Mulbah Morlu and His Activism: Any Impact? Anybody Listening?e       1             1940 - 11112008f- Two- Soccer Legends

  Thursday, April 02, 2009             

Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh

 “I don’t think they should keep him (Mulbah Morlu) incarcerated. We don’t need to make hero out of anybody for nothing.”

- Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Iron Ladies of Liberia, 2007).

   President Ellen Johnson made those remarks about her ‘favorite’ political activist, Mulbah Morlu in 2007, after he was apprehended and incarcerated by state security forces for leading a protest rally against the president for what he called her alleged involvement in the then-14-year civil war that killed thousands of Liberians, raped and maimed countless others, destroyed the nation, and left many homeless.  

     Since his last encounter with security forces that landed him in prison, Mulbah Morlu was arrested once again on March 7, after he and his allies gathered to rally in the nation’s capital during the week of the International Colloquium for Women’s Conference that brought together foreign, business, community and female leaders from around the world, who gathered in Liberia to “discuss, learn, demonstrate and act on the benefits and lessons learned from women in leadership."

     Activist Mulbah Morlu                         Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

     That encounter got our collective attention because of the indiscriminate violence – the “shootings, beatings and mass arrests” that met the protesters whom the government believed are former soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia, got everybody talking about the reasons behind Mulbah Morlu’s “antics” as one commentator referred to this young man, who was denied a permit to protest and whose open and public call for President Sirleaf to resign and be put on trial for her alleged involvement in the Liberian civil conflict, are being ignored perhaps because of his youth, or his aggressive, insulting and in-your-face style of political activism.

     However, some see this as reckless and a way to embarrass President Sirleaf on a day she played host to the international visitors attending the women’s conference in her backyard, and are not crazy about Mulbah Morlu’s brand of activism because he violated the law, according to his detractors when his group decided to rally without a permit, and his disrespect of the office and President Sirleaf are often used against him as a reason he is not being taken seriously.

     To have an impact and be taken seriously, Mulbah Morlu has to study the methods used by others in the past that proved successful, and must learn to be respectful of constitutional authorities and the law of the land, because this is not about Mulbah Morlu and President Sirleaf but about the Liberian people for whom Mulbah is supposedly advocating.

     Even though the right to assemble and protest peacefully in the street or a park is a constitutional right guaranteed under the law for citizens of every nation to petition their government to address their grievances in a public manner, the need for a permit is always used by governments to deny citizens their right to assemble, and the law of the land is often on the side of governments when protesters are denied a permit in the name of “national security,” or for other reasons deemed necessary by the government.

     So when Morlu and his allies gathered to protest without a permit, which was never approved by the Liberian government, Morlu was in clear violation of the law and the legal code that forbids any form of protests taking place without a permit.

Morlu sees his activism as a way to highlight the president’s deepening role in the civil war, which he believes need airing in the Liberian judicial system, and also believes the president and her friends are covering up for her because of the powerful office of the presidency.

Mulbah Morlu is right about one thing, that the president’s friends are covering up for her and are using the office of the presidency to block every attempt to put her on trial in the court of law. The thing I don’t agree with Morlu most is his showmanship, his reckless adventurism and reckless disregard of the law, and if Mulbah Morlu wants to be seen as a serious activist, he has to abide by the law of the land because this is not a personal feud that went bad between he and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, but is about Liberia and the Liberian people and how they were allegedly treated by the then-political activist Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the 14-year civil war that destroyed the nation.

     Despite his antics, Mulbah Morlu, so far has kept the issue on the front burner constantly applying pressure on President Sirleaf. He has been a pain in President Sirleaf’s neck, has gotten incredible media attention, and is like a stubborn gadfly that just will not go away often increasing the decibels in his populist and often nationalistic message to the highest volume to get the attention of his local and international audience, some of whom unbelievably, are still struggling with the idea of ever seeing Ellen Johnson Sirleaf going on trial, resigning the presidency under political pressure, or perhaps going to jail if she is found guilty for crimes against humanity.

     All of this has made Mulbah Morlu the most feared and hated political activist on the ground to ever challenge the near-invisible President Sirleaf, and has been scolded viciously by the president’s supporters and embraced by others for challenging the president on this very sensitive issue for which there is a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), instituted by President Sirleaf to address human rights abuse and civil war crimes against the Liberian people from 1979 thru 2003.

     For a president who didn’t think she or her administration should keep Mulbah Morlu incarcerated because she did not want to make hero out of him for nothing, certainly, has made hero out of him when she ordered him arrested and imprisoned, and underestimated the man and his call for war crimes trial not only against President Sirleaf but a public trial that brings into play the former warlords whose chillingly brutal, unforgettable and despicable crimes against humanity got us all frozen after some were rewarded with high-power jobs for being the killers they are over the years.

     Certainly, Mulbah Morlu does not have the smoothness, the political sophistication and breathtaking intellectualism of the college-based political activists of the president’s time – Fahnbulleh, Tipoteh, Matthews, Sawyer and Mayson, whose call for democracy and the rule of law eventually brought change to the nation and paved the way for her presidency, and obviously is not connected to any of the PP’s political parties (UPP and LPP), and their flagship movements - MOJA and PAL to win the respect of President Sirleaf, and to also win the respect of the “offspring” of those movements.

      Had President Sirleaf not constantly overlooked this man and at least take the time to meet with him to discuss his grievance and other issues on which they have fundamental differences, this profoundly painful ordeal perhaps would not have reached this far in this embarrassing public manner that is not helping President Sirleaf’s image and credibility, because the more she snubs and orders Morlu arrested and jailed, the more she emboldens him and makes hero out of him – just exactly the hero she did not want to make out of him in the first place.

     President Sirleaf did not handle this issue well, and Mulbah Morlu, well, is not helping his cause either with what most people see as his theatrics, which is not winning him any sympathy from a weary Liberian public still reeling from years of pain and suffering, a result of the 14-year civil conflict.

     Because she was once a victim who was arrested and jailed for challenging Samuel Kanyon Doe’s undemocratic government, one would think Ellen Johnson Sirleaf learned something from the past that precludes her from not repeating the mistakes that took the country on such a bloody journey.

    Obviously, President Sirleaf is innocent until she is proven guilty, legal scholars will say, however, the president cannot be proven innocent unless she agrees to appear in a court of law to genuinely reveal her side of the story that led to the civil war.