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Snowe's
image problem undermines contribution to nation and
capacity for growth
Monday,
February 12, 2007
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
Speaker Edwin Melvin Snowe is like the uncle
one wants to always avoid because of his bad ways, but
would certainly defend in a heartbeat when he is not
treated fairly because of his shameful past or current
infractions.
On the one hand you want to see your uncle
punished for whatever crimes he committed (if it is
proven beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law by
his peers that he is guilty of those crimes), while on
the other hand you will also defend him vigorously if
it can be proven that he’s been picked on because of
who and what he is, because as the saying goes,
“blood is thicker than water.”
Speaker Edwin M. Snowe
Snowe, in this case is an imaginary blood
relative; and real relatives, according to what I was
taught as a child are not to be left drowning in piles
of trouble and left on their own because of their
ways, but must be protected for the love of that
relative and for the sake of the family.
It is the duty of those family members to not
be carried away blindly by that family tree, but must
also swallow their pride and learn to chastise a
family man or woman who intentionally violates another
human being, or violates the laws of the land and the
trust of his or her people.
However, when there is a family feud in a
village, and the elder whom we see from our
traditional perspective as knowledgeable, speaks, we
listened and obey the orders of that elder out of
respect for the individual and the institution, even
when we know deep down in our hearts that the ruling
is wrong.
The Supreme Court of Liberia is not a tribal
institution but the highest court and legitimate legal
institution of the land, whose rulings must be
cherished and respected by the president, the
lawmakers, the judiciary itself and ordinary
Liberians.
And if we want a civilized society of law and
order and want the rule of law to prevail, no matter
how much we disagree with a particular ruling we must
respect the verdicts of the lower and highest courts
of the land.
A case to remember is the recent national
confusion that occurred when a group of individuals in
the legislative branch who are not without sins cast
the first stones, and claimed to be the moral
consciousness of the nation exploited the weakness of
their Speaker by ousting him.
And when the nation’s Supreme Court
intervened in the matter and ordered the Speaker
reinstated on grounds of legal technicality, the
legislators refused to adhere to the court’s ruling
by citing their own technicality based on venue,
Snowe’s personal problems, and whether President
Sirleaf should not or should have addressed the
legislative body in Virginia or the historic
Centennial Pavilion.
President Sirleaf sided with the renegade
legislators and not the Supreme Court; and traveled to
Virginia, resembling a play out of the books of her
predecessors known to violate the Constitution and the
court, which does not bold well for this young
democracy.
The rebel-like behavior of the legislators and
the political blunder of President Sirleaf were
unpopular moves, which did not get an ounce of support
from the public, because what they did was seen as
over zealotry, disrespect of the legal institution of
the nation, and shows wanton disrespect of public
opinion.
Their actions portrayed Snowe not as a
troubled, ineffective and incompetent criminal-turned
Speaker of the House of Representatives, but a victim
– an innocent person who was unfairly treated by
those bullies in Monrovia who don’t know what they
are doing.
That was evident this week when supporters of
Snowe and the Supreme Court’s ruling turned out en
masse in front of the Speaker’s home in defiance to
protest his ousting and to admonish him not to travel
to Virginia, chanting loudly that he respects the
earlier ruling of the court.
The name Edwin Melvin Snowe is difficult to
defend; and the person behind the name is just as
difficult to defend because of the gravity of the
polarization he is often accused of, and the notoriety
of the individual.
Because for every word that spills out of
one’s mouth in defense of Snowe, those same words
will one day haunt the person doing the talking
because of Snowe’s alleged economic and war crimes
committed against the Liberian people.
See, when Mr. Snowe was Managing Director of
the Liberian Petroleum Refinery Corporation during the
administration of his then-father-in-law former
president Charles Taylor, it is believed he pocketed
$30 million, which hasn’t been accounted for to this
day.
His recent interference in the foreign policy
of Liberia, thereby undermining the nation’s
one-China policy did not help his image, either.
And like many of his colleagues in the House of
Representatives and Senate who attempted to oust him
from the Speakership recently, Edwin Melvin Snowe has
not explained his role in the civil war for which he
was barred by the United Nations Security Council from
traveling or risked arrest and prosecution.
As if those are not enough of a worry for
Edwin, he downplayed his image problem and
international legal troubles and jumped into a
legislative race he barely qualifies to hold,
subsequently running for the Speakership he won by a
wide margin. A legislative victory his detractors
claimed he purchased with his unearned wealth.
Snowe could have served his constituency well
had it not been for his troubled life and checkered
past, because he knows his community, a result of his
stint as former President of the Liberian Football
Association (LFA); is street-smart and knows how to
out-maneuver and manipulate public sentiments to get
what he wants for his district.
However, the ambitious Snowe generates insults
than kudos, hatred than adulation, pity and scorn not
because of his legislative skills, but because he
understands how to turn his personal problems into a
national crisis; and knows how to turn that to his
advantage as we saw recently when his colleagues
outplayed their cards to pursue his removal from the
Speakership, which infuriated the nation and Liberians
abroad.
Liberia needs skillful legislators, a strong
presidency and a reliable judiciary to get the country
moving in a positive direction.
The nation and its people can use some of the
street-smartness in Edwin Melvin Snowe to do just
that. But the Speaker’s current personal troubles
and his controversial past often provide ample
ammunitions to those who don’t see redemptive
qualities in him, which certainly is a distraction.
Had he been my blood relative, I would be
sitting with him today to reinvent him and help him
plot a new direction in his life.
The man needs help.
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