Monrovia – The Friends of Brumskine (FOB) International has organized the first its kind, the Charles Walker Brumskine Memorial Lecture Series on his 70th birth anniversary at the auditorium of the University of Liberia main campus.
The event, under the theme “Building a Nation-State on the platform of Rule of Law and Good Governance”, brought together several partisans of the Liberty Party and prominent individuals including former Vice President Joseph Boakai.
Rather than mourning, it was a scene of celebrating the late legal practitioner who many saw as a custodian of the rule of law and good governance.
Four grade school students, three from the Issac A Davis High School and one from the J.J. Roberts United Methodist School brilliantly read a poem written by the late father of the Liberty Party entitles, “We are Liberia”.
Also, for most parts of the event, excerpts from the late Cllr. Brumskine’s major policy speeches echo in the hall bringing back the memory of one of Liberia’s renowned legal practitioners and politicians.
According to the Friend of Brumskine, the purpose of the lecture series is to create the Charles Walker Brumskine Foundation for the rule of law and integrity in Liberia.
Reading a special statement from the Brumskine family, the daughter of the late Cllr. Brumskine, Atty. Charlyne Brumskine said her mother was the one who wrote down the wording but was unable to be present at the launch of the Charles Walker Brumskine Memorial Lecture Series.
Atty. Brumskine, reading the statement on behalf her mother, praised the Friends of Brumskine International for organizing the event in his honor and keeping his legacy alive.
“The Friends of Brumskine and my late husband go back a long way from those days, in the United States where the Friends of Brumskine was born. I vividly remember the strategic meetings, the various trips, and programs all in the interest of reforming, reconciling, and rebuilding our nation,” Atty. Brumskine said.
Giving the keynote address, the former president of the National Bar Association Cllr. N. Oswald Tweh said for any nation to progress, such a nation needs to uphold the rule of law and practice good governance.
This, the learned legal practitioner added that, is the responsibility of both the government and the citizens.
“The government is under the obligation to ensure that the rule of law is upheld at all times and will need all its institutions to practice good governance. Likewise, the citizens must be willing and ready to hold the government accountable for upholding the rule of law and practicing good governance. The citizens should also ensure that they, too, uphold the rule of law and practice good governance,” Cllr. Tweh said.
He added: “Citizens cannot be yelling when the government does something wrong and they too are in the wrong for not upholding the rule of law, by not seeking redress through the court, not by the mean of mob justice.”
Also speaking, Liberia former Ambassador to the United Nation Mr. Lewis Brown was one of the panelists. Ambassador Brown told the audience that the late Cllr. Brumskine was a man committed to the peaceful resolution for the betterment of Liberia.
“Cllr. Brumskine was one person when I served as a negotiator; I relied on him for guidance. He was a servant of justice, a soldier of justice also. He was committed to the conduct of free and fair elections. Even when he felt cheated in the election, he ran to the court,” Ambassador Brown said.
Also, former Justice Minister Benedict Sannoh who was one of the panelists said the late Cllr. Brumskine as a legal practitioner himself has given him lots of courage over the years.
“We got to continue the work that Charles Walker Brumskine started,” former Justice Minister Sannoh said.
According to Cllr. Sannoh, more awareness need to be done for citizens to be informed about the rule of law and good governance.
Cllr. Sannoh added: “All of us get affected when the rule of law is silent. One man cannot silence this country, we silence ourselves. If we are going to keep the frames of Charles Brumskine alive, we got to hold on to the rule of law.”
Adding up, the former Chairman of Liberty Party Senator Steve Zargo of Lofa County called on partisans both home and abroad to come together in one accord.
“Liberty Party has to reconcile. I am calling on all of you in the diaspora that the code value of Liberty Party is reconciliation. We got to reconcile,” Senator Zargo said.