THIS NEWSPAPER, many Liberians and even our foreign friends are at the moment baffled that the Liberian Government or more precisely the Office of President George Manneh Weah has not come out publically to rebuke the non-sense spewed out recently by ex-rebel general Augustine Nagbe, notoriously known as “General Power.”
THIS REBELLIOUS LIBERIAN MAN, who hails from Grand Kru County, on Thursday, November 21, appeared on a local radio and threatened to organize members of his ethnic Kru tribe to form a force that would rise in defense of President George Manneh Weah, should anyone try to attack the President. President Weah himself is a Kru man from Sass town, Grand Kru County.
‘GENERAL POWER’ had been invited on the Prime FM Morning Drive to speak to some issues relating to his role in Liberia’s war, his involvement with the closure of Roots FM owned and operated by Weah’s critic Henry Costa and his involvement in the attempt to summon Montserrado County District 10 Representative Yekeh Korlubah by ex-combatants for his ‘strong’ statements against President Weah.
ACCORDING TO HIM, he is a proud Kru man and would be ever ready to use his military training for the defense of the Kru people. He also pledged to defend the President.
“I’M A KRU WARRIOR; I’m the warrior for the Kru people – I don’t care how anybody takes it. We’re in Liberia but I’ll always defend my Kru people, trust me. Today, we’ve got a Kru man in power, but I don’t have power, I will not talk to him anyhow, when the time comes, he’ll bring me to government. He’s the Commander-in-Chief of the Republic of Liberia. I’ll defend him and if anybody tries to molest him, the way they had Lofa Defense Force, you’ll see the Kru Defense Force,” he said.
THIS IS ONE OF THE STUPIDEST comments that should be swift to condemn by every well-meaning Liberian. Especially the government’s silence on this has left most people wondering why the government is sitting idly when such Mephistophelian comments have been made against the State? Its silence on this issue since Thursday is also making its critics to think that it is in total acquiesce of this careless statement that should not be made ever in Liberia.
THIS NOTORIOUS FORMER rebel commander is the 62nd person among those labelled by Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) final report as a perpetrator of gross human rights abuses. During the TRC hearings in Monrovia, a woman from West Point told the TRC under oath that ‘General Power’ forced her at gun point to eat a large can of feces.
NO CIVILIZED PERSON or group of persons should associate themselves with such person especially when the TRC has labelled his crimes to include “Torture, looting and destruction of property.”
WHILE THE GOVERNMENT wants to be in bed with this mass murderer, who tortured, looted and destroyed ordinary Liberians’ properties during the senseless civil war, some Liberians won’t succumb to his tantrum or threats of war.
WHEN HE MADE HIS stupid comments, that very same hour, Liberians began to express their frustration at his low depraved self, which is evidenced by the lady said at the TRC hearings and the TRC’s finding.
THOSE LIBERIANS WHO called to participate on the show while General Power was still on the air, were mainly concerned about his silly comment on his formation of Kru Defense Force. One Cooper Passawe, who called in said, “I listened to Power and I want to send this caveat to Power, never in your whole life talk about tribal issues, you can’t defend the President more than any Liberian here, so your Kru issue, keep it to yourself because when you get to the public talking about tribal things, it causes serious problem for the country.
PASSAWE CONTINUED: “The war you fought, the pregnant women who you guys tore their stomachs and took out babies and ate, and y’all ate human hearts, is the same thing you guys are still carrying around on your minds. We’re Liberians, we are not discussing anything about tribal issues.”
FOR EMMANUEL SAAH, he said, “Liberia is the only country you see ex-rebel leader, people who massacre peaceful people to be masquerading and boasting on a talk show. I don’t know where we are heading, under this government, you can see people having press conference boasting that they killed people.”
WHILE THE GOVERNMENT is still dragging its feet to dissociate itself from such stupid statement, a lawmaker, who represents the county in the House of Representatives, said, “I feel compelled in no uncertain terms to condemn my kinsman whose nom de guerre is General Power and urge him to cease and desist from talks of urban militarism. Similarly, I condemn all those engaged in incendiary rhetoric in the name of free speech. The Liberian state and people have endured much. Our common challenges must be faced with clasped hands one to another, not clutched fists.”
WE ARE URGING THE George Weah-led administration to now come out and strongly condemn General Power’s statement and dissociate themselves from him.
