Voice of Liberia
Fighting for Justice for all Liberians
Politics
We will not be silenced, not anymore!
Tamba D. Aghailas
October 11, 2006
A former colleague of mine recently asked me, “How did you find your voice? I never knew you were this active in Liberian politics,” he said. “It is hard time that I get involve,” I told him. He is right. I have found a voice on the Internet [www.VoiceofLiberia.org]. This is my new medium to reach my people; a place to expose corruption by Liberian politicians and educate the downtrodden masses on their rights. My views and commentaries may sound political, but they are geared at community empowerment.
For too long [150 years] Liberians have been subjected to abuse, torture, and neglect by successive regimes. In recent times as far back as I can remember: the Samuel K. Doe, the Charles Taylor, and the Gyude Bryant regimes have done little or nothing to bring about development to Liberia. All they have done is embezzled state funds and stocked the monies into personal bank accounts overseas.
When Samuel Doe overthrew the William R. Tolbert government in 1980, his military People’s Redemption Council (PRC) defended the overthrow by accusing the defunct regime of rampant corruption. Several former government officials were executed, firing squad-style without due process of law. I was there that morning; a kid peeking between the hips of other onlookers with wide eyes.
Samuel K. Doe’s government became more corrupt than its predecessor. What Liberians got was staged military coups, which allowed Doe to either eliminate his opponents or forced them into exile while consolidating his powers. Prince Johnson and cohorts finally butchered Doe in September of 1990 after he was captured at the Freeport of Monrovia. The rest is history.
Charles Taylor for his part got all that he ever wanted – diamonds, money and power. After successfully staging a civil war, thanks to contributions from Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and others, he formed a separate government in greater Liberia. Not satisfied with his loot, Taylor stage-managed another incursion into Sierra Leone and put the puppet Foday Sankoh (late) in the forefront. I was displaced then and living in the border town of Foyah, where I watched rebels trained in Liberia being trucked across the border.
Taylor never recovered from his blunder. He later won general elections in Liberia, but was forced to resign by a new uprising, LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy), which received support from several fronts, including Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Today, Taylor is in a prison cell awaiting trial in The Hague after his captured in Nigeria, where he had sought refuge.
As ordinary Liberians attempt to rebuild their shattered lives, corrupt politicians are doing everything they can to fill their pockets with ill-acquired monies that could have otherwise gone to improving the lives of ordinary families. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has done little thus far to purge her government of corrupt senior officials. In fact, some government officials accused of embezzling state funds in recent times have yet to be brought to trial; others were given strategic positions. Madam Johnson-Sirleaf argument: “we don’t have enough hard evidence to prosecute them,” thus discrediting the work done by ECOWAS.
What the people get: excuses from the current government to “wait and see,” a popular slogan of previous regimes in Liberia.
As we [defenders of democracy] strive to shed light on government corruption and its double standards, detractors tried to silence us with threatening emails, phone calls, and other forms of intimidation. But here is what we have to say to you: the people have found a voice and no one can silence them or those who fight for the rights of the masses. Not this time.
I champion the efforts of the www.VoiceofLiberia.org and will not allow anyone to shut me off. I favor American-style democracy, not African-style dictatorship. They [detractors] are unable to engage me in a constructive dialogue because most of them are hopping around Monrovia in quest of government jobs, where they can earn $2,000-4,000/month, while an ordinary Liberian civil servant earns a meager $30/month.
I deny you the right to exert intimidator influence upon my intellect; I deny you the power to keep my people down again for another hundred years; I deny you the ability to corrupt my mind and think like you; I deny you all rights to silence me.
I say to you detractors of true democracy that your days are numbered. No one is able to keep us from preaching the truth to Liberian politicians. It is in telling the truth that we are able to educate our people, for information empowers them to demand their rights and to stand up for their freedom.
When we demand transparency in the management of state affairs, we guarantee potential investors a return on their investments and that the people will benefit from such investments. We believe that responsibility works in sync with accountability.
We will put up a fight whenever and wherever to expose corruption, to demand justice for all, accountability and respect for human rights. We will not be silenced, for Liberia and its partners deserve better!
The author is a freelance Liberian writer and human rights activist. He is a cont ributing writer for several online news portals, including the www.voiceofliberia.org, www.TheLiberianTimes.com, liberianforum.com. Read his other opinions and commentaries on his Blog.
