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Coup
plots in Liberia, why?
Monday,
July 30, 2007
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
There
are many reasons why one should listen to Thomas
Jucontee Woewiyu, when he speaks and coughs up names
of those he believes attempted to destabilize the
government of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
There are also many reasons not to believe
whatever Thomas Jucontee Woewiyu discusses or revealed
about any attempt by some to overthrow the government
of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The
man’s obvious lack of credibility and a checkered
past could cause hesitation and might prevent an
attorney from putting him on a witness stand, because
he is like a discredited informant who works out and
accepts a plea deal intended to spill out the names of
those he believes allegedly committed a crime in
exchange for a lighter prison sentence.
 
Woewiyu
Pres. Sirleaf
George Koukou
Then again, Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu could be
the go-to-guy for sensitive information of this kind
about coup plots, armed insurrections, shady deals and
corruption because he is or was part of that culture
and has the ears and confidence of miserable
individuals like the ones he outed recently who have
no life of their own but are bent on overthrowing
governments only to cause senseless deaths and chaos
intended to satisfy their own selfish political agenda
and financial interests.
The former Grand Bassa County Senator, who
served as Minister of Labor and Defense under Charles
Taylor and was also a former ally and confidant of the
former rebel leader turned-president made a name for
himself in 2005, before the presidential elections
when he revealed to the world that former opposition
leader and now president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
inspired and financed the civil war that destroyed the
country and killed countless Liberians, is at it again
this time revealing the names of Charles Julu, George
Koukou, Andrew Dorbor and Wolo Nagbe he claimed
plotted to overthrow the Johnson-Sirleaf government.
Charles Julu
Charles Julu and George Koukou are familiar
names in the heinous trade of armed insurrection.
Together with Dorbor and Nagbe were about to parlay
their expertise in subversive activities to undermine
the fragile peace, tranquility and the democratic
process in Liberia by plotting to carry out an
unpopular campaign to overthrow a democratic
government some honestly disagrees with politically,
but many would rather work with to put the country
back on track in order give the Liberian people a
chance to live.
With details of the attempted coup d’ tat
still unraveling, the motives behind Woewiyu’s
revelation are puzzling except that he recently had
his biblical “Saul moment,” converting from a
scrappy, no-nonsense hustler to that of a man of God -
a wannabe preacher of the gospel who wants to do the
right thing. And indeed, he believes he is doing the
right thing.
However, if true, Woewiyu’s revelation of a
destabilization plot could be the right thing he ever
could have possibly done for the nation and people of
Liberia; because saving Liberia from the bloodthirsty
hands of those wicked men who cares nothing about
Liberia but themselves is the right thing to do.
Because I just cannot afford to see another
war-ravaged Liberia once again destroyed and run by
another group of irresponsible and idiotic,
self-appointed rebel leaders (criminals), or a Liberia
that is being governed by a “President” Charles
Julu, or a “President” George Koukou, the former
once attempted to overthrow the former six-man interim
government led by David Kpomakpor in 1994, reportedly
has been ill over the years, while the latter as
Speaker of the failed interim Transitional Legislative
Assembly of Gyude Bryant, allegedly embezzled $92,000
after he masterminded the ouster of his predecessor,
George Dweh for allegedly embezzling his share of
$150,000 as inducement to pass the $93 million
national budget in 2005.
There is intense conversation in the public
that Koukou and Julu couldn’t have plotted anything
for the fact that both men who hailed from two
distinct regions of the country (Nimba and Grand Gedeh
Counties), and are members of the Krahn, Gio or Mano
tribes, historically with bad blood and no love
connection for the other, and since worsened by the
exploitation of the former presidents, Samuel Kanyon
Doe and Charles Taylor, who used the two groups to propel
their own presidential ambitions couldn’t have
collaborated to overthrow the government of Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf.
Critics also contends that the Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf administration so paranoid is employing the
tactics of former president Samuel Kanyon Doe, known
for his often erratic announcements about an imaginary
enemy and an imaginary threat of a possible coup,
would use that gimmick to round up enemies of the
government in order to remain in power.
With this government being a democratic one
elected by the people, and a president who will be
turning 74 years old in October 2012, and hasn’t
said a word about running for reelection, I find it
hard to believe the announcement of a possible coup
plot as Doesque and a gimmick to remain in power.
However, why will an administration that spends
much of its energies and time on public relations,
traveling and trying to woo potential foreign
investors to do business in Liberia, will suddenly
frighten those would-be foreign investors with an
announcement about an attempted coup to destabilize
the country and the government knowing such an
announcement would discourage investors from doing
business in Liberia?
With news reports about audio and videotapes in
the possession of the state ready to be presented as
evidence regarding the picking up of money transmitted
via western union by another source to fund the coup,
I am anxiously waiting to see how far this one will go.
Let the trial begin!
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