Friday, February 02, 2007
By Mulbah K. Morlu Jr.
The game has just ended. And like every dupe game, victims and victors abound and tears and joys avail. The debate nevertheless continues in street corners, and various corridors erect defenses and advance offenses characteristic of any fray that leaves public opinion divided along controversial lines.
And the actors have just been given a rude awakening while they dished out hundreds of thousands that could not get the job done, except that it has unveiled the previously unnoticed masked-face behind the conspiracy. It’s a double tragedy with lavished dollars packed in bands marked “Bank of China”, as the annoyance of the distant mogul deeply deepened.
Politics, it is said is a dangerous and dirty game. But the truth is that the protagonists of this assumed philosophy cannot point to any dirt that makes ideological politics a dirty game. Rather, it is the individual political actors and the pseudo nationalists that shroud the game in dirt by their subtle craftiness; or, they themselves are, as-a-matter-of-factly, carriers and evangelists of socio-political dregs.
Indeed, craftsmen who were themselves products of western political dregs laid the foundations of Africa’s oldest independent Republic. Granted that our heritage, as the Americo-Liberians would like us believe, is traceable to the late arrival of free slaves, are a product of the unwanted debris of western political deconstruction; a scum and refuse of the highest order!
While we must cherish the reality of the incessant existence of an Americo-Liberian bloc in the midst, it is most appalling how our twisted history accredits all of our founding historical strives to a ‘superior race’, depicting the indigenous as savages and mere aggressors void of any intelligence in the early wars of our survival campaigns. Indeed, many wars were fought along these ideological perspectives, and after more than a century and a half of one-party harsh dictatorship in the hands of Americo-Liberianism, and their interruption of a 10-year indigenous (elite-misguided) bad governance, we still have our wars.
In the Liberian exhibition is an entrenched class struggle where late-arrivers once confined to chains refuse to acknowledge the rights and privileges of their native landlords; on the contrary, they attempted to reduce the latter to a class of mere scavengers of the trash collecting types.
Though this settlers-dominance conversation appears antiquated, its mentality and genealogical tracings sadly remain; and has recently evolved into an ideology, and now exists behind the mask of elitism drawing strengths from various segments of the Liberian populace including a few lost indigenous shepherds of the half cultural breed.
And once the late-arriving occupants had no way of maintaining their sociopolitical germane in the last 20 years, they introduced a destructive variable in a no-peace-if-we-can’t-govern attitude. Now that they have ceased the military aggression by their ascendance to the echelon of our geo-political setting under the facade of elite competence, seeks to tyrannize our existing democracy through an envisaged control of the three Branches of Government.
This is the political meaning of the current saga unraveling at the House of Representatives. Hence, the serious political analyst must not view the congressional operatives at Virginia as being mere rebels. To the contrary, they are proxy fighters taking orders from a distinct throne!
Whatever the case, however, the war so fiercely fought by all sides is over. All we now have left are fragments and scraps of disappointments scattered here and there in the camp of the crushed and disconcerted dissidents. Statements like “Let Snowe come to Virginia and we will remove him emanating form Hon. Chambers, is characteristic of failed leaders whom often talk tough on the eve of their demise.
“American soldiers will commit suicide at the gates of Baghdad…” was Saddam’s tactics of jackassing the world when, in fact, his stronghold lied in absolute ruins. Samuel Doe, being crippled by the Ellen Sirleaf et al rebellion roared from his besieged Mansion and remarked, “We’ll fight ‘till the last Soldier dies… But, the ill-famed Prince Johnson wasted no time in having the democratically elected president sliced beyond recognition. “We’ll fight from street to street, house to house…was Taylor’s own employed rhetoric of pretending to be in control when in truth, everything was fast crumbling around him.
As we conduct an objective appraisal of the ongoing travesty, carefully anatomizing the current congressional geo-setting, we quickly sense chronic turmoil for the legislative insurgents. We employ this coined-phrase due to the fact that when one constitutes unconstitutionality as a means of aggressively effecting a regime change, the term “insurgent” is by far a liberal usage. And unfortunately, the action of avowed hostility as perpetrated by seemingly brainwashed lawmakers cannot be less than political nihilism.
But as earlier stated, the war is now over and all sides are expected to observe the final arbiter’s whistle. In every fracas there is always that point when a power greater than the participating actors intervenes for a resolution. In our given locale, the Supreme Court, which happens to be our highest judicial body, has ruled. In the ruling, all proceedings and acts carried out by the desecrated assemblage of dissident Congressman in Virginia was declared unconstitutional.
Amongst the proceedings and acts condemned by the nation’s high court are the alleged Executive’s motivated illegal removal of the Speaker, Ed Snowe, the joint resolution signed by both fractured Houses pseudo-legitimizing the Virginia rebel base though a prohibition was in swing, et cetera.
In their response to the high court’s ruling, the dissidents initially appeared poised to resist the decision until recently; “…We accept the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate Speaker Snowe…but we’ll not leave Virginia (the Rebel base)”, interpretation mine. The latter represents the position of the renegades, announced by the ringleader, Hon. Kettehkuemuehn Murray (he is wanted by the FBI for attempted rape).
What a scene! To announce the acceptance of a part of the nation’s high court’s ruling, while rejecting the other aspect only establishes the extent to which certain characters have resolved to plunge this country into another round of upheaval. And I am not going to delve into analyzing the high court’s ruling here, it’s so self-explicit that my little daughter of age 12 has the ability to decipher its every bit and pieces, and could even teach it as a lesson to a Justice Minister and the tongue-twisting clergyman-Information Minister, Lawrence Bropleh. Yet, the president has joined ranks with the dissidents in resisting the rule of law whilst her Justice Minister justifies.
This is such an irreconcilable socio-moral paradox yesterday as Justice Minister Johnson Morris played the human rights lead role in full color and turned out as a heroic defender of our constitution. Sadly, she has just been unraveled as Cllr. Frances Johnson Morris, one of Liberia’s notorious spoilers of everything called laws. A while ago, she presided over a controversial and arguable electoral process and got paid back, taking the justice ministry in full quid-pro-quo-style reward; and of course today, we cannot expect her to abandon the tactics.
If the Sirleaf era unwaveringly threads upon this path, we are all doomed, except that an SOS call must be made to the International Community to save Liberia. It is maximally disappointing how a government that has onboard the know-it-all advocates of human rights could not even permit a peaceful sit-in-action at the Unity Conference Center, only because the constitutional and peaceful exercise was viewed by them as counterproductive to their scheme to undermine the laws of Liberia.
Mulbah K. Morlu, Jr., and the organizers of the planned peaceful sit-in-action, had published a press statement about the pending action. It should have been held on the 23rd, but was rescheduled when the Supreme Court issued a temporary writ of prohibition. Consequently, the rescheduled date was the succeeding Thursday, 25th January 2007. On the eve of that fateful morning, market women, yana boys, and members of the alliance holding the peaceful action threw in their ‘widow’s mite to enable us to hire old buses for transportation.
Based on the publicity given the sit-in-action, and before the first group of largely students could arrive at the conference center, the riot squad of the Liberia National Police was already deployed with specific orders not to allow anyone to come close to the building premises with posters and placards. In their discipline and respect for the rule of law, the market women, high school and university students, who formed a bulk of our first batch of sitters call me via mobile phone to tell me the extent of the police intolerance. I was then at the SOS Clinic area in Sinkor, admonishing another student group waiting to be picked up by buses whose drivers’ pricing was too exorbitant, hence creating a difficulty in our plans.
Two hours later, we headed for the Unity Conference Center and arrived to see that the school children and marketers had being pushed almost one mile from the conference center and a heavy Police barricade was erected with accompanying UNMIL tanks, riot police at mounted check points all intended to prevent a peaceful sit-in. Four students were hurt when they attempted holding posters that carried the rendering “We call on our Representatives to respect the Laws that they make.” When the actor insist that the police allow peaceful citizens to carry out their constitutional duties, one Officer Willie, a Deputy boss in the Intelligence section of the Liberia National Police communicated with the Justice Minister to allow for our sit-in-action during a mobile phone conversation, she refused. With nothing else to do, we decided to get the school children and marketers off the scene just in time when the police reinforcements arrived with orders to confront a peaceful people acting legally.
Tragically enough, two government-controlled Newspapers (The Daily Observer and The New Democrat) collaboratively manufactured their versions from the figment of their imagination labeling us as “thugs and gangs.” They even tried to link us to one of the parties to the Legislative embarrassment. What we wanted was to be given the opportunity to convince our elected policy makers to put the country and its laws, first. We challenge the New Democrat and The Daily Observer to show prove of the former fighters they claimed to have seen in our group. And this should not be difficult for both the New Democrat and the Daily Observer, knowing that Sando Moore, the Observer’s ‘Candid Camera Photographer’ was there taking pictures.
Besides, the two Newspapers frantically fought to create a link between our advocacies and pro-Taylor elements, unjustifiably linking us with Edwin Snowe every time we attempt to advocate for the rule of law. This strategy by these media detractors cannot undo our commitment to defending the law no matter who is affected. We will subsequently establish here that no one is our target of advocacy, except those that choose to oppose the rule of law and the tenets of justice. And if a Speaker’s rights are violated, we will advocate just as we will when a president’s rights are violated.
Liberians, in their quest to seek the truth in existing sociopolitical matters must come to know that the Daily Observer is a partisan paper recreated to protect the regime of Madam Sirleaf and her government. All must recall that during the 2005-runoff elections, The Daily Observer, in its Monday election-eve editorial endorsed the Ellen presidency and carried a full promotional ad. Since then, contrary to the ethics that govern the journalistic profession, The Observer has been totally sold out to protecting the interests of this government even at the peril of the constitution of Liberia. For example, who would have known that The Daily Observer would oppose the recent Supreme Court ruling in its editorial, only because its Lord and Patron also stood in disagreement! Frankly, these are a part of the moral deconstructions of the current regime where various functionaries offend the law and the people, with a Newspaper paid to paint a colorful portrait-caricature meant to tell a lie.
Is this not the tragedy of the Sirleaf regime? It’s a regime that lacks any moral foundation, a conundrum that leaves many baffled and befuddled. What is the moral premise of a government whose hierarchical governors were actively parading the corridors of rebellion, anarchism, bloodletting and exterminating innocent people for power? Balefully, the painful worst is the denial campaign launched by the warmongers, ignoring the facts on hand indicting them for horrors and horrendous crimes. And for the likes of President Sirleaf to come to power riding on the wings of advocacy against political ills, and return to committing similar excesses and ills is to be extremely hardboiled!
No doubt, the ascendance to power of the forerunners of a diabolic military campaign led by a woman with ‘iron in her heart’ proved to be a regime floating upon the tidal waves of lawlessness. No matter who disagrees, for a President who took oath to defend the constitution of the Republic of Liberia to now flagrantly disregard the ruling of the high court in such callous style, is most obdurate and insensibly ridiculous!
I can’t see how any pureblooded Liberian who wants to see this nation moves forward will come in defense of Madam’s venal actions. Who else should be the most superior interpreter of our jurisprudence if not the Supreme Court? Let’s take for granted “the ruling did not mention anything about venue” as is being blindly argued, but it did not matter to President Sirleaf that the entire Supreme Court refused to attend the “Virginia rebel base” session? What did she make of the boycott of the eleven members of the Senate? And the ruling that declared all proceedings done on the “rebel base” as unconstitutional. Where then is the government’s argument of constitutionality in the Ellen address delivered on the “Rebel base” from an altar and veranda totally desecrated by a month-long constitutional disobedience?
These are the issues that must be viewed from the lenses of political objectivity regarding the threats posed to our common destiny. True to the core, the fabrics of any civilized democracy can only be held together through the uncompromising perpetuation and implementation of crafted laws. Without laws, we will have wars, whether we want it or not. Laws are the flambeaus that enable any society to keep threading a positive path, one of many reasons why we have been calling for a Special Court for Liberia to give justice to the people and deter violence. Unfortunately, President Sirleaf and others see it differently, and are doing what any violator will do, because a justice mechanism could indict them for war crimes and crimes against humanity!
Moreover, they are not just erecting a bulwark of opposition against constructive criticism; they are even using immoral means thinking it will help them undermine the strength of the critical outlook being zoomed at this government. For instance, in their quest to discredit the moral rectitude of this actor (Mulbah K. Morlu, Jr.), certain government officials (we know them by their style of literature) hurried to the drawing board and obviously gathered from the devil’s closet lies and falsifications that cannot stand up to the least logical scrutiny. Hear them: “Morlu is a wanted man in Ghana; he robbed his fellow Liberians of money in Ghana; he’s seeking for visa/attention; he’s a trouble maker; he’s from the CDC, etc.”
Disappointingly, none of these political flagellates have enough guts to come up using their own identities to throw the lies. Instead, they go from Internet chat rooms to cheap inns hiding under pseudonyms, trading gossips without good motives. It will privilege them to know that the man, Mulbah K. Morlu, Jr., did in Ghana what many will not do: whilst most of the gurus now in power were giving child soldiers guns to destabilize the country in 2002, I collaborated with my oversea friends to supply an initial 464 Holy Bibles to Refugees in order to provide them an opportunity to liberate themselves from the harsh reality of religious ignorance. A succeeding teaching conference was held, and 700 persons were fed daily. At the conference, I made sure I drew attention to a paralyzed boy whose wheel chair was badly damaged. A month later he received his new wheel chair. More than 800 persons attended our conference, and 464 Bibles were insufficient, so we made arrangements for the importation of more than 250 additional bibles.
Later on, my wife, who is an American citizen and a survival of the 9/11 World Trade Center tower bombings, was moved with compassion for the victims and decided to organize an institution that would help bring relief to children affected by the disaster. We had gone to South Africa where she wanted to initiate her program. I felt it would be a betrayal if I did not encourage her to prioritize Liberian Refugees. She reluctantly consented, as she later told me that the U.S States Department had warned her of the alleged mischief and fraudulence of some Liberians on the Buduburam camp.
When my wife returned to the United States I refused to travel with her, based on her assertion that I could not return in a few years owing to the requirement of a particular Visa program. Since my heart burned with the passion of helping to correct the ills in our current checkered politics, I preferred Liberia to an America that needs me little.
When my wire returned to the States, I helped her fashion the Queen Sheba War-Child Disaster relief Fund’s document, and had it legally registered in Columbus, Ohio, USA. In the interim, she set up a skeletal administrative team headed by a Reverend Minister. She sent out strict orders that any financial obligations would be fulfilled by her and no suffering refugees child/parent would be required to pay a dime because, they were struggling people who needed help. I chose to remain out of the leadership of the skeletal team owing to the fact that my relationship with my wife may have conflicted interests (she lives in Queens, New York and her address is available for those who would like to meet with her there to ascertain the facts).
Unfortunately, as more than US$14,350.00 was directly expended on this program, internal bickering ensued in Ghana amongst staff members. The first lapse was, instead of the 13-man skeletal team as instructed by the president of the organization, the head of the Ghana team employed a 93-man workforce who were now demanding salaries. Since the organization had a website with my wife’s contacts available, this unwarranted practice was easily revealed when the excess workers themselves started sending messages. My wife was deeply angered by this insincerity and, amongst other things, feared that she was being misled by the leaders in Ghana, thereby deciding to shoulder the obligation to nevertheless pay everyone off, canceling the entire program; as US$5,000.00 was wired directly to the team to purposely payoff everyone hired legally or otherwise.
Personally, my current home in Teshie Nungua Estates, 1st Junction, Accra-Ghana (years back) in fluxed with hungry brothers and sisters seeking whatever that could feed them for a day. No one ever traveled the long distance from the refugee Camp to my residence without getting a cup of rice for his/her home. It did not mean that I was wealthy; I simply understood the invaluable practice of sharing as taught by the Bible. In 2003, I personally pledged US$1,000.00 to a Church on the refugee camp and had it paid in full a week later. These revelations are not necessary, except that when moral dwarfs attempts to ridicule the moral credentials of a trying person, the truths must be discussed.
And it is important to note, in all my days in Ghana, I have no police records, no court records nor public records of crime. I have entered disputes with no one, and have a single family with one wife. This is an open challenge to the paid accusers to come out proving me wrong. If not, let them and their patrons get lost in the proverbial trashcan. Or did they think that a smear campaign would be enough to crack the hard-core in me? Can a Mulbah K. Morlu drop arms to ill-trained intellectual commandoes who lack the least elementary understanding of the rules of engagement, committing moral war crimes by going personal whilst trenched under the shadows of their patrons?
If I am wanted as the liars suggest, by whom, oh thou critics without piecrust! This is an open challenge to all of those sociopolitical vampires and werewolves operating from the veiled sector of pseudo-identities. Come up now, unveiled your worth, acquainting us with your role in the emancipation fight. If anyone is wanted, let me tell you who: President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the wanted one: charge sheet reads; “Conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Jackson Doe; Treason and mass murder in the Quiwonkpa invasion of 1985; Treason, conscription of child soldiers, crimes against humanity and war crimes through hate messages via BBC in 1990; the recruitment of a wanted criminal (Charles Taylor, wanted since 1983) to invade the sovereign land of Liberia leading, to the deaths of more than 250,000 innocent people; alleged theft of property in the amount of US$20 million dollars during the OAU jamboree of 1979; and, her various violations and disregard for the Supreme Court’s ruling recently, makes her the most wanted woman president in the world.” These are the issues worth debating, and the invitation is open.
Lest I forget, no one individual so purposely rebels against a nation’s constitution and its highest judicial authority, unless that person is actually an iron-hearted thoughtless hardboiled!
Activist Mulbah K. Morlu, Jr., who recently asked for the impeachment of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, can be reached at godsprince2001@yahoo.com. Cell: 002316626209 He resides in Sinkor, Monrovia-Liberia and Teshie Nungua Estates, Accra-Ghana
AFRICAN PANORAMA
