‘COMRADES IN ARMS’

-A Classic Comical Charade; the Corrupted hunts The Corrupt

By Mulbah K. Morlu, Jr. | December 13, 2006

 

Growing up as a child, I was one of many village-nursed children who enjoyed the privilege of stories being told from around the fire height. My mother was a lover of the environment, the things that pertained to nature. And as the master story-teller in the family, most of her depictions and illustrations were always designed to teach rudimentary lessons about life and its accompaniments. Her mastery of the act provided the basis for varieties; today she would be a bit allegorical and tomorrow would spiced it up with a sort of fiery tale; the day after would birth a fresh narration of ‘comedy of manners’ and the hurrying evening left space around the fire height for satire, heroic poem, saga, folktale, or chanson de geste, depending on her mood. And if a porcupine or perhaps, a red deer unluckily got betrayed by the hunter’s trap, with chopped-to-pieces limbs spiced and boiling in pot on top of  the fire height surrounded by story zealots, my mother would go extra time on entertainment. Of her favorite stories, spider’s was the most demonstrated; then rabbit, and then she would always mention the rogue hunter who hated being stolen from. This was the only life we knew best and to us, nothing could compare to the comfort it brought. It was a form of school; a form of village scholastic initiative that brought you close to values and precepts, and we love it. Most of our time were spent farming, which lasted daily from 9 A.M to, sometimes 5 P.M. when we were adjourned we would hurry to mother’s hut, our heads toting tied-together pieces of wood meant to keep the fire fed . The hut resembled a huge cave made of mud with the top shooting towards the sky. The story time would again begin. My sultriness to my mother as the last child amongst four, would lead me to rest my head on her lab, listening to every word.

 

This was the routine in a hut built with mud and roofed with palm thatches. Inside the hut, was my mother, always warming around a fire height. And mother sat around that fire height for 12 years, not being able to walk nor do anything physical! She was a beautiful young and light-colored woman who suddenly found herself in a despicable paralytic state in the twinkling of an eye. It happened when, during the reign of our village’s diarchy imperial order, an extension of oligarchy hegemony, brutal tax collectors were unleashed to collect hut taxes. In the process, my step father, who could not afford a 60 cents hut tax plus unjustified additional fees, was brutalized and seized in ropes to be imprisoned. They took him away and, yes, imprisoned him. He never came back except that his death behind rusty iron bars was messaged back to my mother weeks later. She broke down when the tragedy was announced, especially from the fact that these so-called taxes were not taken to any government coiffeurs but were leached by local sybarites whose bellies swelled with the curse mites of peasants. The scar of this tragedy was to remain indelible when my mother collapsed and never recovered till her demise. Tragically, as an innocent village lad, I had come to literally feel the stings of merciless corruption that was to change my life forever. And the scars remain, even till now.

 

Besides my family’s unfavorable encounter with corrupt chiefs and their cadre, the gruesome execution of the corruption-accused thirteen men, created in me an insatiable quest to want to discover why so much people would be eliminated for a ten-lettered word. These were Liberians charged for economic malfeasance without the slightest opportunity to put up a defense through due process. All that we have after twenty-five years complicated conflicts is the scarring gaze of their justice-hungry spirits asking us “why, why, why?” To fulfill such curiosity, I have been quizzically scrutinizing the subject matter and have come to realize that the term corruption is deeper, wider and longer than we have come to know it:

 

Etymologically the word “corruption” is a derivative of the Latin verb “corruptus” (to break). The literal definition of this word means broken object. When viewed from the pendulum of conceptuality, we can safely conclude that corruption is a form of deportment, a gross departure from ethics, morality, tradition, civil virtue and law.

 

However, in classic terms, corruption is the use of one’s public position for illegitimate private gains. This does not preclude the private sector since abuse of power and personal gains may also occur in both public and private domains. Research has revealed that in such cases, individuals from both sectors often act in collusion. In this regard, an internationally recognized firm has provided an interesting rendition: “Corruption is the behavior of private individuals or public officials who deviate from set responsibilities and use their position of power in order to serve private ends and secure private gains.”

 

Corruption as a chronic virus possessing a vitiate communicability can never be truly vanquished if not understood in its most simplistic cosmos. To use the vanquish terminology should bring to mind a societal quest to minimize the existence of corruption in the various offices. In this urge, the willing public or private servant will do well to search deep in the enclave of his inner most egos known to have consanguinity to greed, thereby embracing the virus. Hence, corruption tends to include the following behaviors: conflict of interest, embezzlement, fraud, bribery, political corruption, nepotism, secretarisme and extortion.

 

 An objective survey of the Liberian scenario will hypothesize corruption, which has taken residence in our society from the budding, as a virus that is clearly interwoven with various contributing factors. Amongst these factors are : faulty government and development policies; programmes that are poorly conceived and managed; failing institutions; inadequate checks and balances; an undeveloped civil society; a weak (corrupt) criminal justice system; inadequate civil servants' remuneration; and a lack of accountability and transparency.

 

 Forth with, it must be clearly established that no anti-corruption strategy will yield any result except these impediments are realistically approached.  While the idea of arresting individuals accused of corruption may not be wrong, it is however going to be a futile venture in the absence of the improvement of the social core values discussed supra. To buttress this fact, we tend to ask, how do you successfully wage the anti-corruption campaign when the judiciary itself is stratified with elements burdened with huge corruption hunchbacks?

 

Let it therefore be noted that a serious impediment to the success of any anti-corruption strategy is a corrupt judiciary. A corrupt judiciary means that the legal and institutional mechanism designed to curb corruption, however well-targeted, efficient or honest, remains crippled.

 

This is a fact that can be proven without a court process. In fact, up till present, is government not still suffering from the hangover of the NASSCORP jury-bribery case?  Who is corrupt, the jurors or the prosecutors?

 

 Since my life-changing experience with hedonistic and sensual village coterie of self-style corrupters, I have strenuously imbibed lessons that the greatest impact of corruption is on the poor; they don’t have any means whereby the quandary effects of corruption upon them can be absorbed. While the privilege few amassed monstrous resources with impunity, the poor remain mere onlookers with the only choice of feeding on the crump that drops from the sociopolitical table. And most times, no crump falls.

These unsympathetic corrupt quislings need to realize that by illegally diverting state funds corruption undercuts services, such as health, electrification, infrastructure, education, public transportation or local policing. Are these not proven reasons why national Government cannot meet salary arrears on time though take-home pay can hardly afford a 100lbs bag of some-done rice?

Quite frankly, our society today, like yesterday, is permeated with a vast intricate corrupt culture. This is an unequivocal reality that we must all have the intrepidity to discuss; and the consequences of corruption upon us all have proven more pervasive. Corruption causes reduced investment or even disinvestment, with many long-term effects, including social polarization, lack of respect for human rights, undemocratic practices and diversion of funds intended for development and essential services. 

 

And what need is there for me to say that whether in the Liberian setting or otherwise, the diversion of scarce resources by corrupt parties affects a government's ability to provide basic services to its citizens and to encourage sustainable economic, social and political development. Moreover, it can jeopardize the health and safety of citizens through, for example, poorly designed infrastructure projects and scarce or outdated medical supplies. Unfortunately, over the years, this has been the Liberian tragedy and the sooner we realize it the better for us all.

Having set the perfect stage for this importunate conversation, I would like you to know that corruption in Liberia is not a recent preoccupation as indulged into by rascals of malignity. Further, the institutionalization of the ugly practice in the midst is apparently replete in every dot and aorta of our annals.

The factual basis for this premise is well chronicled here and there in the scattered records of the first black Republic. If historical evidence is hard to come by, quivering must not be endorsed as the codification of corruption as practiced by the “Comrades” is seen personified alongside many pavements of the current city center. From the towering superstructure on Ashmun Street identified as “the E.J.Roye” building, to the Benson Street classical Masonic Craft Temple, the heirloom of the True Whig Party reminiscence an unparallel hegemony in the Liberian Affairs which spanned for at least a hundred years.

Embedded in the Liberian affairs is the indelible record of the True Whig party, which, like its power longevity, left behind an ingrained political wrinkle on the face of the indigenous flock. Also known as the Liberian Whig party, the True Whig party was Liberia’s only legal party for over 100 years, from 1878 to the coup d’etat of 1980. Its oligarchy and monopolistic characteristics made many consider it the first state party in the world. Besides, it was an ideological effigy of the United States Whig Party.

Subsequently, it presided over a society where only settlers and their children were citizens able to vote. Those often elected, and they were always elected, represented their families, relatives and children. As a strategy, the True Whig party ran the political course through a fraternity established within the framework of the Masonic Order. Said Masonic Order, a substratum for the avalanche of subterranean cabals, became the inner working room that would enslave the majority for a century and more. 52 years later, the True Whig Party, often operating in tandem with the Masonic Order, endorsed systems of cruel forced labor and fast started selling Native Liberians to Portuguese colonialists on Fernando Po (modern day Bioko, Equatorial Guinea).

These fraternal members of the True Whig Party enjoined themselves into an unbreakable chain of brotherhood determined to withstand pending political challenges their own hands were to fashion. The True Whigers nurtured a relationship amongst themselves that made them comrades; and the term “Comrades” will be employed to refer to their intended continuous bond. The “Comrades” reference I am making to remnants of the True Whigers does not suggest my identity with them nor do I intend it so. Such a step only warrants identifiable purposes.

Unfortunately, the late 1800s was about to unveil the vast decrepitude and senility of these “Comrades.” In 1870 a man called Edward James Roye became president of the Republic of Liberia.  E.J. Roye was a pure descendant of the Ibo Tribe in Nigeria, a Country in West Africa. Born in Newark, state of Ohio, USA, on February 3, 1815, Roye was the first pure black person to become president of Liberia. He arrived in 1846, a year before the declaration of independence was proclaimed. In 1870, he became President but was dethroned a year after in the first coup d’etat in Africa’s oldest Republic. His death in 1872 in Monrovia proved to be highly mysterious and left behind one of the most controversial records in Liberian history.

However, later revelations were to establish the reason behind the malicious plot to rid Liberia of a man who, in the most factual sense, did nothing to merit a violent death. Many accounts interpret the death of Roye but President William V.S. Tubman acted on the one that said “Roye was brutally beaten after an attempted escape from prison”. The narration continues that the brutal beating came about when he was: dragged from office to prison; tried to escape and made it into the sea; was nevertheless apprehended while carrying five hundred thousand pounds in his belt; was finally dragged and placed on Ashmun Street and pronounced dead but the money, was never found. After this tragic episode, President William V.S.Tubman decided to erect the National Headquarters of the True Whig Party on Ashmun Street owing to the fact that Roye exhausted his last breath there. As for the money, who dare ask questions; if selling natives was not considered criminal, what’s about a five hundred thousands?

 

The years following Roye’s brutal murder suspected at the hands of the True Whig “Comrades” proved difficult. They were now well dissembled and many were cached behind rusty bars. Notwithstanding, they soon managed to resurface on the playing field and took hold of the game. They played it well as it is the chemin de fer they had learned to perfect.

 

The 1900s reach midpoint with yet another of their world records about to enter the Guinness book of records. Today, the 1920s world’s most fraudulent elections are a True Whig Party record that has not been broken since. In an election of 15,000 registered voters, “Comrade” Charles D.B. King claimed he won more than 300,000 of the votes cast!  What a ludicrous incongruity! How many saw the multiplicity of this inheritance at the disposal of the “Comrades” in the recent elections? All these things are the calculated political corruptions that have always undermined our economic and sociopolitical growth as a nation-state.

 

 Anyway, we must move on and not allow the avarice and graspingness of a few to interdict our forward march. In so doing, we arrive at the epoch of the Tubman administration and quickly grasp the disenfranchisement of the masses. Universal suffrage is imprisoned while only a few are allowed to vote. These are the forties, fifties, and sixties. The revolutionists (my employed name for the progressive forces) are on the eve of the launching of a campaign intended to generate public consensus for multiparty democracy in Liberia. Whatever subterfuge there may have been, the revolutionists were favored by the growing reception of the zephyr of change which blew across the land. If their utterances were anything to go by, then Liberia was to later on emerge as a growing economic power; an oasis of flourishing exorbitance unmatched anywhere in the sub region. But nay, this was to remain a whimsical mirage erected upon the zenith of utopia. The hustle for power amongst the revolutionists and their undeclared priority objectives buried under the canopy of a democratic renaissance was to betray the struggle soon. And the struggle continued, a term the “Master’s” Sergeant was to pick up later.

 

All this pressure inserted from a disjointed and scattered opposition frontlines, was a part of a collective strategy to break the backbone of the “grand old True Whig Party”. The revolutionists mounted the pressure the more, leading to the bloodbath of April 14, 1979. Afterward, the jipijapa that many believe was a miscarriage of the freedom-fight launched by the revolutionists changed the course of history when Master Sergeant Samuel Doe seized power in 1980. In my reflection of that tragedy, I can’t see how the revolutionists could be vindicated from the pre-knowledge of the military take over. Barely after the coup, key state actors amongst these civilian revolutionaries were already making crucial decisions in the PRC and immediately took up assignments in various ministries and agencies. Yes, upon Sergeant Doe’s appointment per se. Instead of seeking the economic and social rebirth of the state under the military regime, the revolutionists did little to depart from errors of the past and hence slipped into a period of political relaxation, “feasting on all things” while the people’s interests became the last item on the agenda. The problem is, they did not see the military takeover as a golden opportunity that could be used to bring about the change they opted for, and on the contrary they saw the Sergeant’s ascendance as a means employed by fate to reward them for the activism over the years. And so, they did not see the True Whigers coming. This was to be their greatest regret, our tragedy.

 

Subsequently, the “Comrades” of the True Whig Party did not vanish. They catapulted the 100 years of existence strategies into the early 80s. And it worked, to the dismay of onlookers.  They understood the theory of subjugation; you can’t subjugate your opponent from afar, you must be in proximity. By the time Doe realize, the unnoticed True Whigers had pervaded the synthesis of the PRC. Key moguls of the oligarchy Order became the “Masters of Samuel Doe.” In my view, Samuel Doe was not just a Soldier’s Master Sergeant; he later turned out to be “Sergeant of the Masters”, or, “Master’s Sergeant Doe. This is the way it all started; the tragedy, the deceptions and intrigues. Before we knew it, chameleonic “Comrades” had transformed Doe into a fiendish figure in order to advance their plans of deviltry. Meanwhile, the revolutionists were caught in the political rascality and were now being used as baits to protect the “Comrades”.

 

While Doe was being worked on by a select remnant of the True Whigers, a Woman with the unflinching determination to restore the hegemony of the Old Order hurried overseas and took on the tasks of the metempsychosis of the “Comrades.” And she took the task seriously. To her, the True Whig Party must be saved from recidivating, and it appeared inevitable without some intervention. In the early 80s, she functioned in a high-profile government ministry; the Ministry of Finance, and up to April 1980, Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was Minister. Thereafter, she chose a path that ended lives; as Charles Taylor is said to be the father of anarchy in Liberia, so is Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said to be the “mother of violent change.” She spent many years working on and beneath the surface, all aimed at effectuating a regime change for the return of the “Comrades”. Her shrewd-chicanery and influence in the unfolding political Order has synthesized and united key elements of the revolutionists with the “Comrades.” This is why; the rebirth of the “Comrades” is subsequently the resuscitation of the revolutionists. All the talk about this change and that change is simply a caricature or a travesty of democracy.

 

What we have left is a souring leftover of half-truths being fed a generation that has long staggered under the burden of extreme historical distortions. And the paradox shows itself too clearly; the devisers of the Tolbert collapse (the revolutionists) have been enjoined with a Tolbert confidante (madam Sirleaf)! But what many don’t know is that, Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, it is said, jubilated over the death of former President William R. Tolbert.

 

Mrs. Sirleaf may have bemoaned the butchered president for his benign bequeath of power and politics traceable to the Masonic Craft, the molding house for the “Comrades”. However, the military takeover of 1980 did not disappoint her; it brought her fresh relief and rescue.

 

Here is how; the “Rally Time Fund drive” and the “OAU Jamboree” had scored tremendous success, leaving behind a treasure box overflowing with millions of Dollars. As the money piled up so was the controversy that characterized it. In those days, every significant order the President issued, had been decided by the True Whig Party and the Whigers had already declared their displeasure over things and wanted an investigation into what was considered an embezzlement of the highest order; US$20 million dollars left unaccounted for. In the middle of this shameful corruption hodgepodge was Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.  The steam had started gathering and the rope seemed to be tightening around “Madam Iron’s” neck as the hands of the clock clicked fast. Then, somewhere in between the time, here was a radio message announcing the demise of a government preparing evidence to dismiss and prosecute Madam Sirleaf for corruption. This, according to an insider, is what left “Madam Iron” grateful for the Sergeant and her opposition against him later on were to re-ascend the cadre to power.

 

And we cannot also fail to understand that, after the takeover the execution of the 13 men was not principally for charges of corruption. That was the declared purpose but the men were bullet nailed to the poles for allegedly attempting to put up a fight of resistance. Of the members of the Tolbert Government living after the Doe takeover, it is inconceivable that any would be charged for corruption without madam Sirleaf being amongst the first five. But the Sergeant spared her and did not press charges, and she left the country determined to end the Doe regime even if the whole nation went down in the process. A human feeling was not to be found anywhere close to her heart, like her name, “Iron Lady” will depict. To many, she was born to end lives, not to save it. 

 

Now in the West after the coup, the interest of “Madam Iron” in Liberia remained simple; a radical change that made sure she was the President. Once the war went in full swing, there is no record of any political leadership conference on Liberia where “Madam Iron” did not declare her wish to want to be President. Is that not the key reason why the Ellen-Taylor marriage of convenience quickly collapsed? The two had so many things in common, including previous unrelenting presidential quests, even at the decimation of an entire society.

 

Now that Madam Sirleaf’s childhood dream of the Presidency is fulfilled, she has quickly mobilized a following of a fragment of the revolutionists and a remnant of the “Comrades.” And since she must protect her haunting past which is knowledgeable to elements of these two groupings, she must subsequently shield the “Comrades” and the fragmented revolutionists from the wrath of the law.

 

Or else, how come a Tugbeh Doe gets hooked and thrown behind the masked bar of corruption while a Harry Greaves enjoys emperor status over a state within a state, amidst the many lapses and alleged corruption at the Corporation! He even attempted to bribe human rights activists.

 

If that is not an inconsistent incongruity, then the ineffable Wesley Johnson travesty of the anti-corruption fight will prove so. A retrospection of the pre-inaugural era reminds us afresh of the Ellen-avowed anti-corruption tools. In fact, she had made it public a thousand times that people with ugly records of the past were never going to form part of her nomination listings. She appeared serious when sounding the caveat that victimized Paul Mulbah after her declared victory that erupted controversies. During this time, she did not consider that what was brought against Mr. Mulbah was an allegation that had to be adjudicated through due process. On the contrary, not even the public and media outcry could prevent her from appointing Mr. Wesley Johnson, a man viewed as astronomically corrupt, as Ambassador to the U.K. Neither would an ECOWAS audit report that indicted the ex-Vice President, prevail. The United Kingdom had sent messages back to the Presidential office which may have read: “We cannot take this man, his record scares us; is there not another?” A few days later, Madam Sirleaf remained adamant and would not change her mind, insisting that Wesley was the best!

 

Lately, after the blitzkrieg on the Kamaras and the Wlues in what is being suspected as a witch-hunt, we hear that Wesley Johnson has been invited for questioning at the National Police Headquarters. Unfortunately, the knowledgeable knows too much to be taken for a charade sojourn fashioned to drive the masses along the rail of muddleheaded brainlessness while the dons sit and watch in hot entertainment; If an ECOWAS audit report coupled with a U.K rejection, could not change the tide against “Boy” Wesley, then the belief that a controlled Chief Justice and a-taking-orders Solicitor General will freely and fairly prosecute Mr. Wesley Johnson, should be expected only by coxcombries. The same is true of former Chairman Gyude Bryant. Madam Sirleaf has been in the business of the Bryant defense from time immemorial. At one point she attributed their refusal to indict Bryant as to the absence of “sufficient evidence.” When the Justice Minister announced, perhaps without consulting the president, that “We now have enough evidence to prosecute Bryant and others”, the microphone was re-shifted to Madam and she talked: “It will take some time to prosecute Bryant…” what a pretense!

 

What can Government say about the full-colored hit movie captioned: “The Saudi Prince Money part II”? In the drama, the Prince gave in cash in millions of dollars for Housing, with Madam Sirleaf receiving the amount. Yet, Government alleges that the money was a pledge that had not been received while poor people remain vulnerable dwellers of make-shift shelters unfitted for the dogs of the dons.

 

I must not be misunderstood here. Every pluralistic and decent Liberian who wants to see this country move forward will agree that men who rob Government coiffeurs can not be allowed to go with impunity. And such men must be arrested and made to go through due process, if convicted, let the law take its course so as to end the culture of impunity. Notwithstanding, the process must be void of witch-hunting. That is, you cannot be subjecting a few to prosecution while your thumb covers the names of others on the listing. This is the essence of my conversation. And if corruption is as wrong today as it was wrong 15 years ago, what are we waiting for to indict the exploiters of yesterday? We must therefore be holistic and expansive in the anti-corruption campaign.

 

In these things, what can we say about the head of the dissolved IGNU and his bunch of “trained intellectuals”, experts at national robberies? Well, IGNU may be dissolved but the records are not. Besides the fact, Dr. Sawyer printed bank notes bearing the signature of a man not known to be a Government official, can someone please tell me how much of the notes were printed for circulation? I await answers. In the process, for a President to appoint such ones to positions of trust, fully cognizant of their underhanded records, is an unquestionable acquittal of guilt and sets them free for crimes we all know they committed. 

 

I know there are people waiting to join this conversation who will come up pointing to the ECOWAS audit report as the sole basis for the arrests and prosecution of certain people. Are we saying that besides this report, there has been no reported corruption in this Government that should merit prosecution? If so, then what an Angelic Government it is. But, alas! That’s not the case, for the record of the Al Karnley corruption scandal at the National Police remains a puzzle. Has he been prosecuted yet?

 

What of the fellow sacked for corruption at Public Works? Oops! He was not mentioned in the ECOWAS audit and so you can’t prosecute him, ehn? Uhm, the voluminous contradictions these things bring to mind are too much for the objective pen to write. Unless the inquisitive mind find answers to these irreconcilable incongruities, more harm is being inflicted and we are turning in circle.

 

Such contradictions also bring to mind the brutal murder of SSS officer “Silver J.”  Only Col. Chris Masaquoi and his Deputy know how “Silver J” met his gruesome end. Maybe, Madam Sirleaf knows, too! Did “Silver J” know something that would have dumped a member or members of the “Top Brass” when revealed? All we have after his murder is an account of four persons. Are they telling the full truths? Well, we may never know since the Government has refused to seriously charge any one of the alleged culprits in the midst of the availability of enormous facts. It is even learned that a few thousand dollars were given as a purse to the bereaved family. A good gesture, maybe, but a travesty of justice!

 

Many may be surprised at this quick paradigm diversion by a Government with a known rhetoric for Justice. As the head of this Government, Madam Sirleaf quests for Justice only pertain to those areas where her direct personal interests count. Her zigzag moves prove the point. To these things, she shall do nothing contrary to justice that will be a surprise.

 

If Madam Sirleaf could publicly declared on several occasions that “there will be no war crimes court for Liberia”, like saying “to hell with war victims”, let the ignorant go on expecting a “Silver J” murder trial. “Madam Iron” said it clearly: there will be no court for war victims, and “Silver J” is a war victim—the Pearl and Chris war! More to this, how can you be so antagonistic to dispensing justice for hundreds of thousand of war victims and at the same time pretend to want to fight economic sabotage? As Madam Sirleaf’s profession esteems dollars and cents, has she also placed cash value above the value of the sanity of life? 

 

But none of this should surprise the knowledgeable that are adept in our leopard-skin-type history; black on the left, red on the right and the interpreters  reminisce the past: “the lighter you are, the more superior you become. This is the legacy that has been passed on from the True Whig Party and has resuscitated itself into a camaraderie that has just being armed, armed with power. No matter how cacophonous this sound, the fact runs clear; they may come from different political parties but they have now amalgamated into a cadre of “Comrades in Arms.” And they will protect the fold against anything, including prosecution for corruption. But there are those that must be chased; a classic comical charade of the corrupted hunting the Corrupt, and we are all left entertained!

 

The actor is Mulbah K. Morlu, Jr. and can be reached at 
godsprince2001@yahoo.com.  Cell: 00231-77-268-265.
He resides in Monrovia and Accra and is Chairman of the Forum for the Establishment of a war Crimes Court in Liberia.