Remembering Conmany Wesseh and Mary's Unforgiving Actions       1             1940 - 11112008f- Two- Soccer Legends

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh

    Before he left the Liberian People’s Party (LPP) for the president’s Unity Party (UP), Conmany B. Wesseh, who is Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and is now running for the Liberian Senate gave his solicited opinion in 2006, in metro Atlanta about the call by some Liberians to have City Mayors, County Superintendents and Paramount and Clan Chiefs elected, and not appointed by the president.

    The meeting, which was hosted by River Gee citizens in metro Atlanta also brought together non-River Gee Liberians who gathered there to greet Mr. Wesseh, and also had the chance to enjoy some sumptuous Liberian dishes and drinks prepared just to warmly welcome their native son who was visiting the city at the time.

     A perfect time of course to fully engage Conmany Wesseh on this particular issue since I wasn’t sure when I would meet him again, and since he lived his life advocating democracy and the rule of law in Liberia, I expected him to be passionate about the issue because of the possible negative effects not doing something about it would have on the democratic process he fought so hard for in his previous life, especially if the government jobs in question continues to rest entirely on political appointments made by the President of Liberia.

             Amb. Conmany B. Wesseh                            Mary Broh

     The issue is so sensitive that Liberians convened in 2005, in Columbia, Maryland to discuss a way their nation could possibly move forward from the staid and undemocratic, century-old presidential monopoly that did not empower their people, to a progressive way that allowed their people to elect a person or persons - one of their own to represent their interests and their communities.

      Conmany Wesseh did not hold back how he felt about the issue before him, and in fact defended President Sirleaf more then he defended the aspirations of his own people in the interior, who yearned to get a taste of electing their own political officers in the political subdivisions with their own tax revenues remaining in their areas to develop their regions, which would have taken away the powerful hands of a corrupt and bureaucratic central government from controlling their lives and their tax dollars.

     When he was asked during our conversation what he thinks about electing those political officers then the president appointing them, he replied: “Do you all know how much it will cost to fund elections in all the 15 counties in Liberia to elect Mayors, Superintendents, Paramount and Clan Chiefs? The government does not have that kind of money to do all that,” Wesseh said.

      “You want to tell me because of money that part of democracy that is so dear to the hearts of many Liberians will not be a reality? How about the tax dollars from the various counties, do you support the idea of the government controlling those funds then the people keeping and spending their own money in their own areas?” I asked.

       All I got out of Conmany Wesseh later was the same sentiment he gave earlier like: “All I can tell you is that the government does not have the money to have elections for City Mayors, Superintendents, Paramount and Clan Chiefs in the 15 counties.” After those remarks, I concluded that this was a cute way of Conmany Wesseh saying no to the idea of electing political officers in the political subdivisions of Liberia.

     Because he fought his entire life for democratic change in Liberia, I thought this was the right thing to do - to get the opinion of Conmany Wesseh on this very sensitive issue that has engulfed the political landscape over the years, and has again resurfaced since the ascendancy of Ellen Johnson Sireleaf to the nation’s highest political office. 

    However, Wesseh’s politically expedient talking points proved again and again how some people can suddenly change from one human being to another human being to satisfy their own greedy and selfish political needs at the expense of the people, even when what the individual is saying or doing is the complete opposite of the life they once lived.

     Knowing how President Sirleaf has handled this issue in such a dismissive and unilateral way without even attempting to (1) call for a national referendum to have the people decide their own political destiny (2) use the presidential bully pulpit to rally the nation (3) lobby the Legislative branch to get onboard (4) rally Liberians in the Diaspora to win their support and, (5) lobby the international community to join us in this effort, would have helped to make the discussion a national one worthy of being on the nation’s front burner.

     Meanwhile, President Sirleaf’s recent appointment of the unpolished Mary Broh as Mayor of Monrovia is a reason why people like Conmany Wesseh should have joined the ranks of other pro-democracy activists to speak out against such an important issue as he has done in the past on other issues during previous administrations; and also a reminder of an uncompromising and power-hungry president who will not work to make the Mayoral office and other political offices in the subdivisions an elected ones.

     What is predictable and not puzzling when this appointment came to light is the continued failure of the Liberian press, whose notable contribution to this debate is their incessant singing of cum bye yah, and shamelessly amplifying the so-called toughness of this crazy woman as if Mary Broh’s appointment is the coming of the second “Iron Lady,” whose tough stance on the marketers barely 72 hours after she was crowned City Mayor, and not even confirmed by the Legislature crushed the makeshift stands of those poor people to show she’s in charge.

     This is not leadership, but bullying and cowardice; and the naked arrogance and cruelty of Mary Broh did not heal any old wounds but opened new wounds in these times when peace and reconciliation should have been at the centerpiece of President Sirleaf’s national agenda, not brutality and class warfare.

     With this crazy lady, Mary Broh destroying and trashing everything these poor people ever owned in terms of petty trading, how in the world does the government expects them to survive in a Liberia where opportunities are scarce and poor people are seen as disposable goods?

     As I write this piece, members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), are ‘sequestered’ somewhere in Monrovia deliberating about those Liberians that maimed, raped and killed other Liberians during the civil war, with the hopes of forgiving those individuals for their crimes against humanity.

     Mary Broh’s criminal action against those poor people, which is unforgivable, happened just as members of that commission meets to forgive those that trespassed against innocent Liberians during the civil war. Do we need another Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), to investigate and later forgive Mary Broh’s criminal behavior? Ah ha!

     I don’t think any sane Liberian will have any problem with the idea of keeping the City of Monrovia or any other Liberian city clean. However, with cleaning comes responsibility and compassion for the poor and struggling people who can barely make ends meet in Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Liberia. This is not about cleaning the City of Monrovia; this is a war against poor people. 

     What is Conmany Wesseh’s position on this issue?