MONROVIA – Rev. J. Emmanuel Z. Bowier once told FrontPageAfrica that there was going to be fallout between former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and President-elect George Manneh Weah, just as the fallout happened between former Presidents Edwin J. Barclay and William V. S. Tubman in 1955. When Rev. Bowier, who was once the country’s Minister of Information, Cultural and Tourism, had made his prediction back in January 2018, President Weah was not yet inaugurated into office as the President of Liberia though he was now President-elect.
Report by Mae Azango [email protected]
Rev. Bowier, who is regarded in some quarters of Liberia as a walking historian and a storyteller, also spoke about the President’s foreign wife, Mrs. Clar M. Duncan-Weah, the President’s advisors and some of those who work in his Cabinet.
The Barclay-Tubman Fallout
Drawing the similarities between the Barclay and Tubman vs. Sirleaf and Weah alleged fallouts, former Information Minister Bowier had narrated that when Tubman became President, daily Barclay would call him so that he (Barclay) could run the show in the background.
“Until one day according to the old people, when Barclay called, Tubman got angry and told him to stop calling and disturbing him because what he Barclay could not do as President, he should now give him (Tubman) chance to run the country his own way. Barclay got angry and said since he put Tubman in power, he would take Tubman out. So, Barclay formed an Independent True Whig Party (ITWP) to take Tubman out of power,” he said adding that the situation dragged on from 1945 until 1955, when it turned bad. Tubman accused the independent group of trying to assassinate him and they were hunted. That led to the death of David Coleman, who was the former Secretary of the Interior, now Minister of Internal Affairs.
“January 17, 2018, I told this newspaper that I foresaw a falling out between former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and President George Manneh Weah. It would be like the Edwin J. Barclay and William V. S. Tubman fallout that led to the 1955 crisis and to the death of President Barclay. What brought Ellen and Weah together is no longer holding, because I think you can remember that when President Weah was running for the presidency, he assured us that one of his priorities would be to protect former President Sirleaf and her interests, but could you consider what happened few weeks ago as protecting her or her interests?
“So if you see a calmed man and think you can control him, take care, because he could just backfire and get out of control. So, this is how Barclay and Tubman fell out. Therefore, the unfolding between Madam Sirleaf and President-elect Weah is something to watch. Do you see what I see?” Bowier had asked back in January 2018.
Speaking from his Garden of Peace Residents in Sinkor, Rev. Bowier said President Weah and former President Sirleaf started falling out before Mr. Charles Sirleaf, the son of former Pres. Sirleaf, went to jail. And from his own thinking the fallout between Weah and Sirleaf is just starting; adding: “There are more to follow.”
“Both Weah and Madam Sirleaf were born in October, and during my days on radio, I referred to former Pres. Sirleaf as the October rain. The October rain is a rain that comes without a drizzle, because one minute, you could be walking under the hot sun, and all of a sudden, it comes down and soaks you wet, without a warning. So when you think the war is over with Madam Sirleaf, her war is just starting. In her own way, she will show that she did not like what happened. I do not think anybody would be happy that their son was jailed. Sirleaf has fought many battles, and she did not make noise when she fought those battles,” he narrated.
According to him, they started falling out when former Liberian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amb. Lewis Browne was authorized by Pres. Sirleaf to vote against the movement of the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. And that was the first time in history that Liberia voted against Israel’s interest. But now with Pres. Weah’s recent visit to Israel, it speaks volume.
“I watched on national television at his party headquarters, President-elect George Weah during their campaign, said he and his VP-elect had gone to Israel and they visited the tomb of Jesus. He was so moved that he held his VP’s hands and they prayed together for peace in Liberia. Weah said: ‘I can assure you that Jesus is alive and Israel is alive.’ I told my wife that by Weah making that statement, he had changed what former Pres. Sirleaf’s government did by voting against Israel.
Why a foreign First Lady
Narrating further, Rev. Bowier said Pres. Tubman was the first Pres. to have a foreign First Lady, who was called Marth Pratt. Madam Pratt had hailed from Sierra Leone. Saying that Mr. Weah is the second President to have a foreign First Lady, Rev. Bowier wonders why Mrs. Weah is still considered a “foreign First Lady” when the President has the right to declare his wife a citizen as long as she is of Negro descent.
“I am saying this because in the 1960s, there was a man called Mass Sarr, Sr. who used to play football; he was a foreigner. There was a time for Liberia Lone Star to play Ghana Black Star, the captain of Lone Star told Tubman that if Mass Sarr did not play the game, Liberia was not going to win the game because he was not a citizen and only Tubman, who was the President, could solve that problem. Tubman called Mass Sarr to the Executive Mansion and openly declared him citizen and Mass Sarr played the game and scored the only wining goal for Liberia. The President of Liberia has the right to declare any person of Negro descent citizen on sight. So if he has not declared his own wife citizen, then I wonder why,” former Information Minister Bowier further narrated.
Weah’s Advisors
Touching on the President’s advisors, Bowier said he does not know all of Weah’s advisors. He, however, added that he knows a few of them who were in past governments as far back as former Pres. Samuel K. Doe’s government in the 1980s.
Rev. Bowier refused to be drawn into the debates as to whether the President’s advisors are ill-advising him and that he doesn’t think for himself.
“I am saying this because when I was Minister of Information under President Doe, Doe did not swallow up everything he was told. Whenever someone had told President Doe something, he would tell that person he has heard what he or she said and thereafter, he would call other people and discuss it with them to get their views. If the people around Pres. Weah put him in an emotional situation and want him to act immediately, without thinking and discussing with others, then they are not doing him well,” he said.
Bowier further explained that from his experience as former Information Minister, he knows that people around the President usually form little cliques and try to use the President to get at others.
“For example, you will come to me and we will go to the President and tell him there is a Minister on his team that is not in his best interest. After two days, we will connive with two other ministers, who, too, will go and tell the President the same thing, and by then, the President is too angry to think, so he will just announce that the person be fired.” According to Bowier, he still sees the same scenario playing today in the present Liberian government. “It has not changed; so, under President Weah that game is still being played. If he is happy with those around him, he can keep them, but if he is not, he knows what to do. There is a book I teach at the Foreign Service Institute: it is called ‘Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way.’