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President
Sirleaf's "godson" revealed consul general
would be replaced in October
Monday,
June 05, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
I did not expect
him to call me. Not anytime soon.
And when he did, I
thought Eric Bracewell called to extend an olive
branch since the two of us have been on the opposite
end of that contentious public dispute concerning the
president’s recent visit; and whether the community
association shouldn’t or should’ve played a role
in welcoming Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to our city.
Mr. Bracewell did not call to extend any branch
at all, but called to fuss, to attack my credibility,
to dispute the president’s public gratitude to the
consul general for his part in arranging the meeting;
to dispute the number of Liberians present at the 4
Seasons Hotel on the day of the meeting, to dispute
the length of time the president spent with her fellow
countrymen and women, and to discuss his (Eric’s)
future plan for consul general Walter Young.
The guy have time on his hands to still be
contentious and angry after the fact, knowing very
well that the president left Atlanta since May 28, and
is thousands of miles away from us – somewhere
around the world or in Liberia attending to issues relating to
the affairs of the nation.
Against the wishes of her friends, however,
President Sirleaf did meet with a cross section of the
Liberian community and representatives of the various
county associations who were more than elated to meet
with their president, which spelled relief for all.
However, Eric Bracewell, the arrant and
self-anointed “godson” of the president who was
not physically present at the event, but claimed to
have been an earshot away in the president’s hotel
suite during our meeting actually called to dispute my
eyewitness’ account in “Tale
of two events,"
a previous piece
from me that chronicled the community’s meeting with
Ms. Sirleaf on May 27.
What is so unfortunate about the whole issue is
how simplistic Eric can be when the child in him
romanticizes with the Johnson-Sirleaf presidency and
the “oldma” whom he visualizes not as president of
Liberia but his “godma,” a quasi extension of his
family, which makes him relevant, perhaps, and
validates the power he craved all along.
I don’t know how much truth there is in Eric
Bracewell’s actual involvement with the “oldma”
(as he often calls her) and her administration, but
the obsession is no laughing matter because it is
revisionary and dangerous, and reminds me of the days
in Liberia during past administrations and during the
civil war when people like him would run to a leader
secretly to tell lies on others just to cement their
own relationship with the leader at the bloody expense
of another Liberian.
Not that I am wetting my pants right now
because I am scare to death that Eric would report my
political activities to his “oldma” in a heartbeat
to win her favor. If he could, let him make my day
because sycophantic tactics of this kind don’t scare
me at all but strengthens my resolve to continue to
speak truth to power.
However, what Eric’s little behavior and
pandering can also do is that it undermines our
fragile democracy, bring back the imperial presidency,
and undermines attempts by Liberians to discuss and
debate serious issues about their country and their
president without offending the sensitivities of Eric,
who might see the exercise as another way to prosecute
his “oldma,” which certainly is not healthy for
the process.
Let it be known that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, not
Eric Bracewell was elected by the Liberian people to
be president. And that the president must be savvy,
thoughtful and professional; and must be extremely
careful not to listen to or discuss key decisions and
sensitive national security issues with Eric and
others.
That’s because when a president discusses
sensitive national issues with someone other than an
authorized and disciplined person, the other person,
as emotionally fragile, overly protective, politically
immature and reckless as they are will use that
information to brag or intimidate the other party just
to make a point and prove their political connection.
Some of what I am talking about is happening
right here in Atlanta, Georgia with Eric Bracewell
using his so-called friendship with President Sirleaf
to disrespect and publicly undermine consul general
Walter Young.
The way the young man is going about with this
thing is unprofessional and discourteous, and if the
president ever intends to relieve the man of his
official duties, I think she ought to come forward and
do it now and in the most dignified way to put the
whole thing to rest, because her “godson” is
getting out of control as he brags that Young will be
replaced in October.
“You can say all you want to say, Sungbeh,
Walter Young will not be consul general, because the
“oldma” will replace him in October. Just watch
and see,” Eric told me the day he called to
challenge my integrity.
Eric even went further to challenged the
sincerity of President Sirleaf by saying that she was
just being diplomatic on the day of our meeting when
she publicly acknowledged Young’s role in helping to
arrange the meeting.
“Sungbeh, you know very well that the
president was just trying to be diplomatic with Dr.
Young when she thanked him publicly for arranging the
meeting with you people. The president did not mean
what she was saying because Young did not arrange the
meeting.”
I don’t know what’s really happening
between Young and the friends of President Sirleaf,
and where the hatred of the man is coming from?
Because this is not the first time Bracewell has been
after Walter Young.
In fact in March of this year, I reported in
another piece that Eric and his friends circulated a
petition drive to have the consul general replaced by
John E. Scott, a former president of the Liberian
Association of Metropolitan Atlanta (LAMA), during the
president’s recent visit to Atlanta.
When news of the plot was exposed by The
Liberian Dialogue, Scott withdrew his name and the
plotters turned their attention to Cynthia Nash, an
African-American who once attended school in Liberia.
Dr. Walter F. Young, who’s also
African-American, is a respected dentist, and is not a
child whom Eric Bracewell must constantly remind about
his possible firing from the non-salaried consul
general’s job to further enhance Eric’s bloated ego.
I don’t want to believe President Sirleaf
authorized Bracewell to engage in such a reckless
conduct.
However, if she ever whispered to her
“godson” in private about intimidating Young and
other government employees here and at home about
their possible firing, she must also whisper in his
ears to stop the nonsense immediately.
This is the time to govern accordingly, and a
time to also grow up.
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