The Editor,
The Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf era of governance was characterized by a lot contentious discussions in relation to the political opposition to the Johnson-Sirleaf administration.
As President, Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf deliberately hired some of the most loosely, if not, aggressive talking species, deploying them at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, but also at the Presidency with the nomenclature of Presidential Press Secretary.
One aim of the Johnson-Sirleaf information strategy was to ensure offensive propaganda geared toward putting the opposition to the administration on the defensive through dirty politicking.
Many instances of such offensive campaign suffice. However, for our purposes, the case of what was dubbed a ‘sex scandal’ implicating the loudly talking opposition politician, Simeon Freeman, is relevant.
In mid-2011, news broke that a 29-year old lady had accused Mr Simeon Freeman of the Movement for Progressive Change (MPC) of sexual abuse, that is, failing to settle his sex bill with her – after they both had sexual intercourse. Indeed, this was a damaging allegation on the character of Mr Freeman, who as a self-inflated opposition leader and presidential aspirant, preaches the message of integrity and morality within society, especially the public sector.
Simeon Freeman had his accuser and/or victim to contend with within the public domain amid massive media reporting of the so-called Simeon Freeman Sex Scandal.
Certainly, the Liberian publics as all publics take keen interest in sex news – whether a scandal or a genuine sexual intercourse between two consenting adults – which becomes publicly available, for example, through sex tapes or videos involving a Liberian.
Entangled in the sex scandal, Simeon Freeman found that his case was made even worse when the Johnson-Sirleaf administration officially took up the matter to further muddy the reputation of Simeon Freeman in the public domain. One of Johnson-Sirleaf’s revolving Information Ministers, Cletus Sieh, famously declared through a press conference that, “If he [Simeon Freeman] cannot keep his zip up, he must answer for his lifestyles”.
The remark by Minister Sieh served two purposes when viewed carefully: 1) that Simeon Freeman was involved in the sex act because his zippers were not always up; 2) that Simeon Freeman needed to be held accountable for his lifestyles of having sex with ladies and failing to settle his bill.
Simeon Freeman did not take Minister Sieh’s remark lightly. He hit back, reciprocating the very words: that it was the Information Minister and his boss President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who zippers were always down.
Keeping zippers up or having zippers always down are important metaphors to shield the vivid descriptions of the zest by men and women in relation to the conduct of conduct regarding sex.
In the wake of newest information implicating opposition politician, Mo Ali, Secretary General of the former ruling party of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf – the Unity Party- we must not be surprised if the George Weah administration through the Information Ministry takes up what is supposedly the Mo Ali Sex-Pregnancy-Abortion Scandal.
Will the Information Ministry tell Mo Ali to keep his zip up or answer for his lifestyles?
Julius Kullie Kanubah
[email protected]