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Tale
of two events
Monday,
May 29, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
I
am not a fan of the metro Atlanta branch of
"Liberians for Ellen," or "LIFE"
for that matter, but I am in total support of any
group that stands for peace, unity and prosperity in
Liberia and abroad.
I am disappointed with those people, and I am
sure others are also because of what they put us all
through when they drew that divisive line in the
asphalt in their failed attempt to keep President
Sirleaf away from meeting the Liberian Community
during her May 26-27 Atlanta visit.
Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
The president, who supposedly was on a 2-day private
visit to attend the high school graduation ceremonies
of her first grand child on a very busy Saturday, and
before departing for London on Sunday, found the time
her friends claimed she never had; the energy they
claimed she did not have to talk to anyone other than
LIFE was poised, vibrant and confident, and was able
to find the inner strength to dazzle the Liberian
Community with her signature eloquence and toughness,
immediately distancing herself politely from the
divisive positions of her friends.
With the timely intervention of the capable
consul general Dr. Walter Young, a guy whom the
“LIFERS” are plotting to replace with their
handpicked choice, the African-American Cynthia Nash
whom it is believed attended school in Liberia, Ms.
Sirleaf proved LIFE wrong, and made one of the most
politically prudent decisions of her presidency by
ignoring the unwise and divisive wishes of her friends
and decided to meet with the Liberian Community in
Georgia.
President Sirleaf acknowledged the controversy
in the community concerning her visit during her
remarks, and spoke of the need to unite.
She regretted that she did not have enough time to
meet with the community at a town hall meeting, but
thanked consul general Young for his efforts in
arranging the event quickly, and vowed to meet with
the Liberian Community at a larger event during a
future visit for that anticipated town hall meeting,
and told Liberians to “stop fussing with each
other.”
The president spoke of the recent burning of the
market stalls by the police, which she also regretted,
and spoke of the conflict within the leadership of the
market association; but said that the marketers were
being relocated by the government to a renovated
location around the old Voice of America, where they
will be exposed to a sanitary environment. On the
issue of the workers that are being laid off by the
government, the president noted that many will be
retrained for new positions when the entire civil
service is restructured.
President Sirleaf spoke of what she called the
“opportunity to start anew in rebuilding Liberia,”
and that “government must take the lead” in
rebuilding the country.
“The challenges are real, she said, and the
“obstacles are insurmountable.” The Liberian
leader also told her listening audience that the
government owes a total of $3.5 billion in external
debt, and is making it from the $60 million in grants
that is coming in from abroad.
President Sirleaf elaborated further about her
5-pronged program she referred to as “peace and
security, no army and a complete dismantling and
retraining of the police force; governance, the
dismantling of the institutions, restructuring of
civil service in a dysfunctional state; economic
revitalization, the 80% unemployment rate and spoke of
the lifting of sanctions in June; infrastructure
development, road, housing and the construction of
clinics, universal primary education for every child
from the streets to the classrooms, and the
decentralization of all services.”
Perhaps realizing that she would be asked about
her record-breaking foreign travels, the president
noted forcefully that she is “changing the image of
Liberia,” during her travels and noted also that she
is “an optimist who sees the glass full.”
The program at the 4 Seasons Hotel in Atlanta
was attended by Liberians from every angle of the
metro area, including well-wishers, admirers,
community leaders, the clergy, representatives from
interest groups and leaders of the 15 counties or
political sub-divisions of the country. All of the
representatives from the county associations and
interest groups were allowed few minutes to introduce
their organizations and say what they had on their
minds to the president.
President Sue Yancy Williams of the Liberian
Association of Metropolitan Atlanta (LAMA) welcome
President Sirleaf to our community and congratulated
her for her historic role as the first female in
Liberia and Africa to be elected president, and
pledged to work with the Liberian leader in her
efforts to rebuild the nation.
With U.S. secret service agents watching the
movement of everybody, the president left at the
conclusion of the program to get ready for the
fundraising event later in the evening.
With a large presence of Liberians in the State
of Georgia, and especially for a worthy cause of this
kind, one would think the organizers of the
fundraising event would take advantage of Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf’s enormous popularity by (1) being
inclusive of the entire Liberian community and its
many sub-groups, (2) lowering the $125.00 per person
ticket fee or the $1,000 table fee, (3) and try not to
make the event to appear elitist and for only those
with huge bank accounts.
With all that we’ve been through over the
years, one would think the LIFERS, whom, from my keen
observation did not play a significant role during the
fundraising event, did not have any influence in
decision-making, lost the public relations
campaign when they publicly and blatantly insulted the
Liberian Community Association many of its members
once served and continued to do business with.
Had the so-called “Liberians for Ellen,”
LIFE had any significant role in the program, their
African-Americans partners wouldn’t have dominated
every facet of the event – from who get to be on the
program to who’s at the door.
I understand the event went on well as scripted
with everybody now recovering from an evening of
entertainment. It was an evening of who’s who in the
City of Atlanta/State of Georgia politics and academics, with the
'LIFERS' completely missing in action on a Saturday
night that was supposed to be for them. However, not
one Liberian cultural ensemble was invited to perform.
Even though the ‘LIFERS’ disrespected
Liberians and came on too strong on the Liberian
Community, they are not politically savvy enough to
do damage control by apologizing for their arrogance.
With that said, I still believe raising money to
improve women’s health at the John F. Kennedy
Medical Center in Monrovia is a worthy cause, and
wished all of the parties involved in the controversy
could have done some things differently.
This is a victory for grass-root activism, and a
resounding victory for the Liberian Community
Association of Metropolitan Atlanta.
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