Amidst a pervasive armed robbery, an economic degradation, a rampant official corruption, a subservient legislature, a mediocre judiciary and yet a subdued opposition and human rights movement in Ellen Sirleaf’s Liberia, a little known young man called Mulbah K. Morlu may have been a pain in the neck of the resurgent elitist government in Monrovia.
Morlu, who is the leader of a formidable group calling itself Forum for the Establishment of War Crimes Court in Liberia, has been barking at the monumental injustices upon which the postwar Liberian government was fashioned in 2005. Like most Dukor boys, his month is stuffed with high-sounding phrases with idealistic flavor. Call him a demagogue, but he’s been a lone voice in the virtual wilderness of political acquiescence in postwar Liberia . Morlu recently spoke to Africanpanorama on a phone from Liberia , alleging a plot by the Sirleaf administration to assassinate him.
"There is a calculated plot to have me and others assassinated whom they perceive as being critically opposed to the activities of this government which we believe is illegitimate and which we believe could ruin our democracy."
Morlu said signs of the plot to kill him were everywhere in Monrovia ; and that besides these ominous signs friends in the security apparatus had confided in him (five different times!) about the alleged plot. Morlu categorically mentioned Mr. Milton Teahjay, a UPP stalwart who he claimed told him that Justice Minister Philip Banks had given special instructions to the security people to "shoot and kill" him. Morlu also claimed to have received some intelligence from both a CDC mole within the National Security Agency (NSA) and a former classmate who is now a police colonel.
Africanpanorama could not substantiate Mr. Morlu’s claims; for neither Mr. Teahjay nor Minister Banks was accessible. These claims may be an exaggeration, but Mr. Morlu’s security concerns are apparently genuine: "I'm constrained to sleep in several different places in an attempt to evade surveillance. My car is being followed throughout."
Ever since he launched his peaceful campaign for the establishment of a war crimes court where the perpetrators of Liberia 's 14-year long internecine war should be brought to book, the indomitable Morlu has suffered physical and psychological torture in the hands of the Sirleaf government. Not long ago, he was reportedly confined in a den of poisonous snakes. His claims may well be founded!
AFRICAN PANORAMA
WATCHING THROUGH THE BIRDS' EYES
IS THERE A PLOT TO ASSASSINATE MULBAH K. MORLU?
IS THERE A PLOT TO ASSASSINATE MULBAH K. MORLU?
