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Morlu's
petition to impeach Pres. Sirleaf laudable, but can
the Liberian people stomach another crisis?
Saturday,
January 06, 2007
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
Former presidential friend Jucontee Thomas
Woewiyu threw a firebomb in August 2005, prior to the
national elections when he chronicled in an “Open
letter to Madame Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,” the
devastating role of then-presidential candidate Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf in the Liberian civil war.
Only a person who was present at the events
detailed by Woewiyu could have known the emotional and
financial roles played by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to
write so convincingly about the war plan, the shady
financial transactions and money laundering, their
travels to faraway places to plan and raise funds for
the war and the betrayal of Ms. Sirleaf by Charles
Taylor who eventually became President of Liberian in
1996.
Activist Mulbah
Morlu Jr. Jucontee Woewiyu
Pres. Sirleaf
When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was then a
presidential candidate was bombarded constantly about
her role in the civil conflict, and was questioned
endlessly about her inflammatory statement about
burning down Monrovia and rebuilding it during a
campaign appearance in Philadelphia in 2005, she did
not disappoint, either, but tearfully apologized, and
later threatened a slander lawsuit against Jucontee
Tom Woewiyu after she was elected president.
After carefully evaluating the embarrassment
and the public relations disaster a possible lawsuit
would cause her standing among the Liberian people and
her international friends, President Sirleaf
surprisingly dropped her threat of a lawsuit against
Woewiyu, hoping the controversy was now a matter of
the past.
The Liberian people either forgave Ms. Sirleaf
and moved on or just wanted to forget her
controversial past for the sake of peace and
stability, and elected Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as
president months after Woewiyu’s startling
revelation.
Woewiyu’s letter, which is still biting Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, magnified her alleged role in the
civil conflict and put a dent in her credibility a
year after she finally became president.
That “Open letter to Madame Sirleaf” is
still generating conversations in some quarters as one
Mulbah Morlu who went beyond the allegations in the
letter, has launched an impeachment petition against
President Sirleaf in what could be a showdown between
an activist citizen and a sitting president if the
case is ever heard by the public and the legislative
branch.
The charges Morlu laid out against the
president are incredible and lengthy. They are the
same issues I’ve raised on this page in countless
columns, only to be insulted and threatened by the
president’s supporters who don’t seem to see
what’s wrong with the president whose flaws are
beginning to surpass her predecessors in such a short
period of her administration.
From overt corruption, to in-your-face
nepotism, conflict of interest, to judicial interference,
the lack of adequate background check for those
seeking government employment, the lack of honest and
transparent bidding for contracts, the president’s
failure to get rid of obviously criminal figures in
her administration, to the conflict between Amos
Sawyer and David Kortie of the Governance Reform
Commission, President Sirleaf has shown little
interest in showing leadership by addressing those
issues.
However, to the astonishment of many President
Sirleaf used her incredible power to interfere in the
judiciary by halting the case between Kortie and
Sawyer. The case is now dead.
When gun-toting officers of the president’s
Special Security Services, (SSS) including director
Chris Massaquoi and his deputy Ashford Peal, were on
the scene during a shout-out that fatally wounded
officer Emmanuel “Silver J” Williams, some
officers were either put on trial or not tried at all
and were acquitted.
A junior officer, Darlington Bleh was made a
scapegoat and indicted for officer Williams’ death.
President Sirleaf paid the family of the deceased
$7,000 for funeral services.
The Wesley Johnson issue.
Mr. Johnson, who is under a cloud of suspicion
for his shady financial role during the Gyude Bryant
interim government, was appointed Ambassador to the
Court of St. James in the United Kingdom. Even though
Mr. Johnson was under investigation before the
appointment, President Sirleaf ignored the
investigation, intervened and still appointed Johnson
ambassador.
Harry A. Greaves Jr., the Teflon is what he is.
This shameless manipulator and President Sirleaf’s
right hand man just changed political party. He’s
now a member of her Unity Party.
This guy, Greaves, name has been on the lips of most Liberians
for his alleged role in corruption when he served in
the Gyude Bryant administration and after he left that
government. The president ignored his shady record and
appointed him Managing Director of the Liberian
Petroleum Refinery Corporation, and many more.
Mulbah Morlu Jr., who is leading a protest
rally on January 15, in the nation’s capital is a
brave man who is a lone and helpless Snapper fish in
the midst of sharks and alligators waiting to devour
him for his fearless pursuit of the President of
Liberia.
Even if we disagree with Mulbah Morlu and his
Forum for the establishment of War Crimes in Liberia
we must applaud them for their courage and for
skillfully articulating their case for impeaching
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, for what obviously is
presidential arrogance, presidential abuse of power
and the lack of leadership.
This certainly is a challenge to the Liberian
democratic experience – a classic David and Goliath
battle between the president who is this gargantuan of
a figure and Morlu, the little known activist and
idealist who is in the fight of his life, because
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is not the much-hated and
discredited Charles Taylor is in a league of her own
and is capitalizing on her popularity to make bad
decisions.
If there was ever a time to impeach a
president, this is the time because Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf has violated the laws of the land and the
trust of the Liberian people.
The question is, who is there to replace Ms.
Sirleaf once she’s impeached? Are we ready for a
vice president Boikai who hasn’t established himself
as a leader, to be president, or a weak Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Wallace who’s missing in action
since inauguration day?
Whether this impeachment petition will meet the
light of day is another issue because of the
incredible power of the presidency, the obvious lack
of a courageous, credible and effective legislative
and judiciary, who themselves are tainted and don’t
wield power and influence to take on a less effective
but very popular president.
President Sirleaf, who is making
blunders and is nakedly arrogant understands the
political imbalance and is capitalizing on that
sentiment.
She knows the Liberian people are still recovering from years of neglect,
suffering, a deadly civil war and a fragile country
are not prepare to stomach another conflict that will
disrupt their lives.
This is a sad commentary, indeed.
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