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The
president's lawsuit: A credible outburst for justice
or headlines grabber?
Saturday,
February 18, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
Jucontee
Thomas Woewiyu apparently did not know what he was
getting himself into when he wrote the expose' about
then-candidate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s alleged role
in the civil war during the final days of the
presidential campaign.
Woewiyu’s memo, dubbed “An Open letter to
Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ” revealed Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf’s
level of involvement in the civil war, their
preparation for invasion, the Libyan connection, the
stakeholder, Taylor Major’s involvement, the secret
meeting with Charles Taylor, Jackson F. Doe’s
disappearance, her double crossing and back scratching
and her financial contributions to the war efforts,
which could past muster for a movie at a theatre
anywhere in the world.
Pres. Johnson-Sirleaf
Jucontee T. Woewiyu
Charles
Taylor
This is an explosive and sad narrative Made in
Liberia. It is a thriller only those who love movies
of this kind might want to see on any given day,
except that its deadly images, the violence and
destruction could haunt the collective memories of its
viewers.
It is also a story about an opposition
political leader who couldn’t get the job the
old-fashioned way by kissing babies, shaking hands,
and campaigning from city to city, village to village,
and as the memo hinted ran out of patience only to
assembled a group of her loyal lieutenants to stage
one of the deadliest uprisings in the history of the
nation.
The nightmarish gun battles took place in the
streets of Liberia where the weak and innocent, women,
adults and children - over 200,000 were slaughtered
for power and wealth, while others scrambled daily in
sun-drenched, mosquito-infested open fields, swamps
and squatter camps barely surviving on Buckwheat and
rationed meals, all in the name of liberation.
However, had Ellen, Charles Taylor and Tom
Woewiyu not fallen out, with Taylor and Tom betraying
Ellen, we wouldn’t have known for sure how and why
there was a civil war, who financed it, and whose idea
it was in the first place to starve and kill hundreds
of thousands of those innocent Liberians?
That is why, and for the sake of credibility
and a fair and balanced trial, the court must subpoena
Charles Taylor and others also, because this
shouldn’t only be about clearing Ellen’s name, but
to get to the bottom of this whole mess, as this trial
could be the preview of what is to come when Charles
Taylor is put on trial one day.
Let justice be done for all the victims, not
only the president because it is the Liberian people
whose relatives and friends were taken away
prematurely, and their country destroyed beyond
recognition.
The story Woewiyu skillfully narrated can be
traced back to 1984, almost 22 years ago when he, as
president of the Union of Liberian Associations in the
Americas (ULAA), invited Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who
was then opposed to president Samuel Kanyon Doe to
deliver the keynote address at the organization’s
annual conference in Philadelphia.
After that meeting and Ellen’s
keynote address, the future president and Woewiyu were
able to increase their contacts by moving quickly like
a laser in planning their war with Charles Taylor and
others.
Since the memo came out in August of
2005, a lot has happened to the parties and the
country. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was finally elected
president of Liberia. There’s a sense of peace and
optimism in the country. Woewiyi had back-to-back
tragedies. He lost his wife, son and younger brother
in the United States, and recently pledged his support
to the president; Charles Taylor who is at the center
of the whole confusion was driven into exile in 2003,
and the president is suing Woewiyu for millions for
defaming her character.
How can one defames another
person’s character when the plaintiff, who was then
presidential candidate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the
time tearfully acknowledged making the remarks
attributed to her about burning down Monrovia and we
will rebuilt it, during a fundraising ceremony with
her US-based Liberians for Ellen (LIFE) supporters in
Philadelphia and Minnesota between July and August of
2005?
Is this lawsuit about picking and choosing
which remarks and actions are libelous and warrants a
court trial, and how president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
can use her office to manipulate the legal system and
the eyewitness' account of events to her liking?
The lawsuit, which pits a sitting
president against a citizen, who was once her friend
for writing a memo about what presumably happened
between them when they were airtight friends is the
first of its kind in the history of the nation.
The memo in question was written when
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was a public figure or an
opposition political figure. For Ellen to file a
lawsuit months after she was elected president of a
nation elevates the discussion to another level, and
raises the issue about fairness, which of course will
test the neutrality of the judiciary, known
historically to side with the rich and politically
powerful in high-profile cases.
The nation will be watching to see whether
there will be fairness in the process since the
plaintiff, who is also president has incredible
popularity, incredible political power, the influence
and authority to appoint members of the judiciary and
the Minister of Justice, all of whom could rule in her
favor simply because she’s president, and the one
who appointed them in the first place.
Remember now that president Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf just appointed Francis Johnson Morris, the
former chairlady of the National Elections Commission
as her Minister of Justice.
This is the same Francis Johnson Morris (any relationship to the president?) who as chairlady of the
NEC was at the center of the election controversy
between candidates Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and George
Weah, during the run-off election in November.
Ms. Johnson Morris later acknowledged
mistakes in the ballots count, but refused to rescind
the NEC’s decision that Ellen won, as Weah and his
CDC requested. That incident was a challenge to the
peace process when Weah’s supporters took to the
streets and created a national security problem.
Mr. Weah and his Congress for Democratic Change
party are now protesting Ms. Johnson Morris’
appointment, seen by some as a political payoff for
her staunch support of Ellen during the electoral
crisis.
Isn’t it strange for president
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who continues to drag her feet
about the idea of putting Charles Taylor on trial for
his role in the civil war to file her own lawsuit
intended to clear her name against another Liberians
who implicates her in the same civil war?
Why not call for a national civil trial, which
could indict or clear the names of everyone implicated
in the civil war? That will be seen by many that the
president's trying to do the right thing, and is not
trying to put up a public relations show with a
frivolous lawsuit that only seeks her selfish
interest.
This certainly is not a smart political move, Madame
president, because you're cherry picking, which is an
insult to to all the victims of that senseless civil
war. And you know it!
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