|
What
Prompted Joe Wylie's Doomsday Warning?
Friday,
February 04, 2005
By
Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
Those who know him
describe his life as adventuresome, and are also quick to
refer to him in adjectives and conjunctions. "He is a
brave man, a trained armed fighter, and an uncompromising
hard-liner, who is battle-tested and is always
battle-ready."
That's the life of Joe Wylie, poster “boy” for
violence, some would say, and a cocky guy who can come
across easily as angry for the emotions he usually shows in
his utterances, even when he means well. As a result, he is
seen as the embodiment of war at a time when Liberians are
talking peace, unity and nation building.
So when this Libyan-trained guerilla fighter open his
mouth to say anything, people must listen, especially when
he publicly discusses his frustrations and concerns and the
possibility of another civil war, ought to make anybody
who's a Liberian nervous.
During an interview with the Voice of America (VOA)
recently, Wiley, who is Deputy Minister of Defense for
Administration in the interim power-sharing government of
Gyude Bryant, took the center stage by playing a role some
are now interpreting as war mongering.
Wiley expressed just that when he said peace and
reconciliation cannot be realized if the Armed Forces of
Liberia is not restructured before the United Nations
Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) departs the country, and sounded
what is described as a warning for the actors in the
Liberian conflict to “provide the best framework to avoid
past mistakes that plunged the country into another civil
war after the 1997 special elections.”
“It is necessary to restructure the AFL in the
presence of the international community so that no one group
of people can once again have undue influence.” That will
“eventually help to determine the best qualified Liberians
to be enlisted in the AFL that will reflect the ethnic,
political and geographical balance,” he said.
Deputy Defense Minister
Joe Wylie
This is a genuine concern that all Liberians must
heed, because corruption in the military and the interim
government Joe Wiley is serving right now is a cancer we
cannot ignore. Wiley’s comments cannot be taken lightly
either because we know our history and the unfortunate
relationships between our presidents and our armed forces.
We are also aware of our army's ability to stage a coup d'
tat.
That’s why Liberian policymakers should work together to
put in place a coherent structure that will guide against
coups, abuse and other problems within the military, and
shouldn’t accept an army that will cater to the selfish
interests of a president, because that arrangement
will be devastating to our path toward development and
progress.
My problem, though, is not with the message, but the
motives and the reckless way Joe Wylie went about dispensing
his admonition to the world about a possible armed conflict
if things are not done properly.
The warning came out of the mouth of the wrong person who is too partisan and is not even regarded as
credible on this issue, because of all people, he represents
the interests of an armed rebel group in that awkward
winner-take-all political arrangement which favors the
recalcitrant Joe Wylie et all.
The deputy minister’s stern warning, which didn’t
take into consideration the almost tense and fragile
atmosphere in the country after years of bloodletting,
should have been done professionally, and in private
consultation with others, perhaps his immediate boss or the
United Nations.
Because I don’t want to believe the United Nations
and UNMIL, the latter whose mission in Liberia is to keep
the peace, will undermine its credibility by abruptly
leaving
that troubled nation in the hands of killer sharks and
hustlers, without working with the leadership in
Liberia to put in place a standard operating procedure, and
a respectable and disciplined army that will protect the
nation and its people.
By going public with such a
premature commentary, Deputy Minister Wiley didn’t only
failed to work with his colleagues on this issue, he
undermined others within the army and the interim
government’s chain of command structure, frightened the
citizens of a war-weary nation and the international
community and destroyed the confidence of a business
community still struggling to get back on track.
We can rebuild Liberia through discipline, hard work,
learning to contain our egos, working within the confines
of our official duties, respect one another, and strive for
a “balanced” presidency, which will not use the military
to terrorize its own people in order to stay in power
forever.
When we work together as adults and professionals,
then we can all dream like the deputy minister, of a
Liberian army which reflects our “ethnic, political and
geographical balance.”
|
