Monrovia – Former Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT), Rev. J. Emmanuel Z. Bowier, states that following the 2017 Presidential and General Elections, he has seen many similarities between the Sirleaf-Weah transition and that of the Barclay-Tubman of the 1940’s.
Report by Mae Azango [email protected]
Speaking in an interview at his Garden of Peace Residence in Sinkor, Clergyman Bowier narrated that when President Edwin J. Barclay was leaving office in 1943, he could not succeed himself by law, so he chose former Maryland County Senator William V.S. Tubman, to succeed him. Drawing a parallel of that 1943 incident to 2017, he stated.
“When President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was ending her term and could not succeed herself, she tried to find her successor, as is seen around here.”
“Another similarity is that, Barclay was considering someone younger; so is President Sirleaf when she spoke at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last October 2017 of turning over to a new generation of young people.
When Barclay turned over to President Tubman who was younger, he felt he could control young Tubman.
He felt that Tubman was not well known as a political person and was not from a political class, but as for being popular, Tubman was very popular, as we see around here with the President-elect.
In fact, when he was nominated to be the President, the people of Cape Mount and Montserrado Counties objected. They argued that President Tubman was not qualified for these reasons, including that he did not attend and graduate from the Liberia College, now University of Liberia.
As it was expected in those days, the President should have been a product of Liberia College, and Tubman did not graduate from Liberia College but stopped in the eighth grade and later studied law. Mind you, when we talk about eighth grade those days, we were talking about Royal Reader System, not today’s eighth grade.
Another argument they raised was that Tubman was a womanizer. We hear the same thing around here about the President-elect. And their last point was that Tubman loved fine time including partying and drinking with his friends; we also hear the same thing around here regarding our President-elect,” said Bowier.
“President Sirleaf did not announce that Ambassador Weah would succeed her, but she acted as if that was what she meant, when she spoke at the UN about turning over to a younger generation. Another instance was in 2012, when there was a national conference held in Bong County.
Everybody was there. President Sirleaf asked then Mr George Weah to stand and when he did, she said he was going to be the person to reconcile Liberia.”
The former Information Minister and Reverend said strangely he took keen note of that particular incident as it happened in 2012, in the 12th month, on the 12th day and at 12 noon. “So we see that there were four 12’s lined up: the 12th month, the 12th day, at 12 noon and in the year 2012.
“After that, I went to Mr. Weah at that time he hasn’t yet been elected to the Liberia Senate and told him since the President said he would reconcile the country, I presented him a book entitled, “Getting to Peace.”
I told him to read it and get back to me. I marked in that book, 12, 12, 12 and 12. I told him that when he gets back to me after reading the book, I was going to tell him what the number 12 represents in Biblical prophecy. But maybe he was busied, he hasn’t gotten back to me yet.”
According to ‘Man of God’ Bowier 12 in the Bible represents governance, leadership and power; adding: “In the Bible, God chose 12 tribes to constitute Israel and Jesus chose 12 disciples to proclaim the Gospel and establish God’s Kingdom on earth.
As I speak, another 12 is being added to the situation, which is after her 12th years of rule. President Sirleaf is passing the torch of leadership to a new generation as she promised at her last address before the UN General Assembly.”
Rev. Bowier, who is also a historian, further narrated that President Tubman was not among those considered to be ‘Presidential material,’ because he was from the newest county of Liberia, Maryland County that was not a part of Liberia in 1847 when there were the original three counties: Montserrado, Bassa and Sinoe. It was later that Cape Mount County was added, but Maryland County was added to Liberia in April 1857.
Therefore, when the campaign started and President Barclay announced that since all of the Presidents in the past came from Montserrado, Bassa or Sinoe, people should start thinking about including the newest counties, which were Cape Mount and Maryland.
The people of Cape Mount were happy over the idea, and looked forward to producing the next President. They were disappointed when Barclay chose Senator and former Associate Justice, William V.S Tubman, who was from Maryland, the newest county, to succeed him.”
Still juxtaposing similarities, Rev. Bowier said Tubman was not married to Antoinette when he became President. He was married to Martha Pratt Tubman, a Sierra Leonean, who became Liberia’s, first foreign First Lady.
“If you are looking for a parallel, look at our current First Lady, a sister from our African diaspora (Jamaica).”
“Barclay turned against Tubman; he thought that because he had handpicked him, he would run the show from the background by remote control.
Do you see another similarity playing? Barclay thought so because Tubman was in a love relationship with Barclay’s family woman Antoinette Padmore, who later became Mrs. Antoinette Tubman.
The Barclay/Tubman Fallout
Historian Bowier narrated further that when Tubman became President, everyday Barclay use to call him to 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 Barclay should 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.
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.
So if you see a calm 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 asked.