Voice of Liberia

TRAGEDY OF THE SLEEPING GIANT

-‘LET’S EAT AND DRINK FOR TOMORROW WE DIE’

BY MULBAH K. MORLU, JR. December 26, 2006

 

“A mind stretched by a new idea cannot go back to its original dimensions…it’s time for masses consciousness”

 

 

The visibility of destroyed infrastructures everywhere cancels our need for billboards to let incoming strangers know the impacts of a civil fracas that broke everything down except, our quest for pleasure. Even at the crowning point of absolute anarchy, amidst volleying bullets and outburst of rockets, Liberians did not for once abandon the lifestyle of pleasure. Sometimes a whole community would get enwreathed in incessant chaotic incursions launched by nihilistic rebels, but many would slide beneath beds, hip-hop music low toned, with malt liquor boozed down a trembling throat. The more the violence maximize, the greater the taste for pleasure seemed. Even though a country so petit, naturally resourceful areas fell behind avalanche of check points branded as “behind the lines.” These were dangerous terrains playing host to devilish brain surgeons who extracted brains and hearts for refreshment and pleasure. They were no go zones except for colonies of liquor-sucking human bees not scarred by check points designed with bullet-cracked skulls mined by teenagers wearing makeshift dresses.

 

A few years have now passed and the attitude of the new Liberia remains the same; one of nonchalance, a lackadaisical depiction. The barrel of the guns has barely cooled and our-refusal-to-learn kind of steps makes it look like the fracas occurred a thousand years back! Notwithstanding, the wanton surpluses of a five-score years continue with us today; the current lack of action against impunity, the fast-forward crossbreeding of corruption, the segmentation of power, the witch-hunt, the have-nots sinking-lower factor whilst the haves enjoy fresh ascends, etc. If these were the grounds for the launch of the Liberian invasions, then we are all most miserable and the deaths of over two hundred and fifty thousand souls in the fight proved a waste. After all, the unfolding burlesque shows no departure from the scarring past culture. This is why I am scarred, damned scarred because the status quo unveils moribund leaders, and we have become spoils of war.

 

The ongoing political quagmire besetting our state leaves us wondering as to the possibility of the workability of democracy in our land. And in my view, there should be no better time than now for the actual implementation of the truest form of democracy in Liberia; one that will be erected upon the pillars of transparency, accountability and a driven quest for the equitable parceling of the nation’s wealth. May someone kindly join this conversation by telling me why can’t our incumbent leadership deliver the deliverables in contrast to any previous regime? When we backslide two decades into the past, who do we see fully mounted behind the political pulpit? Don’t we see Madam Sirleaf, Dr. Sawyer, Dr. Fahnbulleh, Mr. Harry Greeves, and cadre? Where are the political preachers and why are they not practicing what they preached? The guys hasty departure from their much proclaimed doctrines of justice and democracy preached several years back, disrobes their dignity.

 

These are known charlatans, clouds without rain whose only potential is to be found in the total depletion of every thing that represents good. They are the types that will print 1.5 billion excess bank notes without any clear economic agenda whilst printing additional LD$175 million to ‘flood the market’, oops! Sorry, I mean to keep the vault monetarily occupied! This is the kind of ludicrous contradiction charactering the interpositions of the Central Bank governor and that of a soft-spoken cover-up president. Kleptomanias do not steal because there is lack, but rather because the disease is an irresistible tendency inherent in the blood. 

 

I beseech my compatriots from the bastion of pluralistic nationalism to watch out for the debauch traits inherent in many of our frontrunners in power today. The truth cannot be dismissed that the dismal performance of these ‘last dons’ points to an unspeakable travesty in the practice of good governance after a year in power. To this effect, no evidence can be traced showing that the future will be good. And what if we continually slide a downward spiral, do we continue to “eat and drink for tomorrow we die?”

 

What happens to our peace if a people-driven shift is not embraced and the needed reform not endorsed; should the incumbent power fails in the deliverables that pertain to the socioeconomic liberation of the masses, what are the convenient political alternatives; or is there a way whereby we may save the peace by facilitating the agendas of the incumbent power and, blah, blah, blah?

 

These are the critical issues that should deserve the attention of the new generation. Instead, just like the preceding years, the evenings are spent partying around town with bubble beers stealing the few dollars a father’s labor accumulates, leaving John and Forkpa without copy books. Ah, this is the Liberian culture, “let’s eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” But some times, even amidst fervent prayers, in response to indescribable social pains, death is hard to come by and we are left to endure our sufferings.

 

Today, like 1986, the aftermaths of a caviling general and Presidential election leave behind a scenario of controversies and deeply-rooted resentments. The enthusiasms and expectations of the people, the en masse electorates, still scatters everywhere in shattered clays and an elite cadre of the old order re-ascends to the amazement of local politicians, leaders of the  indigenous herd. The people themselves are beginning to understand the Sunday school lesson of the pharaohs that cruelly governed over the Jews in Egypt. What else is worse than a society where wheat and bread is a luxury, a thing that wastes in surpluses in the pigpen of power brokers? This is the unveiling pastel of a ‘new dawn’ being designed by the ‘ingenious mastery’ of men who had previously confessed to being patriots and patrons of our political progressivism. Unfortunately, as it has always been, the masses herd continues to be the victim, running helter-skelter from the pharisaic pillar to post without answers to the puzzle. 

 

In times like these, what role is left to be played by the leaders of our masses herd if not the launching of a fresh crusade of consciousness? For the first time in our political history, the 2005 elections brought the masses truly closer to political power than never before in a democratic way. And I think it is proper for us to delve into the-what-went-wrongs that led to the obvious fraud-seizure of power by Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and her elite partners.  For me, this is the consciousness that must be given our people, a treasure that will propel them to take power for themselves, in the midst of the abandonment. Hence, we must unravel the Liberian crisis puzzle and excavate fresh truths that will be a form of armament in the war against our current political dipsomaniac.  

 

What is less known by many is that every tyrant and dictator that has ever paraded the Liberian political scene has been a product of the United States government. And for a buttress, tyrants don’t fall from the clouds, their circumstances created by existing domineering external powers, produce them.

 

For more than a hundred years, the Liberian people inherited a curse of horrifying governments that ruthlessly rule the state in a style that made it looked like the only human inhabitants were the political leaders, reducing the rest of the populace to a farm of swine left to feed on the crump. Paradoxically, these frightful governments were actively supported by various U.S governments though their meted abuses were seen by all. The U.S government’s support of appalling regimes in Liberia over a century is well documented.

 

The founding of Liberia can be traced back to 1821 by Americans with the agenda of desiring to get rid of its menacing black-slave population. By the latter part of 1820, about 22 thousand ‘American chickens came home to roost.’ They were ex-slaves catapulted to a continent they knew not. Though ex-slaves, they had been civilized according to the traditions of the American culture, thereby becoming an Americanized sect of repatriates. Their entrance into Liberia signaled a desire for a sociopolitical domineering posture; they grabbed the best lands and begun to treat the native Africans as slaves. These returnees’ grand fathers had experienced the harsh treatments slavery brought and they were now bent on a venture of experimenting similar harshness on poor native peasants. They were the elite minority that governed through the ages, a total reflection of the True Whig party.

 

The presence of this elite (True Whig) ruling class in Liberia was of a strategic nature. For over a hundred years, their government was a proxy one serving and advancing the interests of the United States government.   

 

The year 1926 saw the bestowal of appreciation by the Liberian government; firestone and Goodridge were given a 99 year lease for the world’s largest rubber plantations! This was our government’s way of appreciating the kind considerations given it by the U.S government.

 

When World War II ended, the proverbial carte blanche lease the U.S had given the oppressive government of the True Whig Party, was renewed and notarized afresh. As-a-matter-of-factly, these were days of the cold war and the perception nurtured by Americans that Liberia could fall subject to Soviet influence if care was not taken, worsen our plight. In all this, an environmental blood buster movie got screened, starring Firestone and Goodridge companies! They looted our resources mercilessly and the Liberian government playing partner sat back and clapped at the farce.  

 

The disastrous results of this imperial meddling were not restricted to Liberia. The entire continent got dragged into it when for over 40 years the U.S sustain a series of wanton dictatorships and the unleashing of nihilistic militias to dethrone uncooperative governments.

 

In Liberia in particular, the ‘American chickens that came home to roost’ had such good relationship with their American friends, which allowed for a striking of a new deal. In the deal, America’s strategic interests would be protected and the government would be reciprocated with a lavish of U.S generosity.  By this action, the Americo-Liberians in power, sat quietly as the U.S transformed Liberia into a significant cold war spy country in Africa. The ruling class had nothing to loss in the arrangement, leaving the ordinary Liberian totally excluded and the nation stagnated.

 

 

The 80s brought into play the tale of Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe. He had little education though trained by the United States Green Berets. He and others, it is said, butchered President William R. Tolbert and in no time, surrounded by unsuspected remnants of the old order, established themselves into die-hards and diabolic cliques. Despite the undemocratic nature of the Doe ascendance, America quickly embraced him. Following the norm as past leaders had done, Sergeant Doe, though a semi-literate understood the game much earlier and proceeded to protect America’s strategic interests in Liberia.

 

The Doe brutality and abusive regime did not seem to catch the notice of the West; for the White House, protecting the Americans interest was the only yardstick for good governance as it became evident through the billions of dollars of raw cash flowing in to the PRC government from the United States; more than US$5 billion dollars of U.S tax payers money flowed into government accounts from 1980 to 1985.

 

As it is the culture, the U.S government never closes a chapter on an old ally unless there is a clear alternative. With Samuel Doe’s newfound socialist bedfellows, exiled Liberian Politicians the likes of Madam Sirleaf and others had managed to convince the U.S government that they were suited alternatives capable of protecting U.S strategic interests. They hence went on in search of someone who had the guts to manage the military wing of a planned invasion designed to introduce an alternative factor (Madam Sirleaf’s letter to the U.S congress can still be found to attest this fact). With the one to head such unscrupulous military exercise still locked-up in a U.S cell, they placed phone calls and lobbied extensively, and he became a free man. This is how a Charles Taylor became possible.

 

Had Charles Taylor and his cronies continue their illicit trades and the running of a criminal empire without crossing the green line, he would have still been president today. The human rights abuses, chopping off of arms and legs by Taylor’s proxy RUF fighters, the smuggling of blood diamonds, the horrendous perpetrations of the ATU, are not the reasons why Charles Taylor was cuffed. This is not to suggest that Charles Taylor was a saint in power. Who need argue about Taylor’s walked path, which is still marked by trails of bloodletting and the wails of pain inflicted upon innocent people! But the thing is that, these are not the factors that move Uncle Sam to topple regimes. And the Taylor saga only drives this truth much deeper.

 

The man Charles Taylor made a lot of friends and enjoined himself into a chain of unholy alliances. This was not a strange tactic since it was a modus operandi of the NPFL from whence the ex-warlord originated.

 

Charles Taylor, the man known by many as the “Adolph Hitler” of West Africa, successfully waged several wars and showed great ability to expand the wars further. He did not operate alone.  He relied on a network of friendships formed in the military training camps of Libya under Moamar Gadaffi, camps that in the 1980s became “the Harvard and Yale” of a whole generation of African revolutionaries.”

 

It was from this Libyan training camp that the man, Ibrahim Bah received his Baptism into the African violent revolutionary ideology. Ibrahim Bah, a Senegalese fortune soldier who fought with the Mujahdeen in Afghanistan in the mid-1980s was trained in the Gadaffi terrorist training camp in the early 1980s. After fighting in Afghanistan, Bah, returned to Libya, later on, he went to fight for Hezbollah in Lebanon. He returned to Libya in the late 1980s and became the personal instructor of the cadre of West African leaders who would wreak havoc on the region. In 1998 Bah was a general in the RUF as well as Taylor’s chief gatekeeper for diamond dealing. He subsequently set up al Qaeda and became the contact personnel in Liberia. This establishment was to open a vast influx of al Qaeda operatives into Liberia. This was the green line crossed by Taylor, the last taboo.

 

 The al Qaeda presence was intended to find new ways of moving funds around for its operations since doing so became difficult after the 1998 bombings of major embassies in east Africa. Shortly after those attacks the Clinton administration, seeking a way to punish the Taliban and al Qaeda, ordered a freezing of these groups’ assets. To the surprise of U.S. officials, “the move netted some $240 million, mostly in the form of gold on deposit with the U.S. Federal Reserve.’’

 

Henceforth, the choice commodity for the easy transfer of the al Qaeda financial value was diamonds. This is how the picture of al Qaeda operations in West Africa changed toward the end of 2000. It was the year senior al Qaeda operatives arrived in Monrovia to take control of the diamond buying operations. They set up a monopoly arrangement for the purchase of diamonds through Taylor with the RUF and bought as many stones as they could. But here the intention was not to make money, but rather to buy the stones as a way of transferring value from other assets. This was in the months immediately prior to 9/11, when the terrorists appear to have been moving their money out of traceable financial structures into commodities in preparation for the aftermath of the attacks. They had already learned of the need to move money out of the formal, Western banking structure immediately following the 1998 attacks on two U.S. embassies in East Africa. The U.S government closely monitored this unfolding and came to the conclusion that Charles Taylor was more than just another Liberian warlord; he became labeled as a member of al Qaeda. These were the saddest errors of the former President; the very tragedies that led him in cuffs and help bring him to justice for serious crimes that America would have never cared about. 

 

With Charles Taylor now in Nigeria on arranged asylum, the 2005 elections soon hurried with the Americans posing a posture of greater interests. Which presidential candidate had the maneuvering of shielding the shady deals of Firestone; which of the contestants hated Taylor so badly that they would do all to send him to jail without hesitation; which of them had good and prolonged contacts with the “Harvard and Yale” of Africa (Gadaffi’s terrorist training camp) in such a way that they would prevent the Gadaffis from re-destabilizing the region to the detriment of a stable American-products market? Does this bring to mind the numerous Sirleaf’s Libyan trips? These were the terms of reference for the new presidency. And Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became the selected proxy-president.

 

Perplexingly, Liberians have again inherited a regime that continually projects the shadows of past dictatorial governments .As usual, a game of a century perpetuates itself, though with new players.  And the rules remain the same, too. These are not rules that were made yesterday; they are rather a product of more than a hundred years of oligarchy imperialism. Imperialism hatched and influenced by America, the maker of the commandment that is being adhered to by past leaders ascending the throne of the Liberian presidency. With the experience that the Americo-Liberians have always chosen to betray the collective interests of the masses in exchange for the American generosity and so-called goodwill, they have always been favored. After all, they are Americans, too.    

 

What our easily-yielding leaders need to know and know fast is, the much publicized goodwill and ‘economic aids’ inflowing our country is a poisonous diet waiting an overly appetitive leadership. How can we be left applauding a foreign government that borrow us money intended to service interests on previous debts; what a unique economic enslavement strategy! But the truth that must be shouted from atop the World Trade Tower is that, Liberians do not need any form of foreign aid that is usually chased by proxy experts whose coming is to draw every penny from the veins of our economy, sending it back to the sender. All we need is to be left alone to extract our own resources and carry out our own domestic manufacturing from local industries; Firestone? If they meant well, why don’t they have any agenda that would have them locally manufacture the least product, plastic bags?

 

From all indications, it appears that the African continent in its entirety, is struggling under a perpetual curse. But even if this is so, the unpatriotic projections of our leaders are to me, the greater self-imposed curses. Their subterranean selfish dealings in partnership with their western counterparts, have unraveled a new form of enslavement for the continent, the debt entanglement tragedy. Unfortunately for our part, just as history cannot deny us credit for being Africa’s first independent republic, it is becoming self-evident that we are the little insect whose cocoon continues to hatch gargantuan predators plundering everything visible as the masses sit by and groan helplessly. If the present regime boasts of economic growth and trade surpluses over the months since their ascendance, we cannot argue otherwise because; they have the economic goodwill coming in from their western allies. But where is the ordinary Liberian in all this? Don’t they continue to suffer hardships and degradation in the midst of the abundance of all things? What else can be termed as an oppressive regime if not this!

 

The question now is, in the midst of the vast ocean of financial surpluses, our people still remain at the bottom, eating the crust whilst the higher-ups feed on the feast of fat things, when will this change?  However, as to the when, is a factor purely left to the pondering of the masses herd; the people and only the people can determine a true change for themselves. But how can our poor class imbibe this mentality if leaders of the herd abandon their role of creating the needed consciousness. This is what I am set to deliver; awaken our people to the kind of consciousness that will instill in them the trait required to mobilize for democratic power. Our masses compatriots are yet to understand that they are the true wielders of political power; in this, is the tragedy of the sleeping giant. Awake from your slumber, O sleeping giant for rascals have laid waste your inheritance and desecrated your political altars!

 

As to this regime, let no one dream that Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf will relinquish power so easily after her first 6 years tenure. Though her promises of wanting to serve only one term are well documented, she can always come back with the subterfuge of the ‘My-people-have-again-petition-me’ type of rhetoric. Even if she most unlikely decided to step down, experience suggests that a member of her kitchen cabinet will take over. We must not forget that she allegedly runs the entire National Elections Commission through Mr. James Flomoyan, a long time comrade of the Madam. Besides, Madam Sirleaf was very instrumental in sending her friend, Charles Taylor to court, and she realizes that that has become a precedence case. Will she be left alone to enjoy her retirement without the possibility of her being tried for her NPFL role were she to relinquish the presidency to the opposition? More to this, with the playground created for perpetrated abuses being meted out by the Greaves, the Morris, the Sawyers, the Massaquois, will these ‘Ellen’s wild-wild west boys’ quietly walk away from power when they know fully that they could be tried ‘for cause’ upon the ascendance of the opposition? Think about it. Now that they are amassing the nation’s wealth exclusively for themselves, who will go to contest with them in 2012 and win?

 

On the other hand, I am saddened by the lackadaisical and uncalculated approaches of the combined opposition, if at all there is any. From this, we can safely conclude that the combined opposition has not been able to muster any significant strength, whether in strategy or masses consciousness. How can we be talking about effective relevant changes on the political landscape in the absence of strategy? Such a laughable scenario unfolds each time the combined opposition fails to take a daring stand on critical national issues. Yesterday it was the brutal murder of a Liberian called ‘Silver J’; last evening, the airwaves filled with reports of arrests after arrests of individuals said to be corrupt while their superiors, of equal corrupt tracking, still walk free; today, it is  the subterranean  printing of new bank notes whose actual amount remains an issue of controversy. When will the combined opposition, an extension of the sleeping giant, awake from the slumber?

 

 If the combined opposition will not shoulder its masses mandate of creating a pluralistic frontline of checking in order to balance activities of the power that be, then they need not exist. All must hear me to this extent: the purpose for the creation and continuous existence of any political institution must not be limited to collecting votes in order to govern, it must include a clear nationalistic agenda that must at all times advocate and seek to maximize the interests of the governed. Is this not what is meant by democracy, the ideology of the people, propelled by the people so as to benefit the people? A party failing along these lines fails miserably and must do a re-visitation of its platform.

 

On the last hand, where are the advocates of yesterday and the yesteryears? Where is the Center for Democratic Empowerment, the Foundation for International Dignity and the rest of the human rights community in all this? Have they enjoined themselves unto unholy alliances and marriages that bring convenience? It has just recently become a norm that whenever these once fearless vocal entities speak out, it is either commending a recent government move or, indirect applauds wrapped-up in quasi criticism. While it is an objective practice to commend the positive actions of government, but shall we applaud even the ill-intended ones? That would be indisputably bizarre if not cowardice.

 

Thank God for the birthing of men of valor the likes of Augustine Toe, Aloysius Toe, Dempster Brown etc. These are men whose determination for positive and masses driven reform know no bound. When the first ever true history of our aged-old republic is re-written, replacing the fiery tales of the Susanna Lewis and the Bob Grays, these men will never be forgotten! As far as we know, the history that sentimentally discusses characters exemplifying the dominion of the Americo-Liberians over the indigenous herd is only as true as Snow-white and the seven Dwarfs! But for new minds, we shall always proclaim the aluta continual en masses, for the elite experimentation has failed and we refuse to bow to falsifications!

 

If my conversation runs a false course, besides that small hand book called history, someone please point to another source history that discusses these imagined historical figures like Mathilda Newport. It is a well noted fact that for history to be considered authentic, it must be corroborated by several other sources and works. This is called corroborative evidence. Even the historicity of the Judeo-Christian literature had to be corroborated by the works of other circular historians like Josephus for its own credibility. Where are our historical corroborators?

 

I hereby file a protest for an overwhelming change in the land and our political officiators, the masses at home and abroad, will do well to hearken. These are times when we must awaken to the fight; a democratic fight that must evolve around strategic engagements. We must not break the rules of engagement like they did when the whole country went to war for their selfish power agendas. We must differ when necessary and wage a new warfare to be fought without swords and spears. We must let them live and be partakers while we refuse to bow to aristocratic power. We must unite and speak out against the ills and the spoils. Standing united, we can shake the foundations of this country with persistent advocacies and peaceful protests until the backbone of dictatorship and oppression is broken. When this process begins, the deviltry of these political Lilliputians will be curtailed and you will know that the sleeping giant has awakened.  

 

 

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