Senator Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence knows what is right and just. And also, what is wrong.
By Gboko Stewart, Contributing Writer
Under immense pressure from the public, she admitted, howbeit belatedly in a curtsy of shame, that their action to accept bribe—coined euphemistically as “operational funds”—to do a piece of job they are overly paid for, was downright wrong and borders on insensitivity and the abuse of human and people rights.
Her admittance comes in the wake of a vendor reportedly ordered to be beaten by Speaker Bhofal Chambers for staging a protest over due debt for the painting of the grounds of the Capitol.
As a child of the renowned and revered man of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Rev. Dr. Abbaa Karnga of Grand Bassa County, Senator Karnga-Lawrence knows she would be veering off from the teachings of the upright household she was brought up in if she hadn’t come to penitence over her acceptance of thirty pieces of dirty silver at a time when the children of God have befallen a calamitous fate.
But her colleague and fellow Bassonian, Senator Abraham Darius Dillon of Montserrado County, believes otherwise.
Furious that the public has vested interest in his acceptance of bribe, amid his professed stance on transparency, accountability and anti-corruption, and continues to hound him and others over this, Senator Dillon remains indifferent, defiant and unapologetic over his acceptance of the US$6,500, much to the chagrin and consternation of his supporters.
Addressing a news conference at his Capitol Hill Office with the usual characteristic flair of nonchalance, Senator Dillon, rather than apologizing to the public over his insensitivity, error of judgement and inhumane action, threw a gauntlet that he would resign if it is indeed proven that the “operational funds” was a bribe meant to induce them into acquiescence to get the COVID-19 economic stimulus package and state of emergency declaration passed.
“With all my big mouth about integrity, if I had taken bribe unearth by any news agency or individual, I would resign today but this is a legitimate money, as probably unfair and untimely it may have been this money is legitimate,” he said, according to FrontPage Africa.
But Senator Dillon needs not look any further for the evidence he is desperately seeking. For, it stares back at him while he feigns blindness. His colleague, Senator Prince Y. Johnson, in an interview on a local radio station, admitted the money was indeed an inducement and, the amount in total was US$6,500, not US6,000 as earlier reported by the Senator of Montserrado.
Like Senator Karnga-Lawrence, Senator Johnson, no matter his shortcomings, is also guided by gospel of Jesus Christ as a pastor and is perhaps afraid of the divine comeuppance that comes with robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Senator Dillon’s adamant stance not to apologize, and his refusal to accept he has monumentally erred, is symptomatic of leadership defects on the African continent. Upon assuming leadership, many leaders in Africa, forgetting that leadership is a double-edged sword, believe they can do no wrong and are above reproach, even when the public sees otherwise.
Such is the sorry state of affairs with leadership in Africa. Elected leaders, like Senator Darius Dillon and others, feel unaccountable in words, actions and their deeds.
This was the same attitude exhibited by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, mother of Senator Dillon’s friend, Robert A. Sirleaf, when the once booming National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) went aground.
During the period of NOCAL’s boom, Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, who was then chief of office staff in the Office of the Special Advisor (OSA) and Chairman of the board, Robert A. Sirleaf, was sent to study at Strayer University, USA.
During this period, FrontPage Africa reported that students at the Marvi Sonii Public School in Clara Town were learning on the floor due to lack of chairs.
Thousands of wasted taxpayer dollars on room, board and tuition later, he would drop off and return without a remorse or the slightest consideration about the children in Clara Town who could have benefitted from the money wasted at Strayer.
It should not be forgotten that it was reportedly on the advice of Senator Dillon to the then board chair of NOCAL, Robert A. Sirleaf, that over US$900,000 was dished out to members of the Legislature to go on a road show in their various constituencies, explaining about Liberia’s black curse.
And when NOCAL went aground, President Sirleaf was full of praises for the chairman of the board and his team, which included Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, and switched the blame to herself for whatever wrong that may have gone there, rather than ordering an investigation and subsequently prosecution.
Today, we are left to wonder what really went wrong at NOCAL. Till date, there has been no audit over why NOCAL, once boasting of over US$50 million on its balance sheet, was left with less than US$500,000. The mystery of that is still shrouded in papal secrecy.
Strangely but not surprisingly, Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, who believes in transparency, accountability and is severely jittery anti-corrupt, has not added his voice to the many who are yearning for an insight into the NOCAL’s mystery, since his ascendancy to the Senate.
Senator Dillon’s voice, weighty as it is now, would come with a lot of bearing on the GAC as the Legislature has oversight on the General Auditing Commission. Sadly, it appears it wouldn’t be because the Liberian saying “hauled rope hauls bush” comes to mind.
Would NOCAL audit reveal how much the oil company reportedly spent on Senator Dillon’s tuition, and would he be recommended for prosecution for causing financial loss to the state as he refused to complete his courses and graduate?
But Senator Dillon and others, under the banner of the Council of Patriots, would go on to stage numerous protests calling for transparency, accountability and open governance. But when hard pressed to be an exhibitionist of those qualities as well, he refuses and carries on showboating.
Venerable Nobel Peace Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, remains right in his quote: “Sometimes we become what we hate in others.”
Senator Abraham Darius Dillon, a known critic of all the wrong things of governance, is slowly but steadily becoming what he criticized. First, it was the expensive SUV which he promised not to ride. Later it was the donation of his salary to his office staff, instead of the county as initially promised. Now, it is US$6,500 to pass the state of emergency and the economic stimulus package.
The future, it is said, hold many things. But in the fullness of time…