point’s Police Station which is few meters away from where the other guy told me the phone was snatched.
“The Police here appeared unable to stop the ‘gronna’ boys in West Point,” the other guy told me. “West Point Police officers pass here every minute and things like this happen every day. It’s worst especially around the Johansen area. ‘Gronna’ boys here attack innocent people with knives or pieces of broken bottles and stab broad daylight and take away things. Several times they have stabbed their prey that refused to surrender their possessions. The West Point’s Police Command is aware of everything, but appeared unable to stop these terrorists.”
Minutes later, I sent an SMS to West Point Commissioner Mr. Sampson J. Nyan, explaining what I saw, the two guys’ comments, and how criminal activities like this in “our good community” would undermine his leadership’s security provision-related efforts in the community if not curtailed in time.
The Commissioner replied to my text message: “We’re working on it…”
Majority of people living outside of West Point only perceive the community as nothing but a den of criminals, while others think the Township’s educated people can’t produce anything with high academic/intellectual stature.
I launched GRADE SIN in West Point (where I lived from nine months to 15 years) for two reasons: to dispel outsiders’ perception or myth of West Point being only a place for criminals and academically or intellectually impotent persons; and to preach to appeal to the Township’s young people to use their acquired education or their respective talents to survive, in place of making ends meet through criminal means that would attract outsiders’ stereotype toward the entire community.
GRADE SIN is about problems in the education sector of Liberia, with much focus on bribery and sexual exploitation for grades, and students’ use of mobile phone and sound recorder to expose grades-related crimes.
Not All the Eggs Spoiled
Majority of the people (especially the youth) living in West Point survive through criminal means. This is the case as it was before the civil period. For pre-war time, I am speaking on personal knowledge. I, too, took part in the ‘snatching’. I did that—at night—on bread sold by Ghanaian women living in the community, besides my ‘honorable survival methods’—selling bottles (with my childhood friend Ebenezer ‘Bobby’ Koffa who is now a university graduate and a classroom teacher) and serving as Kitchen Assistant (responsible for pounding dumboy and washing kitchen utensils) at a Restaurant owned by a Ghanaian woman in the community. But the criminal rate in West Point nowadays and the perpetrators’ innovative methods of doing it is worse than the pre-war’s.
Many original West Pointers blame the post-war’s ‘terrifying survival methods’ on the ‘migrants’ (displaced people from other communities).
However, there are hundreds of good people (non-criminals) living in West Point. And the community has produced many good people who are now living outside. Here is a short list:
Frank ‘Jericho’ Nagbe (Sports) a footballer, who represented Liberia through the country’s senior national football team, the Lone Star, in 1975. In 1979, he played for Liberia when the country hosted the six-nation Reconciliation Tournament between Liberia, Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Togo, and Gambia.
Kofi Woods, who would become an Attorney-at-Law, later becoming one of Liberia’s popular Human Rights Lawyer, and, later, the Minister of Public Works of the Republic of Liberia.
Abraham Keita, who at age 17 won the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2015.
Others ‘products’ of West Point are: Alex Tyler, who would be the Speaker of Liberia’s 53rd Legislature, and Brownie Samuka, who would be the Minister of National Defense during the presidency of Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Then, for writing, you have the Author of this article: Samuel G. Dweh—Educator, an Author, and a Publisher of an education newspaper (Edu-Diary).
Causes Of ‘Terrifying Survival Methods’
Majority of people living in West Point—one of the impoverished communities in Liberia’s capital—can’t read or write and do not have career knowledge that creates a direct link for a person to sources of livelihood in the ‘honorable work’ market. A larger percent of young people in this group of ‘jobless group’ just stepped out of their country’s civil (some took up arm with warring factions during the war) war in which they survived through robbery. Even some of those who are ‘career people’—in the fishing industry (one of West Point’s pre-war leading economic activities) have turned to theft or robbery. This swift is due to slow-down in this sector, beginning from the war time when West Point-based armed persons of the warring faction controlling the Township were shooting anybody in a canoe over part of the sea in West Point.
The robbery method of survival—added to prostitution (an age-old trade in West Point)—has beclouded outsiders’ knowledge of ‘honorable survival methods’—petty-trading and transport business (motorcycle riding came in when the civil war ended) in which forty percent of West Pointers (old and young) currently engaged in for ‘honorable survival’.
Can West Pointers Drop “Terrifying Survival Methods” For “Honorable Ones”?
To this question, I would respond with a resounding “yes”. But all ‘privileged’ products of West Point (including Samuel G. Dweh and those mentioned earlier) should begin facilitating the ‘job swap’. We should not wait for the ruling political entity (Government) that would come in only to evacuate victims of sea erosion, or a top government official that will come in only to distribute foods and drinks or T-Shirts to gullible West Pointers, or to renovate the Township’s Football fields when he/she need West Pointer’s votes during election time.
Recommendations For The ‘Job Swap’
The first thing we—‘advantaged West Pointers’—can do is connect these disadvantaged and hopeless ‘colleagues’ to our factories or our friends’ factories to work and earn cash regularly and forget the ‘first love’ (criminal survival method)
Another method of ‘attitudinal change’ method we can use is establish daily or monthly vocational skills programs—soap-making, sewing, etc. for these ‘outcasts’ to have a feeling of being ‘honorably employed economically’ and feel being a part of the ‘civilized part’ of the larger society. After facilitating their learning a vocation, we should regularly patronize (purchase) their products (soap, dresses, etc). Our buying their goods will motivate them to produce more and come up with outstanding designs for the global market.
My third recommendation is run regular Talents Discovery Program (TDP) and Talents Promotion Shows (THS) in singing, dancing, music, comedy, drawing, etc for these ‘talents-carrying’ (think about pregnancy) ‘ignored nation-builders’ (each of them has a natural ability Liberia needs to develop). When they are singing, dancing, making other people laugh, etc for money, they would forget robbing other people as the survival method they know now. Other countries’ citizens, worried about unemployment among majority of young people in their nations, see talent-hunt and talent-promotion as another innovative method of ‘job creation’ and ‘frustration-easer’ in their countries. Liberians concerned about ‘terrifying survival methods’ by ‘economically disconnected’ West Pointers should begin doing same.
The fourth thing is to demolish the ‘Criminal Structure’ (Base) where those who send out persons to rob other people sit comfortably, so that the ‘Commanders’ and their ‘errand boys/girls’ would have nowhere to hide. On this, we should work with the national government.
Only education, and our empathy with our ‘iron heart’ can turn West Pointers’ attention from ‘terrifying survival methods’.
About the Author:
Samuel G. Dweh, a product of ‘demonized’ West Point Township, is a journalist (with special interest in Education), Publisher of Edu-Diary (education newspaper); creative writer; Author of an education novel titled GRADE SIN (and five other books of fiction), member of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), and member of the Liberia Association of Writers (LAW). 0886 618 906 – E-mail: [email protected]