Monrovia – It was a scene of family fight between two siblings of the late Tommy Bernard over ownership of property. President George Weah’s Legal Adviser, Cllr. Archibald F. Bernard and his sister, Ms. Puchu Bernard, got into an altercation on Saturday, February 8. The property in question is in the Bernard compound at the back of the headquarters of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).
Report by Henry Karmo, [email protected] & Alaskai Moore Johnson, [email protected]
According to Ms. Bernard, older sister of Archibald, she had ordered some contractors to bring bricks and dirt to some work for her when her brother prevented them while she was away. When she got the news, she came home and re-ordered the contractors to do the work in her presence, which allegedly led him to pick a fight with her.
She told this newspaper, that the Saturday incident was just one of the many fusses they have had over the right to property. She further alleges that since he was appointed Legal Adviser to President Weah, he is always trying to take control of everything their father left behind.
She narrated: “While trying to put the bricks together, he said ‘If anyone puts it there, I will jail them.’ I am tired; he’s been doing too many things to me. So I got angry and went to him with my fingers pointed to his face and then he pushed me down to the grounds and attempted to beat me; people tried to stop him he also pushed one of the guys who tried to stop him on top of me.”
She further narrated that besides that, he has had her in court over a lease of a gas station she did.
Among her many allegations without proof against her brother, Ms. Bernard spoke of him being a child molester. She also said he stole US$25,000 from the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC).
According to her, it was because of this stealing that led to the termination of his contract with the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC).
“He wants to control everything; my father left this place in his will to eight of us. When I receive money from the gas station that’s on lease, I share with everyone. I am Tommy Bernard’s first child; I am tired with that nonsense,” she said, dejectedly.
The situation between the siblings started in 2011 when Cllr. Bernard, while in living in the US, sent money to his sister to carryout some renovation works on part of the properties.
“He accused me of misapplying his money; which was not the case. I did the renovation works.
“I didn’t like the accusation so I stopped speaking to him and that has been the situation between him and me. From the moment he accused me and my son, I stopped speaking to him. It was just too much today. I am 70 years old, imagine I could have broken anything.”
“While trying to put the bricks together, he said ‘If anyone puts it there, I will jail them.’ I am tired; he’s been doing too many things to me. So I got angry and went to him with my fingers pointed to his face and then he pushed me down to the grounds and attempted to beat me; people tried to stop him he also pushed one of the guys who tried to stop him on top of me.”
– Puchu Bernard
Cllr. Bernard’s sister was the last head of the Civil Service Agency (CSA) during the regime of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. When President Weah took over, she spent few months in the position before she was replaced.
Responding to all the allegations from his sister, Cllr. Bernard termed them, “They are all boldface lies.”
65-year-old Cllr. Bernard in turn accused his sister of being “greedy” and wanting to disenfranchise their other siblings from their late father, Mr. Tommy Bernard’s properties.
“Our father had 15 children but she is saying we are only eight because our other brothers and sisters are from so-called country women and so she doesn’t want to recognize them as having right to the properties. Over my dead body, my father told me that those are his children, I can’t change it. My mother even advised me against doing so. They are my brothers and sisters and they are entitled to the properties, too,” he insisted.
On the Saturday incident, he stated that she had directly confronted him and hit him behind his head when he stopped the workers. “When she attempted to push me, she tripped and fell. Then I began to laugh at her telling her that her pressure was about to get high again.” In stern words, he added: “She crossed the line by hitting me. She must never try it again. She was very lucky my wife was there to calm me down.”
According to him, his nephew (her son) mismanaged his US$15,000 he had sent for the renovation. “I went to see her when she was heading the Civil Servant Agency and to lay her son’s complain, she told me, ‘John palm oil wastes John’s rice.’”
Also, he suggested that this newspaper follows up with the LEC and the MCC on the allegation that he stole US$25,000 from the entity.
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