The use of ethnicity in elections is not strange in Liberian political history. For instance, Liberian former President, William V.S. Tubman and his successor, William Tolbert, Jr., utilized tribal trappings to their respective personal and political advantages.

In the coming 2017 Presidential election in Liberia, ethnicity, tribal politics and native identity are advantageous, and therefore some candidates are using them to win the election.

To understand the above dynamics, it is imperative to first discuss the historical and political background of Liberia.   

Background 

Liberia was founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society (ACS), a philanthropic organization established in 1817 in the United States to send Black ex-slaves back to Africa. ACS transported former slaves to Liberia from 1822 to the 1840s. It also shipped recaptured African slaves to Liberia in the early 1800s. 

Though their settlement helped stop slave trade in Liberia and assisted in the amelioration of tribal disputes, it created social cleavages and a hierarchy consisted of three levels: at the top were the self-named Americo-Liberians, the American Black ex-slaves, followed by the Congos, the recaptured slaves. The natives whom they met on the land were at the bottom. This social stratification in many respects continues in the country. 

 In Liberia the American settlers were divided into two groups along color line. The light-skinned settlers, the mulattoes, were children of the slave masters. In America, they included the house slaves. They took control of the administration of the Liberian colony and later the new nation, thanks to the ACS. 

The dark-skinned settlers, who worked as plantation field slaves in the US, engaged in commerce and shipping in Liberia. They were initially excluded from the leadership of the new nation. Less than 10% of the Americo-Liberian settlers were literate, according to Tom Shicks’ emigration studies. Majority of that percent constituted the mulattoes. The balance percent were uneducated. 

On the other hand, the Congos were pure Africans, non-English speaking people from the Niger-Congo delta, which included Nigeria, Niger, Benin and Congo. They were re-captured from slave ships traveling to the West Indies.

The ACS put them under the tutelage or guardianship of the Americo-Liberians. The Society saw it fitting to group all its subjects into a single unit. The ACS also felt that the Americo-Liberian settlers, as first arrivals, would help the Congos adjust to their new environment. 

However, the Americo-Liberians suppressed the Congos, making them servants. This treatment forced the Congos to move upriver and built communities some known as Congo settlements. The Congos engaged in sugar cane, cassava, firewood and other small scale agricultural efforts. In later years, the two groups have come together and now are generally called the Congo people. Sometimes they are also called Americo-Liberians as a dominant group. 

Two factors that led to the unity were the occurrence of inter-marriages between the two groups and the declining number of the Americo-Liberians. In 1847, they declared Liberia an independent nation. 

In the 1850s another group of emigrants, which can be called the Careyburg group, came to Liberia with the help of Pastor John Says, a Methodist minister. He made possible the emigration of several Black ex-slaves and Blacks from the West Indies to Liberia. They settled in Careyburg, which was established by the pastor as an experiment of rural living for the settlers. 

Careyburg was established in 1856 and was named after Rev. Lotts Carey, an early settler who had died accidentally by a gun explosion while preparing to battle the natives.  Careyburg is important in our discussion because many of Liberian leaders came from this area; and it was a stronghold of Congoism. The settlement was negotiated with a Kpelle chief. Many residents now and before also speak Kpelle. 

Another key settlement was Clay-Ashland, which was settled by 1855 by immigrants from Kentucky. It was named in honor of Kentucky Senator Henry Clay and his town Ashland, Kentucky. Like Careyburg, Clay-Ashland is important because in 1869 it became the birthplace of the True Whig Party, which was an opposition party to the Republican Party. The settlement produced William David Coleman, who arrived in Liberia from Kentucky in 1855 and latter became President of the country. 

Additional emigrations to Liberia followed, including arrival of more people from the West Indies, especially Barbados and people from other African countries. The new settlers came to Liberia willingly and most were not ex-slaves. They included the Kings, the Sawyers, the Coles, the Jacobs and the Brights from Nigeria byway of Sierra Leone.

The Wilsons (i.e. Dash Wilson) and others later who changed their names to Tubman, came from Togo. The Barclays from Barbados; they came with the latter settlers in 1865. The Barbados settled in Crozerville and many and their descendants engaged in journalism and started local dailies, such as the Crozerville Observer by pamphleteer Albert Porte. Another journalist was John Russwurm, founding editor of the Liberian Herald, published by Charles Force. From journalism, many settlers went into politics. 

Like journalism, many settlers became pastors and later politicians. The political party, the Masonic Craft and the church became the institutions perpetuating the Americo-Liberians rule, as discussed in “Minority Rule in Liberia: The Dynamics of Institutions”, an academic paper. Most Liberian Presidents have been members of the craft.

Meanwhile, the pulpits served as society watchdogs, guarding against ills of the community but believing in minority rule and control. 

Further, specifically the immigrants from other African countries were recruited: having limited educated people and upon acquiring territories in the hinterland, the Liberian government was unable to run the country and therefore needed more skilled manpower to help in the public administration of the country. The government appointed Edward Blyden to assist bringing qualified people to Liberia. 

The new comers, including other new arrivals, joined the Congos and were treated better and given opportunities over the natives. By the turn of the 19^th Century, the total population of all the settlers was estimated at 10,000-12,000, consisted of about and controlled by 25 ruling families. The native population was about 100,000-200,000. 

The Barclays, the Kings, the Coopers and the Tolberts were among the ruling families in Montserrado County while the Cheesemans, the Howards from Grand Bassa County; the Grisbys, the Greens, the Witherspoons from Sinoe County; the Simpsons from Grand Cape Mount and the Tubmans and later the Gibsons and Andersons dominated Maryland County. In order to retain their class political status and to stay in power, they positioned their children in the government. 

Back to the early settlers; the Americo-Liberian elite saw an opportunity in their new environment to become masters. They considered the natives, who had welcomed them to the country, inferior and mistreated and oppressed the natives. A US document discusses this further. 

While the ruling elite lived and prospered, achieving respect they could never obtain in America, they failed to include native Liberians into their power base. In fact, they took their land, taxed them, enslaved them and controlled their trade. 

Moreover, the settlers banned interior native Liberians from traveling to other parts of the country. This restriction was called the 40-mile ratio boundary law, enacted after Liberia independence. 

The settler elite needed labor to assist carryout domestic functions; the government instituted the ward system, with which native children were put in homes of Congo families. The children worked basically as domestic servants. Most were given the family names of the settlers and became part of the family. This system somewhat resembled to the indentured servant practice, which occurred in other countries, i.e. America before slavery. 

 While many wards benefitted from this system, it was grossly abused. “Many natives of the ward system grew up behaving like the Congos or more than the Congos”, as stated in ‘Brief Early History of Liberia’, an unpublished document. Behavior of the ward was similar to that of the “Uncle Toms” in America …Blacks who act like Whites, behave Whites, and would do anything for their White masters. 

The settlers denied the natives citizenship of the new independent nation. Faced with domestic economic conditions and with international pressures against the exclusion, by 1912, the government under Arthur Barclay extended citizenship to the entire native majority. To gain citizenship, natives had to forgo their right to be ruled by their authorities. The rule by tribal kings in the rural areas was replaced by rule by paramount chiefs and by superintends appointed by the President. 

Natives also gave up the right to public land in their locations, as the state became owner or custodian of land. But in the urban areas, i.e. Monrovia where the settlers resided, land was privately owned by the Americo-Liberians. 

The settlers’ practice to forcibly take tribal land had principally resulted in the continued tribal wars, resistance, and conflicts with the settlers since 1822. Individual tribal group; the Gola, the Bandi, the Vai, the Loma, the Kpelle, the Kru, the Bassa, the Deys and the Grebo, fought them fiercely. Many times the US Navy gunboats defended and militarily supported the settlers.  (Davis, Ronald: 1975; Kappel, Robert: 1980; Akpan, Monday: 1986; Abasiattai, Monday: 1987, 1988). 

The granting of citizenship to the natives did not come with the right to vote. The advocacy for voting right for the native majority was of concern to the settler minority. The elite feared that granting such right would give power to the majority.  Yekutiel Gershoni also noted this factor thus. “The Americo-Liberians’ fear that with the active participation of Africans, who represented a majority in the country, in the political and social life of the Republic, the Americo-Liberians might be overrun by the Africans”. 

 But under President William Tubman the native majority gained voting right in 1946. As Gershoni again observed, the President stopped “the 40-mile boundary law that restricted natives from coming to the cities inhabited largely by the settlers”. Tubman’s action encouraged rural-urban migration, village people migrating to the cities. This increased more fear by the elite. More country people were now coming to live next door or among the ruling class. 

The President, however, calmed the fear of the settler elite by strengthening the True Whig Party, the pillar of the Americo-Liberian political dynasty, by continually making Liberia a one-party state and by perpetuating the settlers in power. Tubman ruled Liberia for 27 unbroken years. The True Whig Party rule ended 1980. 

In short, the above indicates the class division, the social stratification and the political domination within the country. The below discusses some of the methods Tubman employed for him and the settlers to maintain power. These methods included the tribalization of politics and the utilization of settler ethnicity. 

Tubman Strategies And Tribal Politics 

Tubman’s control of Liberia and the use of tribalism and Congoism were skillfully implemented. Studies show that past Liberian politicians utilized tribalism and ethnicity to their advantage. 

Tubman as a boy wanted to become a minister of the lord. His parents came to Liberia in 1844 as freed slaves from Georgia. His father Alexander Tubman was a Methodist pastor and the speaker of the Liberian House of Representatives. 

At first the son Tubman started as a poor man lawyer; he became a senator at the age of 28. Because of his young age, the elite in Monrovia tried to stop him from taking his seat in congress as a senator from his home county Maryland. But the people of Maryland demanded his sitting in parliament or else the county would send no other senator. “No Tubman, no senator”, they cried. 

As a lawyer, he served as a legal adviser to President Charles B. Dunbar and especially to Vice President Allen Yancy in an international case or investigation involving forced labor and slavery of native Liberians in Fernando Po.

Moreover, as a rising star, he married Antoinette Louise Padmore, daughter of a first cousin of sitting President Edward Barclay. The President was closed to the daughter and sponsored her education in Europe. By marrying her, Tubman became Barclay’s in-law and got closer to the President. Barclay appointed Tubman as an Associate justice. 

 Barclay’s term to the presidency was about to be over and the established politicians in Montserrado County, the seat of the ruling autocracy or elite, were hoping that Barclay would select one of them as his successor. But to their surprise, the President picked Tubman, an outsider from Maryland County. “The Rock Town Boys”, a Montserrado County elite group, disfavored the selection. 

Tubman became Barclay’s successor in 1944. To stop opposition from the Rock Town Boys, he dropped Vice President Clarence Simpson of Cape Mount County in the following election and chose Representative Benjamin Freeman from Careyburg, Montserrado County as his new VP. He also offered some members key positions in the government. But unfortunately, Freeman died on the eve of inauguration day. 

Tubman then selected junior House Representative William Tolbert, Jr., son of Rev. William Tolbert, Sr. from Bensonville, near Careyburg, Montserrado County. The father, a settler from the US, was chairman of the True Whip Party and a member of the house of representative. He was powerful in the county and influential in the religious community. Tubman thus had the Rock Town Boys and other members of the elite in his pocket. 

1951 Election 

In the 1951 election, Tubman faced Didwho Welleh Twe, a native Liberian of the Kru tribe. Twe was a former representative in the Liberian Legislature. Twe had a distinguished mark on his forehead, culturally identifying him as a Kru. The tribe is one of the strongest and popular ethnic groups in Liberia. Moreover, besides being a skillful politician, Twe was a wealthy man with a large farm still called Twe farm in the Dulai area in Monrovia. 

As a former commissioner in the Liberian interior, Twe was also well known and respected among the natives. His political party, the United People Party, which later became the Reformation Party, had members of native and Congo background. This composition gave the party a broad based appeal. 

 Mr. Patterson, Twe’s son in-law and secretary, in a 1973 interview, read to me Twe’s nomination acceptance address and a speech delivered on an Independence Day celebration in which the candidate talked about the settler-native divide and the need to give a native similar constitutional right to seek the nation highest office.

Twe predicted a democratic change coming to Liberia from the East. Also in the acceptance address under the theme, “Nothing is Permanent”, he said that empires in the world had come and gone and as the night changes to day so will Liberia change. Twe then called to Tubman saying, “If you know what I know and see what I see, you will not hesitate to grant me the presidency”. 

Tubman did not take the convention address kindly and responded negatively, stating: 

Mr. Twe and his adherent complain that for hundred and four years of the independence of this country, no aborigine had had the honor of being President. (Who) does he call aborigine, he and his dangling group of a fifth of the Kru tribe? I protest! I contest his misconceived notion. HRN Johnson, Daniel Edward Howard, Charles Burgess King, Edwin Barclay and William S. Tubman are all aborigines and indigenous people of this country, for we were born, bred and reared here.  

As Siahyonkron Nyanseor commented on the reaction, Twe was not the one who made the distinction. It was the settlers who historically viewed one group of Liberians as Americo-Liberians and another as native or tribal Africans. 

 Patterson and his wife Tarloh, Twe’s daughter, gave account of Twe, which never written and never told on paper.  To most Kru, Twe was a hero, a legend for his stance on the settler autocracy. Elders told his story to the young gathered at night for folk stories of old and of legends. 

Tubman knew that Twe would easily win the election because of Twe’s native background. Twe was the first native to seek the Liberian presidency. To overcome this challenge, Tubman branded Twe a tribalist, a divisive figure, an inherent traitor, and a sophisticated bigot. Tubman went further… informed that Twe was from Settra Kru, a low section of the Kru tribe, Tubman maintained that Twe was not a real Kru and did not have support of the majority Kru people. 

Certainly the Settra Kru or sometimes called Nana Kru is in Sinoe County and is considered among some Krus as less important and has less educated people. Tubman began influencing well known Kru people from established Kru sections, including Grandcess, Picnicanny Cess, Sasstown, and Sanguine. They are the sea coast Krus with many educated people, most of whom were desirous of government jobs. The government then and now was the main employer in Liberia. 

Tubman was successful in the above strategy as many educated Krus began denouncing Twe. They felt that Twe as a lesser Kru did not deserve to be President.

Apparently, they believed that the quest for such position should have come from one of them. They also may have feared that a Twe administration would give power and influence to a low section of the tribe and could affect them. 

The late Dominique Nimley, a Kru from Grandcess, indicated in an interview in 1997 that many educated Krus did not support Twe but supported Tubman largely because of Twe’s low ethnic background.  

However, Twe was well educated. He graduated from Rhode Island University in the United States and had a Master’s degree. He also studied agriculture at Harvard University and Columbia University.

Twe was a member of the American Political Science Society and was sponsored by US Congressional Representative William Grout, Senator John Morgan of Vermont and Alabama respectively and by American great writer, Samuel Clemens, known as Mark Twain. Many Liberians in the US supported his candidacy. For example, Thorgue Sie, a well-educated and a Grandcess Kru living in America returned home to work in the Twe campaign. 

Tubman and his operatives frustrated the opposition party. They denied it from registering with the election commission by instructing then the election commissioner, Hon. James Cooper, the owner of Cooper Farm, and a former Presidential aspirant, to leave town and close his office.

Consequently, the party was unable to register on time. A slogan, which was popular over the country, was – “You Too Late You Lost Your Chance”, meaning the party was late to register. The government employed a somewhat death squad called “You too late”, which harassed and caused the disappearing deaths of some supporters of the opposition party. 

Because Twe, a native Liberian, utilized his constitutional right to seek the presidency, Tubman called him a tribalist and other names. The opposition appealed the denial to the Supreme Court but lost. All the justices were Americo-Liberians. Government forces arrested and jailed party members who attempted to publically demonstrate. Twe’s life was threatened; he fled into exile in Sierra Leone. The party died! Tubman went on to win the election unopposed. 

Tubman placated some opposition members. He instituted an organization called PRO (Public Relation Officers), which served as information operatives, reporting and spying on people, doing CIA work on citizens. The PR Officers were paid by Liberian taxed dollars. This brought fear among the Liberian people. 

Tubman implemented needed reforms such as the women suffrage, enabling women to vote, and the establishment of the national unification policy, bringing the natives and the Congos together. He constructed a ‘Native Mansion’ in Monrovia for the temporary staying of visiting chiefs from the interior. 

One chief praised Tubman, calling him a very good President, who brought country and civilized people together. “We the tribal men can now mix up with civilized people freely and nobody is looking down on us. We can eat at the same table, shake hands and dance with the civilized men and women”. The chief ended by calling on Tubman “to be President until you die”.  

Here the chief made a distinction of two groups of Liberians, but Tubman did not call him a tribalist, because he was praising Tubman and wanting Tubman to stay in power until judgment day. The statement was in Tubman’s interest, so the chief was showing good citizenship.  

The reforms and subsequent praises however brought resentment from the ruling Americo-Liberian elite. They saw the move as Tubman turning power over to the natives. But at the same time, it created a positive sense of new tribalism as many educated natives returned to their tribal identities to what some observers called “the re-tribalization of natives”. Some educated natives replaced their Western suits to native gowns or country clothing; some changed their surnames regaining their traditional names such as Fahnbulleh.  

Further, educated natives became superintendents of newly created counties; city based native elite employed in the government began visiting their villages to identify with their kinsmen and to speak their tribal languages. Previously, most educated natives avoided speaking publically their respective tribal languages.

They discouraged and did not teach their children to speak “mother tongue”. As Prof. Gus Liebenow noted, some natives engaged in autocratic embrace, behaving or acting Congo in order to be accepted by the Congos.  

Again the Congo elite found this new ethnicity unwelcoming, seeing it as a threat to their power. They complained to the President and suggested for him to go slow with the changes. Despites the complaints and suggestion, Tubman continued with the reforms as they increased his popularity in the country.

He wore country gown at tribal functions, and particularly in his home county Maryland, people called him a Grebo native man. Tubman, a native man, and no one complained or accused him of tribalism. 

The ruling elite did not complain of his tribalism because they knew he was not a native man. But when a real native expressed, shown and proud of his ethnicity, then the Congo Liberians complained. Certainly to be Congo or to act Congo was alright. Congoism, Americo-Liberianism, entailing the monopolization of power, the selection of Congo over native and the marginalization of natives and their culture was considered a true Liberian way. 

1955 Election 

The election of 1955 can be called in Liberia the election of the century. It was a race between the teacher and the student or the father verses the son. Former President Edward Barclay challenged President Tubman. Why did Barclay, who was comfortably retired, come out to challenge his in-law and protégé?

The expression below answers the question. 

Having resisted petitions to challenge Tubman and having patiently tried and unable to change Tubman’s mind regarding the reforms, Barclay finally agreed to enter the race against Tubman. He did so mainly because Tubman freed from prison members of the “Bamboo Society”, a group from the Vai tribe accused of assassination attempt on President Barclay. Barclay jailed them and refused to pardon them before leaving office. 

Barclay believed that Tubman’s action to free his enemies was a personal attack, an affront, and that Tubman’s reforms were intentionally geared to publically disgrace him. He informed the Liberian people of his regrets to had have supported a man whom he did not know very well and to have selected him as his successor to the presidency. 

Nevertheless Tubman had the upper hand. As a sitting President, he had all the power of the office at his deposal. Secondly, he mastered all the “tricks “ and strategies Barclay had taught him, some of which he (Tubman) had used on Twe by Barclay’s advice. 

On the other hand, Barclay was also popular and many of the Congos in the party and many of the natives in Twe’s defunct party supported him. Further, many of the natives in the rural areas, where Barclay had visited during his presidency, supported him.

They included Grandcess and Barclayville, a capitol named after him while in office. Some people insinuated that Barclay was from Barclayville and that he was Kru. Really, he was born in Brewerville in Montserrado County. His paternal grandparents came from Barbados, West Indies. 

To get more native votes, Barclay chose Nettie-Sie Brownell as his running mate. Brownell was Grebo and from Maryland County. He was the father of the just deceased Mary Brownell. He was nationally popular, especially in the Southeast of Liberia. 

The Krus in Claratown and in other places in Monrovia marched with placards in support of the former President. “Barclay is a man”, they shouted as they marched. Teacher Jugbeh, a former representative in the Liberian congress and a leader in the Twe party, was an organizer of the demonstration. My mother, a market woman residing in Claratown, marched in that demonstration. She was not political and maybe she and others were told to march. 

Apparently, the Krus had forgotten that it was the Barclay administration, which used heavy force against the Kru resistance in the 1930s and caused the deaths of many Krus, including Warrior King, Senyon Juah Nimley. 

On the other hand, some of the Vai, particularly families of the freed prisoners, did not support Barclay for reason that if elected, he would retaliate against them. Barclay was nominated and became the standard bearer of the Independent True Whip Party, a break away group of the ruling True Whip Party. 

The election was held in May, 1955. Tubman defeated Barclay by landslide and so badly. According to results, Tubman won 99.5% of the votes, Barclay 5% and William Bright of the Independent Presidential Party received 0% or 16 votes. 

To punish members of the opposition and to stop further political challenges, Tubman is said to have used “a play from the playbook” of Barclay. Accordingly, within two months after the election, a marked man named Paul Dunbar was arrested for an alleged assignation attempt on the President at the Centennial Pavilion, where Tubman was attending a function. Dunbar confessed and named the plotters.

Barclay party was implicated. The government security arrested and jailed some leading members of the party. Jailed members included Thomas Nimene Botoe, Kru governor in Monrovia; Gbafleh Davies, party organizer; S. Raymond Horace, legal adviser of the party; and Nettie-Sie Brownell, former Attorney General and vice Presidential candidate to Barclay.  

Samuel David Coleman, a key member of the opposition, escaped arrest as the government security approached him at his Coleman Hill residence. He was a son of former President William David Coleman, who resigned the presidency in part due to disagreement with the government native policy. 

The government army chased and killed Samuel Coleman and his son on his farm in Bomi County. The son, John Coleman, had just returned from studies in the US before meeting his death. The government publically displayed the bodies in Monrovia to warm future opposition. Barclay, however, was not arrested nor harmed. His party died just as Twe’s.  Barclay died within months of that year. 

It should be noted that Samuel Coleman’s father, President William Coleman, was accused of the massacre of over 10 chiefs of Gola, Vai, Mandingo and Kpelle tribes who, by government invitation, had come to attend a tribal peace conference. The invitees were gunned down by the government troop. Perhaps the authority feared that a tribal unity would have threatened the power of the settle ruling class. 

Coleman, a President who had advocated for better relation with the interior people, was embarrassed by the massacre and therefore as a factor resigned.  While his enemies in the government welcomed the resignation, it created a succession problem because the secretary of state was made President instead of the vice President or the speaker of the house. 

That massacre occurred in the late 1800s, by 1895. In the early 1900s, another atrocity happened. As documented by Anthony Morgan, Jr., in 1930, the government killed native chiefs for testifying to an international investigation. “……. another orgy of revenge was carried out on those chiefs who had testified before the commission. Towns and villages were razed and more chiefs executed, imprisoned, fined, flogged and humiliated in front of their people.” 

The investigation concerned the Fernando Po, a Spanish island in Equatorial Guinea. Liberian natives from the Southeast were forcibly recruited to work as hard laborers.  President King and his Vice President Yancy allegedly received commission per recruited worker.

Many natives died on the job. Their insurance benefit was not paid to their families but reportedly was shared by the President and his VP. The investigation, conducted by a League of Nations team, found the King and Yancy government guilty. Hence, they were forced to resign. 

Also in addition to the above atrocity, the government in retaliation expelled Didhwo Twe from his congressional representative position for criticizing the government and for informing the world regarding the incident. This was prior to Twe’s candidacy. 

Barclay, secretary of state under King, became President after the resignation and, as stated earlier, was succeeded by Tubman. Tubman stopped further opposition to his (Tubman) rule and to that of the Congo establishment. 

In 1968, Tubman imprisoned Ambassador Henry B. Fahnbulleh, a Vai, who was Liberian Ambassador to Kenya and jailed James Gbyeyea, Robert Kennedy and Gabriel Fangarlow, superintendants of Bong County, Loffa County and Nimba County respectively for an alleged attempt to overthrow the Americo-Liberian government. The accused were all natives. Tubman kept them in jail until his demise. 

It should be stated also that in the second term of the King administration, in 1924, Henry Too Wesley became King’s vice President. Wesley was Grebo from Maryland County and his position was the highest ever for a native under the settler rule. He was succeeded by Yancy also from Maryland County. 

William Tolbert Presidency 

 Tubman’s successor, President William Tolbert, a fellow Americo-Liberian, utilized tribalism when he spoke Kpelle, a native language, in his first inaugural address. By speaking Kpelle, Tolbert was considered a Kpelle man, a native man.  He received praises for his speech in native tongue. No one complained and no one accused him of tribalism. 

Like Tubman, he knew that in order to become popular among the native people, he must identify with them. He joined the Poro Society, a native secret society. He brought more educated natives into the government. The Americo-Liberian elite accused him of “letting the peasants into the kitchen”. 

But at the same time, some of his policies were geared to keep the Americo-Liberians/Congos in power. He brought some meaningful reforms, including making Liberia to develop relations with Eastern nations and to take progressive action in accordance with African unity and solidarity. 

Tolbert was between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, a domestic progressive group, demanded more reforms; and on the other, the old guard, Americo-Liberian political elite, urged him to stop. Meanwhile, he faced international pressure; he had broken diplomatic ties with Israel and was not in a better relation with Liberia traditional friend, the US. 

Sadly he was faced with the prevalent wind of change while trying to hold the hands of power.  Against the interest and advice of the elite, Tolbert allowed the registration of the opposition party, Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL), whose political leader was Gabriel Baccus Mathews, a former Tolbert diplomat turned radical and revolutionary. 

However, Tolbert domestic policy promoted nepotism and cronyism in line with Americo-Liberianism. His brother, Steve Tolbert, minister of Finance, forcibly bought out some major companies and controlled the economy. 

The President son, AB Tolbert, a senator, was positioned to become President one day.The President’s daughter married Shad Tubman, President Tubman’s son, who was also a senator and a possible successor. The marriage may have been arranged for continuation of power among the two families. 

Samuel Doe Presidency 

As known, the 1980 coup brought an end to the rule and domination of the Americo-Liberians. The coup members were all natives. Although the Americo-Liberians were no longer in power, they controlled the structural economy, which is they owned major properties in the country. The coup leader, Samuel Doe, a Krahn, became the new head of state. 

The People Redemption Council (PRC), the governing entity set up by the junta, included civilian Liberians of various tribal groups and Congos.  However, the Doe government was criticized for its inclusion of members of Doe’s ethnic group. Doe was accused of tribalism. Yet a critical examination of the composition of his cabinet compared to that of Tolbert and Tubman factually shows the Doe cabinet makeup was more inclusive than those of his predecessors’ administrations. 

 For instance, the 1964/65 cabinet of Tubman had two natives, Augustus F. Caine, a Vai as secretary of education or instruction and K. Johnson, a Grebo, as secretary of interior. Doe’s cabinet ministers or officials included Liberians of Congo ancestry. The number of Krahn people in ministerial and other positions in the Doe administration was very small, a fraction of all officials in administrative positions. 

The government was credited for accomplishing and bringing more infrastructural development compared to other administrations in the history of Liberia. The administration built government ministries enabling the government to save money from paying building rents to private landlords, most of who were of the former ruling class. Additionally, according to an UNICEF report, during the Doe government, Liberian literacy rate quadrupled in his ten years more than the rate of both Tubman and Tolbert administrations combined. 

Note that Doe was considered an uneducated President and was once called by President Sirleaf as an idiot. Yet Doe brought more development than the Harvard educated President has, despite about 17 billion US dollars of international assistance and investments into the country, and despite of international support and awards given to her.

Currently, most Liberians live on less than US$1.25 a day. The Sirleaf administration, however, has helped bring peace and encourage freedom of speech and of the press.  

But the Doe administration was corrupt just as Tubman’s and Tolbert’s. Also, his government was accused of human right violations, including press freedom. 

Not all Congo people suppressed natives. Many helped Liberians of indigenous background. Regardless, most of the Congos felt and currently some feel superior over native people and believe that Congo people should rule Liberia. 

Indeed, the Congo operatives did everything possible to bring down the Doe government. Anti-Doe sentiment fueled by tribalism and Americo-Liberianism resulted in the Liberian civil war, which ended the Doe administration. Doe died in 1990 in the civil war.

He was the first Liberian President of the Second Republic of the 1986 Constitution. Moreover, he was the first native Liberian President, and so far, the only elected President of full native background. 

Election 2017 

In the coming 2017 Presidential election, there have been exchanges of words between the Vice President Joseph Boakai camp and the Liberty Party’s Councilor Charles Brunskine campaign, accusing each other regarding President Ellen Sirleaf alleged support of the Liberty Party and regarding statement of tribalism. The VP is of the Kissi tribe and the councilor is a Congo.

VP Boakai, the standard bearer of the ruling Unity Party, said in an interview with FrontPage Africa that the President does not support his Presidential candidacy.  The vice President stated that he is not the one saying it, but people are voicing that the President is supporting the Liberty Party, whose standard bearer is counselor Brunskine.

Brumskine, in a reply, rubbished the assertion, saying that the VP is not only wrong, but is being divisive, by calling one candidate a Congo and the other a native.

 Certainly Brumskine has publically stated that he is a Bassa and now is the time for a Bassa to become President. Bassa is one of the Liberian tribes. Counselor Brumskine is from Bassa County, one of the 15 counties in Liberia. Many of his party officials are said to be Bassa.

But the Boakai camp has been broadcasting that the VP is a true son of the soil, a native Liberian. They have been preaching this message repeatedly on the media. Apparently, the Boakai people believe that tribal sentiment would benefit the vice President. They could be right.

Majority of the voting population in Liberia are natives, or the natives are in the majority.  In an unscientific opinion poll, majority of those polled said that they would not vote for the ruling Unity Party for a third term. But when asked, who would they vote for if the election were held today? Many said Joseph Boakai. When asked why? They said because he is a native son, an indigenous, a son of the soil. 

Should a person be elected President because of his/her tribal or ethnic background?   Many Liberians think so. Senator Prince Johnson has indicated that a country person, a native, should become President. Senator Dan Moria’s recent support for Vice President Boakai attests to the role of ethnicity in the election. The senator said.

There (are) two groups of people in this country, one with the pioneers’ heritage and the other with ancestor’s heritage. For twelve years, we have had the group ruling this country. I think we need to have another group ruling this country if you want to bring equity to the democratic process.

Emmanuel Saingbe, a Liberian in the US, indicated that Congo people have been ruling Liberia for over 130 years and have nothing to show for. “It is time for native Liberians to start closing the gap by electing Boakai”.

Ambassador Boakai has been vice President for over 11 years. The ruling Unity Party, of which he is the number 2 person, is viewed to be ineffective, has done little or has failed in improving conditions for the Liberia people, according to opinions of Liberians. In a poll recently conducted by a radio station in Liberia, majority of the callers gave the administration a very low grade.

They voiced that they would not vote the party back into power. Yet because of tribal background of the vice President, some Liberians say that the party should continue to lead.

Negative tribalism, i.e. the view that a person should become leader merely because of his/her tribal background, is unhealthy and it can cause corruption and undevelopment. It makes a leader to take advantage of the people whom he/she leads.

The leader may be unproductive, but would continue to be elected because of his ethnic background. Negative tribalism or ethnicity believes that people should be favored because of their tribal or ethnic background. It is divisive; it does not promote diversity and national unity.  It believes that one group is better than the other.

However, Americo-Liberian ethnocentrism is as bad as native tribalism. Moreover, Americo-Liberians or Congos appear to have a stronger negative-ethnic practice or feeling than native Liberians.

Americo-Liberians generally feel that native people should remain subject to them, that Liberia should be ruled by them, that the presidency is their entitlement, a birthright passed to them by their forebears.

The attitude to have it all, land, property, good things and power without consideration of the masses, has helped create social cleavages and unrest. This feeling or thought is historical, examples of which this paper has discussed.

The settlers, the Americo-Liberians, though had experienced the worst human treatment and were uneducated, felt superior over the natives. They separated themselves from the majority and excluded them from the new independent nation, even though the land they declared independent, rightfully belonged to the natives.   

What This All Means

Tribalism and Congoism will unfortunately impact this election. Some tribal Liberians and Congos will use their respective background in this election. So far, the VP Boakai, Counselor Brumskine camps and Senator Prince Johnson are exploiting tribalism in the election.

For Boakai, “there seems to be a consensus across the landscape about him being representative of the indigenous leader the country has been yearning for many years”, said Stephen Johnson. Josephus Gray pointed out in an article that considering the poor performance of the Unity Party, it would take a magic to win the election. 

“There is no Unity Party phenomenon around, the party will need a magic to maintain its reign”, he directly expressed.

Some observers see the magic by the Boakai camp separating him from the Sirleaf failed Unity government and arguing that Boakai, in his capacity as vice President, does what the President tells him to do; he has no power. “I do not hire and I do not fire”, so he says. The VP made this point in his recent interview with BBC.

 Here the vice President is taking credits for the limited successes of the administration but distancing himself from its many failures. Projecting the VP as an honest and incorruptible man, who rose from poverty to a respectable statesman is one strategy to turn on the magic wand.

The main strategy, however, appears to be promoting Vice President Boakai as a native son, a son of the soil. This strategy is geared specifically to influence the native masses; most are unable to analyze and to put Boakai and the administration as one entity. Promoting the vice President’s native background to some educated Liberians, mostly of tribal background is secondary. This approach seems to be working as shown.

Brumskine has criticized that yes, the vice President may have been poor in the past, the VP is a very rich man with an annual office budget over two million US dollars, including a personal salary. The vice President has in his budget US$80,000 for entertainment, more than what the President of the US receives.

A radio caller recently complained that the vice President with all the wealth, the money, has done little for the poor, his (VP) own people. The caller, a neighbor of the VP, further pointed out that Vice President Boakai is the only one in the community with electricity, yet sends out spies at night to find out if the poor neighbors are stealing current from the VP.  The vice President nevertheless has been praised for honesty and for calmness in dealing with issues.  

 The vice President is not the only indigenous candidate in the election. There are other candidates who are natives. For instance, Prof. Togba Nah Tipoteh, Senator Prince Johnson and Senator George Weah are native sons.

Tipoteh is Kru and has been in Liberia since the civil war. He has been in the struggle for justice for the poor. He has many followers, particularly in the Grand Kru County or in the Southeast.

Senator Prince Johnson is Gio. He is senator from Nimba County, one of the vote-rich counties in Liberia. He has stated repeatedly that a native should be elected President this year. Nimba is his stronghold. He took third place in 2011 Presidential election. He won the county twice as a senator in the past two senatorial elections. He is the political leader of the Movement for Democratic Reconstruction (MDR).

Weah is Kru, Bassa and has strong Nimba and Grand Gedeh connection, a connection which only could be good nationally for national reconciliation, specifically uniting the Nimbanians and the Grand Gedeins to end long tribal conflict.

Personally however, with that background and connection, Weah could play the tribal and the regional card and together with his stronghold in Montserrado County, to get votes and could easily win the election, maybe in the first round .

It appears that the Weah camp is not playing that card right now, but is focusing on the party’s grassroots base and on Weah’s national concern, care and inspirational appeal.

Neither Tipoteh nor the other opposition native Presidential candidates has criticized the President in this election year. They basically have been silenced.

Recently, Presidential candidate Alexander Cummings, dressed in a colorful native gown, rode in a hammock carried by natives on their shoulders. To him and his campaign, the exercise was to show appreciation of tribal culture and tradition.

What they failed to know is that such demonstration represents slavery, colonialism and human degradation: in colonial days and in the ugly past of Liberia, native people were forced to hammock the settler elite and other government officials visiting the interior.

Natives served as human transportation in part due to their social status and in another to the lack of vehicles or animal trailers. Sometimes officials urinated while in the hammock. 

Cummings, a Congo and the standard bearer of the Alternative National Congress party, was trying to be native by utilizing what he thought was a tribal tripping to win votes.  He should have known better.

Even if he was asked to be carried, he should have, as an educated modern man and a candidate preaching change, avoided any implication of colonial elitism and human humiliation. After all, he is an able body man who could have walked with the people. His camp is also informing voters that he is Grebo, and sometimes he is projected as a Krahn. 

However, in what was presented as a teleconference discussion in the US, Cummings was asked to state his native dialect in Liberia and whether he speaks that dialect? Cummings answered on tape that he does not have a native dialect and does not speak any native dialect. Certainly for election purposes, supporters are trying to present him as a native, though he is not. 

Another candidate is All Liberian Party Benoni Urey, who is on record for saying that the next Liberian President should come from within the Masonic Craft. In a speech to members of the Craft on 6/29/15, Urey said; “Brethren, I want to let you know that the new Liberia that we all are striving to build for our people must be led by one of our kind”. Such statement is Americo-Liberianism. 

Historically, the Liberian free mason has been the society advancing the Americo-Liberian behavior of political control and the domination of the True Whip Party over the Liberian people. In the past, it served as the meeting ground where the ruling class assembled to discuss and decide secretly important national matters. It ran the affairs of the country behind closed doors. It promoted corruption and impunity.

To say that a President should come from a particular association or club is to also say that the President should come from a certain tribe or group. In order words, candidate Urey’s statement is not different from Prince Johnson’s call for a tribal man to be President.

But at least Urey is not saying that he is a native or a tribal man, and he is not grapping tribal symbols in order to become President. Regarding his Masonic Craft statement, some of his supporters are pointing out that candidate George Weah is also a member of the craft.

It has been reported recently that there is a discussion between Urey’s and Prince Johnson’s camps for possible coalition of their parties for the election. Urey needs Johnson’s Nimba votes and Johnson, contradicting his previous stance, needs Urey’s money. Urey is considered in Liberia the richest man in the country. He is of settler background.

Although Johnson says that he wants to head the proposed coalition because he has the number and the experience, principally he wants to be the standard bearer because he is a native, and on the other hand, Urey’s desire to become number one is based largely on his ethnic background, as expressed in his speech to the Masonic Craft.

Playing political tribalism could brand a candidate as a tribalist, as happened to Twe and could alienate and stop voters from other tribes and voters of Congo background to his/her camp. Also, biased media could exploit this behavior and make it a focus point in election reporting. 

I agree with Jones Nhinson Williams, a prolific Liberian writer, in his assertion that tribalism is dangerous for national unity and development. But I disagree with him for seeing tribalism as the only evil and for failing to note the impacts of Americo-Liberianism or Congoism. The latter behavior has essence given rise to tribalism.

Regrettably, many Liberians point to native people as the only cause of tribalism and for the national divide and forget to also look at the other side. Kola Yumo, another Liberian, commented on the situation. “As soon as someone shouts ‘tribalism’, their eyes turn to the natives, as if the Congos are not tribalistic”.

While Williams mentioned VP Boakai as a qualified candidate for the presidency, the writer seems to suggest that candidates of settler background are best suited to become President in election 2017.

Like in the US, White racism and the marginalization of African Americans gave birth to “Black Power” and to the pronouncement of “I am Black, I am proud” in the 60s. 

I am not calling for native power; rather, I am saying that the behavior of the settlers and their descendants started the division. For example, why did the ex-slaves, upon settlement in Liberia, named themselves Americo-Liberians, and not just Liberians? They did so certainly to divide and separate from the natives.

Congos and their native bagboys speak against tribalism or tribal politics, but if it is convenient to them, they would use it to achieve desire goal. They frown on public discussion of the Congo-Country divide, they speak of the need for unity, that all Liberians are one, that there is no Congo and Country and that Liberians should talk only about the present and not about the past, but deep down in their hearts, they want to, or they should be, number one; they should rule Liberia. They continue to exhibit past behaviors.  In other words, the descendants of the settlers uphold the philosophy of their forebears.

My Story

Let me tell you a true story.

I have a boyhood friend; in Liberia, we attended the same elementary school and did things together as if we were blood brothers.  We left separately for the US as teenagers, lived together many times. As adults, our friendship grew stronger. We finished school and married with our respective families.  God has blessed us in America.

We openly talk Liberian politics and discussed the social condition in Liberia. He is an Americo-liberian or Congo by birth and I am Kru. We see no major differences between us. Liberia is our country, and we are all Liberians.

In America, he bought a new house and had returned from a trip abroad, so three years ago, he invited me to visit him, his family and to see the house. One evening while we sat in the living room watching a show, he said.

 “Nyanfore, I want to become President of Liberia”. I paid no attention and focused watching the show.

“Nyanfore”, he said louder touching my shoulder and wanting my attention.

“I want to run for the presidency of Liberia 2017”, he continued. He had gotten my attention now.

“O ya, are you kidding”?  I asked.

 “I am not kidding, I am serious” he replied. I know that he is an American citizen, therefore I asked again.

“So how about your American citizenship, and how about the 10 years residency clause required for Presidential candidacy? You have been away from Liberia for over 15 years”.  I pointed out and added,

“You know you can not be an American citizen and want to become President of Liberia; and the 10 years clause will affect you”.  

“That is not a problem; I will fix it”.  He replied, and said,

 “That country is for us the Americo-Liberians”. We should be President; we should rule that country”.

I was quiet; I was shocked, stunned. I could not believe what I was hearing.

“The country people, or the native people, shouldn’t run that country”, he continued. “Doe got lucky, we overlooked him, but it would not happen anymore”, he said. Then he turned to me.

“Nyanfore, you are a smart guy, you went to some of the best schools in this country; I can appoint you minister if I win. Are you with me? He asked.

“Hmmm!”, I said, with my face frowned.  I could not say anything further. I could not argue with him nor discuss the subject further. He was serious. I knew; he never talked like that before. He was voicing his true feeling.

What I heard ran a chill in my spine. I later went to sleep in the room, which his wife had nicely prepared for me. I just could not sleep, thinking about what he said.

I departed for Washington, DC, my home town. On my trip home, I thought about what he said. Here was a friend who was like a brother. We saw each other as one, despite our different ethnic background. Now he felt that the country where we were born he has more privilege and opportunity than I.

He felt that he can become President and I will be his minister. To him, the country is for him and his likes. The land is their birthright. Because he is a Congo, he should be President.

The thought of the incident kept on my mind until I arrived home after about a 6 hours trip.  My friend’s quest for the presidency was not based on his education, experience, honesty, integrity, demonstrated concern and love for the country and people.

Rather, his was purely based on the fact that he is a Congo.  His quest was also a gross disregard to the Liberian constitution, which forbids dual citizenship and a foreigner from participating in Liberian elections. 

Later, my friend left for Liberia to run his campaign. I am disappointed, not merely for his view, but his audacity to disrespect the constitution.

Dagbayonoh Kiah Nyanfore II, Contributing Writer

In my recent article on the 2017 election in Liberia, I advised that the Liberian media be neutral and to give fair and balanced reporting of the news. 

The media should not be biased, covering one side to achieve a political objective.  Biased and misleading reporting is unhealthy, dangerous and detrimental to democracy.

Since the article, I have observed to my dismay the continual exercise of misleading news coverage by some media outlets, particularly FrontPage Africa, a leading newspaper in Liberia.

In its February 14, 2017 edition, FrontPage Africa’s article entitled, “Weah’s Continuous Absence at ECOWAS Parliament Sets in New Regulation”, reported that ECOWAS secretariat has enacted a new regulation sparked by the continuous absence from sessions and other wrongful behavior of Senator George Weah; and that such behavior has drawn the attention of other members of the body. 

In fact, the paper wrote, “Senator George Weah’s continuous absence and short stay at the ECOWAS Parliament sessions (have) begun raising eye brow among members of the parliament and (have) sparked a new set of regulations to govern sessions, meetings and missions”.

FrontPageAfrica said that it has in its possession a letter by ECOWAS Speaker of Parliament Moustapha Cisso Lo to member delegates stating to them of the problem, including the behavior of some members coming to parliament, taking stipends but leaving without attending sessions.   Front Page however indicated that the letter did not mention by name the person or people responsible, but pointed out that it was Senator George Weah.

On what evidence did the paper base its assertion? After the story publication, Senator Prince Johnson, a member of Liberian delegation to ECOWAS Parliament, complained on state radio station in Liberia that Senator George Weah had abandoned him at Lagos airport upon arrival at the airport to attend ECOWAS meeting. Senator Johnson also said that George Weah was the person whom the letter referred to.

Certainly Rodney Sieh, editor and publisher of FrontPage Africa, wrote in defense of the story; “Everything we reported this week has been validated by Senator Prince Johnson, one of several Liberian lawmakers appointed to the ECOWAS Parliament”.

The above expression by the paper was unfortunate. FrontPage knows that Senator Johnson, like Senator Weah and others, is a Presidential candidate in the coming election in Liberia. The two senators are competitors for the presidency. The validation, Johnson’s statement, could have been political. Moreover, the paper should have known that the accusation was made after a complaint of alleged abandonment.

Hence, the accusation could have been motivated by the abandonment complaint as alleged. Secondly, if the senator felt abandoned by a colleague, why did not he make known of his complaint privately to Weah at ECOWAS? But he had to return to Liberia to air his complaint on public radio station.  This could mean he had an intention and motive to embarrass the accused and cause public disrepute and dislike. 

Thirdly, for journalistic fairness and credibility, Senator Johnson was not the only available source.

As indicated, there were and are “several Liberian lawmakers appointed to the ECOWAS Parliament”. The paper could have asked two or three of the five appointed lawmakers for verification.

FrontPageAfrica could have also inquired directly from member attendance record from ECOWAS secretariat. Instead, the paper based its story on a questionable source considered in Liberia to be “unreliable and inconsistent”. 

Subsequent to the above story, FrontPage on the following day came with another story entitled, “Come, Grab & Go”? The title contains a photo of Weah. In this story, the paper reported that Weah would come to ECOWAS, picks up his allotted allowance and leave without attending sessions. Again, the paper’s source was Senator Prince Johnson, quoted saying, “only George Weah signs for stipends and & leaves”. 

Here once more, FrontPageAfrica did not do due diligence by fact checking the allegation, as it appears to tarnish the character of a fellow citizen, especially a lawmaker who is running for the highest office of the country.  Finally, FrontPage failed to get Weah’s side of the story, a must for balanced reporting.

Did Misleading Information Contribute To The Civil War?

Misleading and biased reporting must stop. It does not help in maintaining peace and stability. I stated also in my previous article how such reporting affected particularly the 2005 Presidential election in Liberia. So I do not have to repeat it here.  But I need to say how it impacted the civil war. Yes, biased, faked and misleading information helped cause the civil war in Liberia.  Here is an example: 

In 1985, President Samuel Doe and Brigadier General Thomas Quiwonpka, two friends who led the “1980 Revolution”, fell out and were not are speaking to each other.  The General, called then Strongman, left the military barracks and moved temporally to a hotel in Monrovia. 

Liberia was to receive an urgent and needed international aid but with condition requiring the cooperation of the General. The President decided to meet the General to discuss the situation. The news of the intended visit reached the General, but his key supporters/aides advised him not to meet Doe, telling him that Doe’s intention was to kill him. Doe could not see the General when arrived at the hotel. He left disappointed.

General Quiwonpka felt insecure in Liberia and left for exile in America.  In the US, he decided to further his education at a community college, putting the Liberian issue on the back burner.

But because of his popularity in Liberia and with the military, a Liberian group in America approached him to lead an invasion in Liberia to remove Doe from power. The General refused.  The group returned later but this time with a faked photo of his mother being raped by Doe’s soldiers.  The General was intensely angry when he saw the picture and agreed to lead the invasion.

But the invasion failed; the General died. Unfortunately and sadly after his death, the group abandoned his family, just as the group forgot about him letting him standing alone with a gun and a malfunctioning  walkie- talkie, wandering and confused on the Friday of the invasion.

On November 15, 1985, a newly enlisted soldier of the government forces saw him walking and shot him dead. The nation, particularly his supporters, friends and family, was saddened by his death. The General was a quiet man, a gentleman, a family man, a good man. I knew him, he married to a family member.

And the civil war came in December 1989, four years after the invasion. To avenge the General’s death, his kinsmen from Nimba, Senator Prince Johnson’s birthplace, joined rebel leader Charles Taylor in the war to topple the Doe government.  A full civil war emerged in later years, causing the deaths of thousands of innocent people.

Here you have fake and misleading information helping create and maintain a rift between two best friends, causing animosity and conflict between their once friendly tribal groups and creating a national war. Misleading information is dangerous!

Deborah Malac, former US ambassador to Liberia, in 2013 advised Liberian journalists to report accurately, because “bias reporting brings war”. Also former Liberian senator, Cletus Wotorson, echoed her advice and warned of the same consequences.

The group that misinformed and misled the General emerged in the 2005 election and disseminated faked and misinformation aimed to recreate tribal and regional conflict for political gain. Now and apparently, the media is being used to influence this election.

The media has a responsible role in this year’s election in Liberia. Journalists “must carry and report the news fairly and must balance both sides.  As said before, they are the “watchdogs of the society”.  “They must verify information and report accurately”.

Am I For Weah And Against Frontpage?

Am I for Weah and against FrontPage? Certainly not; in fact, I am not a member of any political party. I enjoy reading and listening to the news and being informed. FrontPage Africa is one of my favorite papers. I do not know majority of the Liberian Presidential candidates and never saw them in person. I know VP Joseph Boakai and Dr. Mills Jones. I do not personally know Senator George Weah and never saw him in person. 

I saw recently candidate Benoni Urey at a funeral. We do not know each other, though he married to a Nyanfore, Mai Bright Urey, daughter of Mary Sarah Nyanfore from Grandcess.  Mai and I have communicated on the phone and on social media but never met. I am saying this to indicate that I am not advocating for any particular candidate and not against FrontPage Africa.

I have many friends in government or people with political connections and who are considered to be rich in the country. But their wealth and power do not move and control me. I am my own person.  I am content with what God has given me so far. I do not support any one of them if he/she is wrong or is found to engage in a wrongful behavior.  

Supporting and defending bad people because of personal relations or interest is to encourage wrongdoing and a corrupt society. My conscience would trouble me and I would be sad and unhappy if I do that. I would be an opportunist and guilty by omission, meaning exploiting and benefitting from the position of my friends and legally, seeing or knowing of the wrongdoings of friends and others but failing to act or failing to say something.

Where Do I Stand?

I stand for fairness and justice. I am against misinformation and the blatant use of it without regard of its consequences. I think it is sometime used with the belief or philosophy that people are stupid, that they are poor and can be fooled and that the truth will not come out; and even if it does, the people will do nothing anyway. 

This is a repressive way of thinking. I am against mistreatment and the oppression of people, especially poor, powerless and defenseless people. I strongly believe in God and uphold the consistency of personal principles, honesty and integrity. I believe that the media is a security guard of the community, standing against wrongdoings and standing for justice and truth.  The press must stand for the right of all citizens.

There is an opinion that Weah is not well educated, and factually he was born poor and grew up in the slums. But he, like all Liberian citizens, has the human and constitutional right to be treated fairly and to want to become President of Liberia. It is not me personally, the media or any other institutions to decide, but the Liberian people, through the ballot box, to decide who should become the next President.  

Moreover, my advocacy for fairness and against misleading reporting has been for over forty years: while in high school, I published against the unjust condition of African Americans in the US in the 60s, when I came to America as a teenager. I published against the misinformation of a Washington Post editorial on Liberia in 1980 and against a biased report by the now defunct Washington Afro-American newspaper that year.

I protested by publication the imprisonment of FrontPage Editor Rodney Sieh and the subsequent shutdown of the paper by the Liberian court in 2013. Although the imprisonment was due to a case of an alleged failure to authenticate a story, I felt that the amount charged for the libel verdict and fees was unfair and was intended to silent him and close down the paper for good.

My research revealed that the Liberian court system, the Supreme Court, has historically disfavored press freedom. I called for his release, and so were many concerned individuals and international institutions advocating for him and for freedom of the press. 

As stated earlier, I like the paper; it has faced the challenges of the press in Africa, and it was one of the reasons I recommended it for an international opportunity in 2013. I have no regrets for my effort and action. I hope that FrontPage Africa and other media in Liberia will act responsibly and desist from biased and misleading reportage, particularly in this election year.

I urge also that Liberians of voting age would register to vote this year. It is a constitutional obligation and right for change. I have registered and planned to return to Liberia to vote this October.

I will vote my conscience!

Dagbayonoh Kiah Nyanfore II, Contributing Writer

The late Tarty Teh was born in July, 1946. He was a literary genius, a Liberian and a friend. In honor of his birth, I have decided to republish this article with additional reflections on the man.

The death of Tarty Teh did not come as a surprise to me. About two weeks before his passing, I had a dream in which he brought George Oppong Weah to my place.

We were sitting on my patio conversing. Weah later wanted to rest, so I took him to my guest room.

Then George W. Bush, US former president, came and requested to talk to George Weah. Bush was dressed in ordinary clothes, no security. I went to get Weah.  He and Bush went to a private area to talk. At this time, the press and security personnel were all over the place. 

I woke up from the dream. I called Kpanneh Doe in Atlanta, Georgia and told him about the dream. We all pondered over it. I have never met George Weah before, though I knew his father when I was a boy living in Claratown, Monrovia, Liberia.

“Why George Bush”? I asked Kpanneh.

“What was the connection”?

“What does this dream mean”?

I told Kpanneh that I think something will happen to Tarty. Teh was the only one in the dream I knew in person. Few days later, Kpanneh called to tell me about Tarty’s death.

I have observed that when a person is sick and is about to die, he/she may suddenly appear in a dream or may physically be lively, happy, talking, joking, laughing, walking around or may have a big appetite. You may think that the person is getting well. But often the person is about to die and is saying goodbye.

So when I had the dream, I thought of Teh’s health and his illness. Perhaps he brought Weah to meet me or Weah’s presence meant nothing.

Teh lived an active life. Many tributes have been paid to him. I will here briefly talk about him as a personal friend. I met Tarty in the late 1970s through Momo Rogers, now an official in the President Sirleaf government.

Momo brought Tarty to my place in Washington, DC. Tarty had just been assigned to the Liberian Embassy, Office of Press and Culture as a press officer. He was an outgoing and out spoken person. He made no excuses to tell you where he stood on issues concerning Liberia. Tarty stayed with me until he found a place in the Washington DC area.

All serious and passionate writers have obsessions. With Tarty, his main obsession and concern were the plights of the Liberian native people. The Americo-Liberians oppression of the natives was dear to his heart. Wherever he had the opportunity to express this cause, he used it. He did not forget where he came from and the life and background that shaped him.

Pallipo, a village in River Gee County, was his birthplace where he was born on July 18, 1946. He played the drums and danced to the songs of his people. He remembered the story of the enslavement of his people from the region in Fernando-Po.

He lived the life of a village boy and saw the suffering of his village people, the down trodden masses of Liberia. It was this culture that he expressed in his writings and had given him the strength and base. Like most good writers, he wrote like the way he talked.

His was simple, and with African cultural symbols. He was a good storyteller. This skill was his weapon. And many Liberians with Ph.Ds or with other higher degrees could not match him with the pen.

Tarty was not only prolific, but he was very skilful with the computer, on which he spent lot of time doing his work. We shared an office space on K Street downtown Washington, DC after he left the Embassy. K Street, Northwest DC, is an impressive address and was a good location for my firm, Planning and Development International.

The office was good also for Tarty to get out of the house and concentrate on his writing in a professional environment. He would stay up late, writing and just writing. An American friend would visit the office simply to read Teh’s writing.

When the Internet came of age, we were all excited with this technology. He was an original member of the Liberian chat room, with Ijoma Flemister, George Fahnbulleh, Konia Kollehlon, Jesus Weeks, Mary Broh and others. He was a voice particularly of native issues. To my knowledge, he coined the word “Americos”, to describe the Americo-Liberians and the Congo people as a group.

He called the Liberian natives “African- Liberians” or Liberians of culture. He founded and published, with the assistance of Blamoh Seekie, the Blojlu Journal as a media of advocacy of native rights. He was not jealous of other Liberian writers or emerging writers. He admired the creative work of Siahyonkron Nyanseor and wanted to publish Nyanseor’s poetry and short stories.

Tarty was not liked in some quarters of the Liberian society, for his candid discussion of the Liberian problem. He lived to the true essence of his name Teh, meaning linguistically “issue”. He had no problem debating with anyone on Liberian affairs. Nyanseor’s defense of Tarty in 1998 captured well the nature of Teh when he wrote:

“Teh’s inquisitive approach in probing the conscience of most Liberians cannot be compared to anything but excellence and patriotic. Teh’s probe intends to raise vexed issues and to provoke serious discussions regarding Africa and Liberia in particular.

He is not in this debate to win popularity contests. He is honest and sincere about the issues he discusses. And I am one of those individuals that cannot wait to receive my daily email from my friend and brother, Tarty Geesayfahnonkon Kloba BodiohTeh”.

Nyanseor has an archive of Teh’s writings and I am sure he will publish them soon. Teh’s body of work is indisputably unrivaled by any contemporary Liberian writer.

Teh admired other Liberians, including the late Dihdwo Twe, Penyonoh Gbe Wolo, Albert Porte, Edward Blyden and C. Cecil Dennis Jr, former Foreign Minister. The minister recognized Tarty’s writing talent and encouraged Teh to take a position in the Liberian Foreign Service. But Tarty did not stop his advocacy because he was working for the government.

Dr. Elwood Dunn, former editor of the Liberian Studies Journal and Stephanie Horton, editor of the Sea Breeze Journal of Contemporary Liberian Writings, respectively admired and acknowledged his writing skill.

He was not afraid to take on some of Liberia’s prominent opinion leaders on national issues. He took Dr. H. Boima Fahnbulleh to task in Teh’s “The Forgotten General”, showing Fahnbulleh’s disregard of the late General Thomas Quiwonkpa. Fahnbulleh replied in a piece entitled, “Of lies and Pretencies”. He was no match to Teh’s writing. 

Tarty exposed Ambassador Francis Dennis of the mistreatment of native servants in the embassy, the ambassador’s residence. During President William Tolbert administration, Dennis was removed from the post and transferred to another country primarily because of Teh’s advocacy.

He challenged the late C. Cecil Dennis Sr., publisher of the once famous “the Liberian Age”, a pillar of the True Whig Party corrupt and repressive regime.

Teh considered Dr. Amos Sawyer a betrayer of the Liberian Constitution, when Sawyer campaigned for and became Liberian interim president. As a framer of the 1986 constitution, Tarty maintained that Sawyer should have protected it. In accordance with the constitution, Tarty stated that Harry Moniba, former Vice President of the Doe government, should have succeeded Doe after Doe’s death.

In December, 1999, Tarty wrote “With and Without Sam Jackson”, in which he told the story of him and Jackson growing up together as native boys in Liberia. But later, they took a different path in life during the Charles Taylor civil war and regime. Teh became a critic of Taylor while Jackson is said to have become a friend and benefactor of Taylor rule. Teh felt forgotten by and disappointed of Jackson.

Teh was the strongest and the most consistent critic of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from day one. Unlike those who criticized but later begged for jobs, Teh never wavered in his criticism of Madame Sirleaf even before she became president.

Before the thought of establishing or forming the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Teh considered Sirleaf a principal contributor to the Liberian civil war and that she had planned the war for her selfish and vindictive goal. The war indeed caused the death of over 200 thousand people and the destruction of some of the country’s infrastructure.

In response to Sirleaf’s written testimony to the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee hearing on June 19, 1990, Teh wrote Mrs. Sirleaf in part:

“I would not have known why you try too hard to avoid mentioning any truths that favor anyone whom you oppose, if I hadn’t learned much later on that you want to be president of Liberia. Although I do not submit that your presidential ambition suffices as reason for the totality with which you avoid mentioning any opposing truths. I have come to understand how you think such subterfuge is to your advantage”.

Tarty went on to say. “You diminished yourself as worthy of my respect when you failed to note the conditions of total discrimination against African-Liberians before the coup of 1980; when you used the word “oligarchy” not to describe the status quo of 133 years under the Americo-Liberian Dynasty, but instead used it to describe President Doe and his flock of new arrivals into the rank of the privileged, the rank that was once the exclusive providence of Americo-Liberians.

But what I find almost unforgivable is not any of the above. Instead, it is your sinister evocation of your dead mother’s name in your lamentation before a Congressional hearing, and portrays her as someone who died before reaching the Promise Land”.

Teh was a family man. He was a married man. He spent some time with me while trying to resolve a family matter. His two boys, Tyee and Jahtay and daughter Kaysah were his pride and joy. They visited him on weekends. The family would watch the children movies, particularly the Lion King, reciting the movie scribe or words from the beginning to the end and singing the songs together. Though they were born here in America, Teh wanted them to culturally become and taught them as Africans.

He gave them African names; and the children enjoyed African food and proud of their African heritage. His oldest son, Soklo, was with him in India, where he went for medical treatment.

Teh’s wife, Gabriella, also a writer, is a career social worker and provided a balance to his political stance. She calmed him down when he at times got hot on the Liberian issue. Tarty advocacy did not blind him from liking good things. He had a good taste of fine clothing. He knew the names of famous designers and their clothing lines. He was a good dresser.

Though he liked and enjoyed music, he was not a good dancer. He would at a party usually talk politics, but he would shake his head to the sound and beats of the music while participating in the conversation. When he ever got to the dance floor, he would dance like some White people, moving his body with no rhythm. I jokingly told him that he danced like a White man. He would just smile, saying nothing.

Sometimes, you could not tell if Tarty was from Africa. He blended in very well in the American society. He told me that during his courtship of Gabriella, she told her father that she was dating an African. There was another suitor, an American, whom she also told the father about. Later the father got sick and was hospitalized.

Teh and Gabriella went to see him; his first time meeting Teh. The father was so impressed with Tarty that he told Gabriella in private to date only the man whom she brought to the hospital and not the African. Teh always joked and laughed about the incident.  

Tarty’s favorite dish was cassava leaves cooked with fowl chicken. He would buy two or three packs of the leaves and some chicken from the local Spanish store on his way to the house.

“I like the way you cook it Kiah”, he would say complimenting my cooking. But he would add lots of hot peppers to his plate. His children liked peppers too. They used to it.

“It is spicy”, they usually said as they ate.

Teh was unemployed and was seriously looking for work when he was with me. I would play or mess with him when the house phone ranged. I would rush to the phone, pretending that the call was his, though really it was mine.

“You want to talk to Mr. Teh, and you say this is about a job”?

I would ask the caller and walk to the next room. Tarty would surprisingly look at me, throwing me sign that I should give him the phone. But I wouldn’t.

“Ok sir”, I continued, “Mr. Teh is presently not in but I will take and pass the information to him when he comes,” I would say to the caller and would later hang up. Tarty would be mad, saying.

“Why you did that for? The call was mine, you have no damn right taking it and not giving it to me”, he would say with vexation. When he little calmed down, I would tell him the truth.

“I hit that when Kiah does that to me”, he would relate the fun and joke to Kchebeh Walker, a mutual friend. Tarty would later pay me back unexpectedly, giving me a taste of my own medicine.

Losing a respectable government job and having a family whom you cannot support because of unemployment would be frustrating and depressing. He would walk around in the house looking confused. Whenever he got nervous, he would grind his teeth. I would say,

“namanju”, meaning man child, “take it easy, things will be fine”.

Going to the office with me regularly was therapeutic. It released him of stress. He got frustrated also when his children sometimes could not come for their regular weekend visit due to schedule problem with Gabriella. He would be mad.

His last trip to Liberia was to see about his back pay, which he claimed the Liberian government owed him. I wondered could the Sirleaf government willingly pay him back the money when he did not support her politically and also when he in the past had criticized her for “wrongful behaviors?” Considering his advocacy, Sirleaf government could argue that the back payment situation occurred in a previous administration.

Therefore her government should not be pressured.  They could give him the runaround just to frustrate him and strangulate him financially. I felt sorry for him. I think he did not get the money before his death, because Gabriella wanted to give me document to deliver regarding the money during my recent trip to Liberia.

Tarty was committed to his writing. Writing is an art, which does not come by easily. You have to work at it, develop it and nurture it by writing consistently. He was dedicated to the art. His commitment would have encouraged and inspired young and new writers to the discipline. 

He told me a story after a trip, which he took to Liberia while working for the government in DC. He took an assignment with the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, editing the work of junior staff to help improve information delivery.

He corrected their work, had the work typed and trashed the edited copies. The staff would search the trash basket for the copies to view their mistakes. They did not get mad, for they learned from his skill, his writing ability.

I worked with Teh with his writing. I slightly edited some of his articles. But it was not easy at first. He was very particular about his writing. He had a bit of ego, a sort of arrogance, thinking that he knew it all. As our friendship grew, he was relaxed and comfortable to have me view his drafts for suggestions. He was a born writer, wrote well.

Tarty was not a college graduate. Many people did not know that and would not have believed it. He finished high school in Liberia.

But he did not have to have a degree. He had a God giving gift, a gift to excellently tell his story, the condition, the problem and the suffering of his people. He would have made a lot of money had he focused on or specialized in writing stories for pleasure reading. Perhaps that was not his calling.

There was one thing about him that I could not understand. He did not see anything wrong with some native officials who misused their power. Teh blamed their former Americo-Liberian/Congo masters for teaching them such behaviour and for not setting a good example.

He was sent to “Belleyalla”, a notorious prison, during the Samuel Doe regime. Upon his release, he was not angry for the treatment. Instead, he supported the administration. 

Tarty died of throat cancer on February 15, 2012 after a long battle with the illness. He died in his native land Liberia. He was buried in Pallipo, his village, where it all started.

Liberia has lost a literary genius. May his soul rest in heavenly peace.

Dagbayonoh Kiah Nyanfore,
Washington, D.C.
dnyanfore@aol.com

For three days and three nights the youth wing of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) staged a hunger strike opposite the US Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia.  The group carried out the strike to protect corruption in Liberia in wake of the Global Witness report of brbery in Liberia. The strike started on June 1 to June 3, 2016. CDC is the largest opposition party in Liberia.

The Global Witness report alleged that Sable Mining Company, a British firm, gave Varney Sherman of Sherman and Sherman Law Firm US$9500,000 to bribe some government officials, including Alex Tyler, Speaker of the House of Representative, the former Minister of Lands and Mines and the previous chairman of the National Investment Commission to help change the Liberian procurement and concessions law to favor Sable Mining, which was not a registered company in Liberia, to mine the Wologizi iron ore concession in Liberia.

According to Global Witness, the bribery scheme started in 2010. Sable Mining wanted to win the mining concession contract for Wologizi iron ore, after the company‘s investors under a different business name, had lost a previous contract bid in Liberia. Sable hired Varney Sherman of Sherman and Sherman Law Firm to help them in this effort.

Sherman advised Sable that in order to achieve this, the country’s procurement and concessions law should be changed in favor of Sable. This process entailed bribing key government officials to approve the change. The report stated that Sable gave Sherman the US$950,000 to carry out the bribery.

 Sherman is said to have given, for example, US$75,000 to the speaker, US$50,000 to Morris Saytumah, Minister of State for Finance, Economic and Legal Affairs, and US$50,000 to Richard Tolbert, Chairman of National Investment Commission. Saytumah is now a senator and Tolbert is retired from the government. Sherman is the chairman of the ruling Unity Party, a seasoned and well-connected lawyer in Liberia.  

Global Witness also alleged that Sherman gave $250.000 each to “Big Boy 1 and Big Boy 2”, faked names which the report said Sherman gave to hide the real names of the individuals in the government who received the amount.

Global Witness said Sherman mentioned those faked names in a spreadsheet prepared by him or his law firm giving account of the money to the company in an email. Sherman, in addition to his position as party chair, is now also senator from Grand Cape Mount County in Liberia following the 2014 special senatorial election.    

The senator and the speaker were arrested late May this year and are on bail. But they would not for the sake of professional ethnics, recluse themselves in the legislature while the case is pending.  The lower court has subpoenaed the bank records of the accused, but Sherman legal team has appealed to the Supreme Court against the subpoena.

Moreover, the house has recently appointed a committee under the leadership of the speaker to investigate the corruption/bribery saga, an indication of the “accused serving also as the judge”.  Meanwhile, the CDC party is said to have asked its legislative partisans to protect sitting in chamber under Tyler gavel.

 The action by the house to investigate is in addition to the Special Task Force appointed by the president to investigate and prosecute those allegedly involved. The Task Force is headed by the Minister of State Fonati Kofa, who is an ex-convict in America when he was residing there. Before his appointment as a minister, he was the chairman of the Liberty Party, another opposition party in Liberia.

Opponents to Kofa’s appointment to head the Task Force maintain that he lacks the moral ground to lead the team and that the case should have been given to the Liberian Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), a statutory body or to an independent prosecutor not appointed by the president. They argue that as a presidential appointee, he would be unable to strongly investigate the presidency if the president is found to be involved in the bribery.

The speaker too holds the latter view and he and Sherman have refused to appear before the Task Force.  The speaker has indicated that the president approved changing the procurement and concessions law.

However, others supported the appointment and praised the president for taking a bold step on corruption. To them the president is tired of corruption and the failure of established agencies to successfully prosecute. Despite Koffa’s past problem, they say that he is a good and competent lawyer and is not afraid to take legal actions. But last Thursday, June 3, Minister Kofa announced at a press conference that the case has been turned over to the justice ministry and that the Task Force will now play a supportive role in the matter.

Many Liberians are disappointed regarding the announcement. They view that the case will die in the justice ministry, pointing out that the newly appointed Justice Minister, Frederick Cherue, is a very close friend of Sherman, who recommended him to the post. The concern of conflict of interest was raised at the conference, but the minister played down on the issue.

Another concern is that Solicitor General Betty Blamoh of the justice ministry was a lawyer at the Sherman and Sherman Law Firm. She is said to have worked on the Sable deal during her work with the firm. Accordingly, Varney Sherman provided her with her first job as a lawyer. Will she and the minister recluse themselves?

Global Witness is a well-known and credible international advocacy entity. If the state loses this case, it would hurt the president. Although her term will expire January 2018 and she is not eligible for re-election, failure to successfully prosecute the case would affect her legacy and her international image.

Back to the hunger strike

The hunger strike called for government officials indicted to recluse themselves from their official positions while the case is pending. The group also asked that the US Embassy not to grant those accused travel visa or entry authorization to America during the case and for the US government to freeze any asset or bank account in the US of those indicted until conclusion of the case; and to take a firm position on corruption in Liberia, considering US historical role in the country. Corruption also hampers development and causes poverty in Liberia, as some observers have pointed out.

On the last day of the hunger strike, Joe Chamberlain, Political Affairs Officer of the US Embassy, walked in the rain to receive the group two-page position statement. He thanked the CDC youths for their peaceful, orderly, and well-mannered assembly. He informed that the group’s recommendations or positions would be forwarded to Washington for consideration for implementation.

 He said: “I applaud you for this. As I said, I will report this back to Washington – to the extent that your recommendations to us fit with our policies and procedures, we will see about implementing them”.

He also advised that corruption must be fought everywhere from the bottom level of Liberians to the top.

Among those interviewed by the media at the demonstration included market women. An old woman when asked why she risked her health or life to participate in the hunger strike expressed of corruption and poverty in Liberia. Other women spoke of their conditions, including the inability to pay their children school fees and other impacts of corruption in the country.

To all the demonstrators, the hunger strike was worthy. They achieve their goal to physically bring the plight of the people to the doorsteps of the embassy of the most powerful nation of the world.

Why did the strikers take the demonstration to the embassy and not to the Liberian legislature?

Corruption has been around in Liberia for a longtime. The president first called it enemy number one and recently a vampire.  Former Auditor General John Morlu has stated that the Sirleaf government is the most corrupt administration in Liberian history. In all cases of corruption in the government, only one official has been prosecuted and jailed. Most accused have gone scout free.  The LACC and the Justice Ministry have been ineffective in prosecuting corruption cases.

The government receives most of its revenues from international entities, including the US government or agencies. International partners have played an important role and are influential in Liberia. Although as a virtue of sovereignty, a foreign country cannot interfere in Liberian domestic affairs, Liberia listens to the US.  

Besides financial dependency, Liberia looks up to the US for the government professional manpower. Most Liberians in the Diasporas are in the US and many Liberian born US citizens are said to be working in the government. Because some domestic approaches seemed unworkable, some observers think that involving international entity in national issue would be an effective strategy.

Does hunger strike work?

Let’s look at the CDC hunger strike analytically. Some Liberians view the exercise useless, a waste of time. Well, this approach is relatively foreign in Liberia, but it is very effective in the Western World, i.e. in the US.

In the past some Liberians have gone on hunger strike for a cause. In June 2001, over 50 Liberian youths of the West African Youth Network for Peace staged a hunger strike in front of the Guinea Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia to protect the fighting at the Liberian, Guinean and Sierra Leonean borders.

Moreover, In August 2013, Editor Rodney Sieh of the Frontpage Africa newspaper staged a hunger strike during his imprisonment for failure to pay a US $1.6 million label sue filed by Chris Toe, former Minister of Agriculture. Sieh had reported on corruption, which was said to have involved the minister. Regarding the CDC hunger strike, however, Sieh questioned its purpose on a radio talk show.

Though undertaking hunger strike is a health risk, some civil and human rights advocates have used it successfully. It is a personal and physical sacrifice to bring to attention a national concern. People listen when that is done. It is like making a personal sacrifice of what is dear to us, such as food and water.

When we ask God for help in an important matter, we fast and often God hears and answers. Though in the CDC case, the exercise is hunger strike, like fasting, they carry a common purpose of making a personal and physical sacrifice, which often gets the intended result.

However, one should be cognizant of the society and environment where the hunger strike is to be conducted, as some institutions and individuals may see such exercise as nonsense.

The political affairs officer of the embassy came out and met with the group. He would not have come out had the group acted disorderly, shouting and disturbing public peace and security.  

He came because the embassy realized that the group made a physical sacrifice of staying in front of the embassy for three days and nights without food and water; they stayed in the rain and sun and did not disappear or get discouraged. That was determination; that was sacrifice.

The embassy watched them for those three days and its representative met with them at the end of the strike. What he told them was important, that their recommendations would be considered by Washington for implementation. Their message received an audience. That was an achievement.

Because of security concern, US embassies around the world are security conscious, especially since 911. The embassy knew of the planning of the hunger strike, because the event was announced days ahead. The embassy would have used its power and influence to disallow the occasion, if it felt the exercise would create a security problem. The embassy would have also discouraged the event if it did not believe in the event purpose.

Why did the political affairs officer and not the ambassador meet with the group?

A political affairs officer, sometime called political officer, in an embassy is not a small potato. He or she is very important.

He/she can act in place of the ambassador.  In some embassies a political officer carries the rank of first secretary, deputy ambassador or minister-counselor.  A political officer’s duties include analyzing the political conditions of the host country and preparing a weekly or monthly report for the ambassador for submission to the state department or foreign ministry of the home country.

He/she is the ambassador’s “eyes and ears” and advises the embassy on political affairs. Because ambassadors are busy and are personal representatives of the home president, some ambassadors can send their report or communication directly to the president.

With the input of the foreign minister/secretary of state and sometimes other aids, the ambassadors’ reports set the basis for the country’s foreign policy or view toward the host country.  

Hence when the political affairs officer told the group that Washington would consider implementing their recommendations, the “country team”, I mean the key staff of the embassy has already discussed the corruption issue in Liberia and has formulated a view, which will be discussed at the higher level at home for an official position.

The US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Ambassador Linda Greenfield, recently visited Liberia and made some statements on corruption. Her observations on situation during her visit would be considered. The CDC group’s exercise would add weight to the embassy view of the seriousness of the average Liberian regarding corruption in Liberia.

Before an official position is publically known, it would take some time, involving diplomatic communication or discussion with the Liberian president and possibly with other important international partners regarding Liberia.  

The Author:
Dagbayonoh Kiah Nyanfore, II is a Liberian national visiting Liberia. He is a graduate of Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service. He resides in the US

Sister Gbeh called me Saturday night, February 28 2015, and wanted to see me Sunday after church. “Is there a problem? I asked.  “No, brother”, she said, adding “I just want to see you”.  Immediately after church, I went over to her house, a hut so to speak, with patched old zinc in New Kru Town, Monrovia, Liberia. As usual, she was happy to see me. She too had just returned from church. She wore an African dress and was looking beautiful.  I was glad that she attended church, because I had advised her to go to church and not always go to sell market on Sunday. 

“Nyanfore Gbeh”, I called and praised her in Kru traditionally. She smiled.  “I took Tehbel with me to church and introduced her as my granddaughter. I want her to become an usher as I was”, she happily expressed. But Gbeh did not say why she wanted to see me. She restated her earlier reason as I pressed her on if everything was OK? As she walked me to the road to take a taxi home, I repeated to her my desire to buy her a land and build a house for her and the children one day. “God will bless you brother”, she said.

On early Monday the next day, Tehbel called me crying that sister had fallen and was not talking. “Please come uncle”, she urged.  From my house in Gardnerville, Monrovia, I rushed to New Kru town, which is about 35 minutes’ drive. I met Gbah lying on the floor motionless. Gbeh, Gbeh! I called while shaking her.  She opened her eyes in response.  I ran to the street to get a cab to take her to Redemption Hospital. I was lucky to get one quickly. Tehbel and a neighbor helped me to put her in the car. She was heavier. Tehbel went with me to the hospital.

At the hospital, the receptionist inquired about sister’s condition. “She fell this morning and cannot walk and talk”, I replied. I gave sister’s vital information as the receptionist asked. There was no computer, so she was writing the information on a sheet of paper. Luckily, sister was given a bed, which was usually hard to get.  The nurse took Gbeh’s temperature and pressure. “Her pressure is very high”, the nurse reported and gave her drips and nifedipine, a blood pressure medication, to lower the pressure.

“She needs some rest”, the doctor on duty instructed as he also checked sister. The nurse added that only one visitor should be allowed to be with sister. Therefore Tehbel left to prepare the younger children for school and to get ready for her class.  She is a senior at her high school. I stayed with sister until Tehbel returned. The hospital demanded that a family member must be with the patient at all times and must bring food for the patient.

The hospital was running with a short staff. It lacked adequate medical supplies. There was no wheelchair or stressor to bring emergency patients into the hospital. The reception room had only two chairs. “We are not operating like normal time”, a staff said. Normal time in Liberia is referred to time before the Liberian civil war. It is also used as an excuse for existing inadequacies and the lacks of basic services, such as electricity and adequate clean safe drinking water and ambulances.

Redemption Hospital was built by the PRC, the People Redemption Council, a military junta, which overthrown the Tolbert regime in 1980 and ended the True Whip Party and settlers rule of the country. Prior, there was no hospital in New Kru Town for the poor. Also prior and now, government officials and the elite traveled abroad for personal health services, giving little attention to the healthcare sector in Liberia, particularly in the rural areas, where the majority population have no access to basic health service.

There are two major public hospitals in the country. They were built by foreign governments. The country has “one doctor per 100,000 people”, and has “about one healthcare worker for every 3,400 people”, according to published reports. Projects of lesser priority have more money allocated than the fund earmarked for health services in the current national budget. The absence of adequate healthcare puts at risk the lives of the people, mostly the poor.  Many have died because of   inadequate health services. This is one reason Ebola killed over four thousand people in the country. Liberia had the highest Ebola death rate in the subregion, though the nation was the third country affected by the virus.  

Ebola took advantage of the medical vacuum or weaknesses. Nevertheless, the Liberian people survived Ebola last year, thanks to the resilience of the people, government improved public awareness effort, and help from the international community. Although Redemption Hospital lacked many services, it was the only available health center for Ebola patients in New Kru Town. Ebola killed in Liberia more than 180 healthcare workers, including 8 from the hospital. Like in other hospitals in the country, healthcare workers sacrificed and risked their lives in servicing patients at Redemption during the crisis.

Redemption Hospital was cleaned during sister hospitalization. The janitor mopped the floors regularly. On Tuesday, March 3th, Tehbel reported that sister’s condition had improved; the hospital had released her; her pressure had reduced; her body had regained strength; she walked home by herself and can talk. I spoke to Gbeh on the phone, she sounded fine. I was happy. I went to New Kru Town after the conversation. Gbeh was asleep when I arrived. So Tehbel and I went to the local drugstore to purchase the prescribed medications. At her house, I spoke to a medical practitioner for her regular check-up and monitor.

I returned home feeling good of her condition. But the next day, Wednesday, her situation got worst.  She was sicker and had stopped talking. Again I rushed to her house and took her back to the hospital. It was harder this time: Tehbel did not go with me. She had to stay with the children. Finding a taxi was difficult, though I got one. There was no person willing to help me pull her out of the car and to enter her into the hospital. “Can someone help me”? I cried out.”

 I will pay”, I continued. No response! The taxi driver was impatient. He too was no help. “You are holding me up, I got to go”, he demanded. I pulled sister out from her back arms and unfortunately dragged her by her feet into the hospital. The security guard, standing at the entrance, moved to the side to give me way. He was no help either.  Apparently because of Ebola, people were afraid to touch patients. Therefore I understood the reaction, or the lack of response to my call. Ebola or no Ebola, I could not leave sister helpless. I did what I had to. Situation can make you do such a thing.  Now I understand why the late Patrick Sawyer had to help his sick sister at a hospital in Liberia. Unfortunately he died from the sister’s Ebola.

Inside the hospital, there was no available bed, no doctor was on duty and there was inadequate evening staff. I forced Gbeh to sit in a partly broken chair; she was weak. Her head was resting on my left thigh as I stood. After waiting for a while, I asked the receptionist, “When will a doctor be on duty”? She did not answer or paid me any attention. I kept asking. “When will a doctor be here, madame”?

My continued asking got the attention of another staff. Perhaps the receptionist had told him of my consistent inquiry and that I was from America. “Who is the American man making noise or causing trouble”? A male staff came out asking us in the waiting area. I did not answer, though I knew he was referring to me. “I am not an American and I was not causing trouble “, I said to myself. In Liberia when you speak out or question on matters, you can be considered a troublemaker.  Seemingly, the general thinking is that poor people needing public services, such as healthcare, should not speak out. They should be quiet and be thankful for the service. The silence to the question made the staff to turn around to the receptionist and asked.

“Where is the man”? The receptionist pointed at me. “That man there, that papay”. When the man approached me, I stated that I was not causing noise or making trouble, but simply asking when will a doctor be on duty.“Patients are here waiting and needing service”, I further explained. “You are from America elm? This is not America. We do not have money to run a fully staffed hospital”, he said. Few minutes later however, the receptionist called me and asked for sister’s name. “Elizabeth Nyanfore”, I said.

“Is this her first time here? She asked. “No ma, she was here yesterday”, I informed. She continued, “What is she here for? I repeated what had happened. The receptionist did not appear to have or look at the information taken earlier. She was writing the information on another sheet again. “And how old is she”?  I gave sister’s age and date of birth. “What medications were given to her or prescribed? She asked. “I do not know “, I answered and asked. “Isn’t that information in her chart”? She did not answer or appeared not to listen. She repeated. “What medicines did she take”?

“I do not know”, I said again, adding “but her granddaughter has the medications at home. She is not here”. I replied. The receptionist requested that I call Tehbel to bring the medicines. I did. When Tehbel brought the medications, it was revealed that she had, unknowingly, given sister too much doses than prescribed. This put Gbeh into a deep sleep, as we were told. “You want to kill your grandmother elm? A medical assistant jokingly said to Tehbel. “But she will be alright”, he added, reassuring kind of that things would be fine. They checked sister’s pressure and sugar level, she was fine.

Gbeh was given a bed and placed in a hallway leading to the main room. I sat near her bed, holding her hands, comforting her and telling her she would be fine and would get well. She was just looking at me, not saying a word. As I held her hands, in a flashback I remembered when we were children residing in Claratown in Monrovia: our respective mothers sent us to live with our father’s people, who were financially well-off and able to send us to school. Dad was ill after graduating from Cuttington College and could not help us. I went to live with Uncle James, James Nimely or Nimely Nah in Grandcess, now part of Grand Kru County. Gbeh went to Aunt Mary in Harper City, Maryland County, Liberia. Uncle James was a superintendent of Grandcess and was a wealthy man, a real estate tycoon.  

His father, Dagbayonoh Nimely, was our great grand uncle, brother of Dagbayonoh Nyanfore, our great grandfather, a dogbwo-klohbarh, a traditional leader of Grandcess from the Nyapo-Natieo panton.  Aunty Mary or Mary Nyanfore Wilson was a high society woman in Maryland County. Her husband, Mr. John Wilson, was a government official. In addition to her own properties, she and her husband owned properties and a large rubber farm of hundreds of acres in Maryland County.  She was our dad’s sister. She was the oldest of father’s siblings and was helpful to us, the James Nyanfore’s children, during his illness. Gbeh and I were to become a success story, coming from a ghetto of Monrovia to places of opportunity for a better future.

But I ran away from Grandcess to Harper City primarily because of mistreatment. I was happy to reunite with Gbeh. We played together and hid ourselves to speak Kru, our traditional African language. Aunty disallowed us from speaking Kru in the house. Speaking “mother tongue”, as it was called then, was considered uncivilized.

Hence, many educated natives, desirous of acceptance by the Americo-Liberian/Congo ruling settlers, played down on their native culture. Within a week, however, Aunty Mary sent me back to Grandcess. She could not disobey Uncle James, her elder, though I pleaded to stay. Sister cried to see me go. She left Harper later and returned to her mother. I did too.

When I awoke from down memory lane, a healthcare worker passing by asked if Gbeh was my wife. “No, sister”, I replied. I guessed she felt that only married people could show such affection. I fed sister with bread and tea, which Tehbel brought. Gbeh did not have appetite for sold food. “Eat the bread and drink the tea, I urged. She tried to eat with some difficulty but drank the tea easily. ”Eat Gbeh, you need strength”, I encouraged further.

In few days, sister was getting better, though still weak. She could open her eyes and talk. Tehbel and I asked her what solid food she wanted. “Palm butter and fufu”, she replied. Tehbel and I laughed. “She wants palm butter and fufu this time of the night”, I said to Tehbel smiling. I turned back to sister. “OK Gbeh, Tehbel will cook that tomorrow”, I said. Sister was moved to the main room with other patients. There was bed space now.

As stated earlier, sister lived in the Borough of New Kru Town, a settlement established around 1945 for the Kru people previously resided in old Kru Town. Apparently, it was understood and planned that in a subsequent year a port would be built on the Bushrod Island; and certainly in 1948, the Freeport of Monrovia was constructed as a gateway for economic development of the country. The old town was located down town Monrovia in the area now called West Point. The Liberian Government broke down old Kru Town for industrial/commercial construction, which never happened. Like Gbeh, the inhabitants of New Kru Town live in abject poverty.

Sister dwelled in an old rundown one room zinc shack with six grandchildren, including Tehbel’s little girl. New Kru Town is considered “the largest slum in Liberia” and has a population about 75,000, mostly youth, “below 25 years old”, and over 75% of the labor force are unemployed, as stated in a published document. That rate is just 10% below the national figure of 85% unemployment, which has been constant since Charles Taylor administration, about 14 years ago. With this high unemployment, almost all of the schools in the borough are private, making life more difficult and adding financial pressure on the poor to educate their children. Seemingly, as I look back, the town’s glorious days are in the past, as view by me who was born in New Kru Town ……. Unlike currently, it was cleaner, uncongested and united. It had some of the best soccer teams in the country.

New Kru Town was the home of YB, Lone Stars and Yankees. The teams kept the town together. Old Kru Town too had Bame, meaning “let’s die” in Kru. It was the greatest Kru soccer team ever with famous goalie Pa Bornico Daniel. The borough’s rival town was Clara town with its mighty teams –IE, Landipools and Young Tigers with Jackson Weah, Jasper Wleh and Togopay and team owners, including PSJ. Dennis Nyanfore and “Taxi”, a fast running player, were among the best footballers in New Kru Town. D. Tweh was the political leader of the people, the Liberian downtrodden. Nahklen was the governor. Each team had its women supporting group, wearing uniformed African dresses, singing and cheering for their respective teams. The churches were also instrumental in the community. The now Grandoe Church, the Peter Wleh Church and the Methodist Church were the original religious institutions in the borough.  The Samuel Doe Church came later from Monbo Town in Duala.

Majority of the adult males in New Kru Town worked at the Freeport or worked at sea as seafarers, some were fishermen. The schools were generally free, enabling many of us for kindergarten and elementary education.  For example, the Methodist Day School and the William V.S. Tubman Public School, which I attended respectively, were all free. Parents who could afford tuition sent their children to St. Mary, a Catholic school, which was established later. Some kids went to Demonstration School in central Monrovia.

The advent in 1951 of the “Point Four Program”, a US technical assistance project, helped improve the community as there were electricity and fine concrete houses in the neighborhood. Dr. West or the Colonel West community was located in the coastal beach area near the Atlantic Ocean. It was a fine place with ocean view. West of the borough in the lagoon area, also has water view with the St. Paul River entering into the Atlantic Ocean giving spectacular scenery.

The sea did not encroach inland. That was New Kru Town. It population later increased relatively when Clara town was demolished by the Methodist Church in 1971; and the inhabitants, all Kru, migrated to New Kru Town. There are more schools, churches and other human services organizations, including the head office of the Women and Children Advocacy agency (WOCAD) in New Kru Town. WOCAD advocates for the rights and empowerment of disadvantaged children and women in Liberia and is non-governmental.

Sister worked as a ticket collector at the Duala market. She made a month $400 LD, Liberian dollars, which is equivalent to $5.00 US. She augmented her income with money, which she made from market at Duala. She paid about $5.00 US a month for rent.  She told me that the job was hard. At times she argued with marketers or vendors who did not pay their market fee, when she tried to collect payment. She worked long hours from the job and from selling. I asked her why did she work at the job, which paid so low and was stressful? “Brother, it is hard finding work in this country; the job provides me the privilege of not paying for my market table and mostly, it pays the rent”, she answered.

Although when I was in America, I sent her money to help, I stated giving her a monthly stipend since I came home. My coming to Liberia showed me concretely the gravity of her condition. I wished I could have done more. Sometimes I blame myself for staying and studying too long abroad. All my sisters in Liberia, except one, have died, including my mother during my studies. I am the oldest son of my parents. Therefore the family responsibility rests upon me. I left Liberia for the US as a teenager for high school.

However, had I come home early without completion of my studies and without preparation, I would have encountered  financial strangulation and starvation, a suicidal decision which could have forced me to compromise my principle and integrity, and I would have been unhappy. I also blame her son for dumping his children on sister knowing her condition. Feeding and clothing the children and paying their school fees worried her. The children put pressure on her too. I blame other family members for not helping her.

Besides having financially able relatives in Liberia and abroad, in Monrovia, for example, she had a nephew who was at that time a minister in the government; another nephew is an official of a major bank and a niece who holds an important position at the Freeport of Monrovia. Regrettably, they did not see her or look for her for years before she died. And they did not attend her funeral either. But Gbeh boasted of her family background simply to indicate that she was somebody, though in reality, she was also suffering financially and living in poverty. Poor people act like that sometimes.  They gladly talk about or feel good and happy to see a better- off relative. Unfortunately, the feeling is not usually mutual.

My return home has shown me also some of the behaviors of our people: they would come around you when you have money or when they want something. When you do not have, they would pull away from you. You would not see them around. Many are selfish, care only for themselves and their children. They would certainly take advantage of situation, if you are kind but weak or a “nice fool”. The poor must care for themselves, they have no justice. I experienced this behavior.

When I came home on short visits with plenty money, people would pack in my compound. Since I returned and have been home for long due to illness, only one person or two would occasionally stop by to say hello. People do no longer come around. Some people say that my illness is caused by an African science, a spiritual power, which harms or kills the intended victim.  I just listen whenever they tell me. I always ask. “If our people have such a power, how come they are still poor, oppressed and marginalized by others”?  I just listen, when they try to explain.

Sister’s condition was not special or unusual. Many people like her live in Logan town, Clara town, West Point, Slipway and in other ghettoes or slums in Liberia. Most Liberians sleep with empty stomachs. They force themselves to sleep so they would not feel the hunger at night. I blame the government for the acute poverty and for the poor healthcare system. Liberia is very rich in natural resources, but few enjoy the wealth.  

The average Liberian, or 84%, lives on less than $1.25 US a day while some government officials and others make$15,000-$30,000 US a month, meaning they live on $500-$1000 US a day. About 63% of the people have no access to clean and safe drinking water. Over 80% of the country is without electricity and about 98% of the population has no current or electricity. When you walk in the streets of Monrovia, you can see poverty in some people’s eyes or faces.  At the same time, others display their wealth in the mist of impoverishment, and they feel no guilt!

 Despites sister’s poor condition, she had a deep sense of self value and principle. If you did not like her, she would not like you. She did not run after relatives to beg them for help. She did not allow people take advantage of her. She would stand up for her rights and for what she believed to be right. I admired that, she was like daddy. He was an advocate and had value, principles and integrity. Sister was not without fault. Besides argumentation with marketers, she was a “hot pepper woman”, a woman with hot temper and with “palava” or confusion with people. ”Your sister is not easy, advise her to cool down”, that what neighbors would tell me sometimes when I visited her in New Kru Town.

Her condition in the hospital was declining. She stopped talking. On Thursday, March 17, Tehbel called to say that the hospital had discharged sister. “Is she well now or improving”? I asked. “No, the hospital said that they can no longer keep her. Come uncle”, Telbel said crying. I chartered a car to New Kru Town. Before going to her house, I stopped at the hospital to inquire about the problem. The hospital informed me that they lacked the capacities to keep a patient for long, that I should take her to a private hospital or get a homecare service. I asked for medical document regarding her condition and a follow-up prescription if possible.

“No, we cannot give you that”, said a staff. I went to the administrator, she was in a meeting, but an assistant got the information requested.  I then went to sister’s house and took her to my house.  I had already decided to bring her home temporary and had arranged with a registered nurse to attend to her. I also talked to my private nurse, Ma Mary, to prepare the guest room and provide other needed services. Sister was still weak. Her eyes were closed. “Gbeh, you are home in my place and will be alright”, I said as she lied down.

On Friday’s morning, March 18th, about 5, I woke up to check on her. She was asleep; her heart beat was unusually faster. I got kind of concerned. But it was early, so I went back to sleep. At 8: 15 AM, Ma Mary arrived and went to sister’s room. I too followed. Sister was up but her condition was still the same. I left. At 10:30 AM, Ma Mary called me to come into the room. “Please come”, she said. “What happened, what’s the problem”? I nervously asked.  “She was crying, tears were coming down her eyes as I was feeding her”. Her heart is beating faster”, Ma Mary stated.

“It looks she wants you to come, she added. “Gbeh”, I called sister.  She tried to open her eyes. She looked at me briefly; she opened her mouth and took two deep breaths. The breathing suddenly stopped. I looked perplexed. “Is she breathing”? I confusedly asked Ma Mary. “Please check”, I further requested.  While Ma Mary was checking, the registered nurse walked in. We told her what had happened. She checked Gbeh’s heart, purse and eyes. “We need to take her to the hospital now”, she said, adding, “I am going to call the hospital to send an ambulance”. She walked out without answering my question, “Is she alive”? In few minutes, Reverend Jallah , the pastor of a church opposite my house, sent a message requesting me to his office at the church.

At first I replied that I was busy. Yet he insisted. I walked to his office, I stood up, and my hands were resting on a chair facing his desk. “Sit down brother Nyanfore”, he politely requested. I sat. He praised me for my involvement in the church and in the community. He also talked about my care and love for sister. I said to myself. “What not you get to the point Rev, I do not have time, and I am busy”. He looked at a Bible on his desk and said “your sister passed”. I did not get that at first.

“So what are you saying”? I asked. “I mean your sister just died. The nurse told me because she did not know how you would take it,” he responded. I was quiet; I tried to compose myself, I got up, he was looking at me. “OK, Rev. I see you”, I said and left. I went straight to sister’s room, I requested to be alone. I looked at her, I thought of her life, her poverty, and her suffering; I prayed for her and talked to her in Kru with tears in my eyes!

Dagbayonoh Kiah Nyanfore, II, Contributing Writer