The Editor,
Happy birthday, congratulations and all God’s blessings to you, Rodney Sieh, one of Liberia’s and our continent’s finest journalist.
Yours is a profession as difficult as it is dangerous. But it is necessary. And here I stand with Thomas Jefferson who famously declared: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter”.
But the newspaper must always strive for the truth.
It doesn’t have to be neutral, but it must always be judicious, always open-minded, never equivocal. Fortunately, you know all these things.
In any case, I am reminded that today is your birthday, and so this sermon is ordered to a halt.
Happy birthday, Rodney. Ad multos annos–many more years. Always remember the legacy of the man-pekin whose name you bear–Walter Rodney, brilliant West Indian writer and indefatigable fighter for the oppressed in the struggle against poverty and underdevelopment.
Dominus vobiscum–God be with you!
Dew Tuan Wleh Mayson
Lagos, Nigeria