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We
Cannot Allow Death Penalty to Silence the Past
Wednesday,
August 6, 2008
By Bernard
Gbayee Goah
One
of the worst evils emerging in present day
Liberia
is rampant armed robbery.
The inability of government to create innovate
durable solutions to minimize armed robbery in
Liberia
is threatening the very existence of a peaceful
Liberian society.
Armed
robbery is spreading through
Liberia
like an unstoppable dry season bush fire. At first,
armed attacks usually occurred at night, but today it
is common for anyone to experience an attack in broad
day light, sometimes right before the very presence of
the police and the UN peacekeepers. As a result,
Liberians save the little money they have, not to
purchase food or pay their children’s school fees,
but to purchase steel locks and iron doors to protect
their homes. Personal
testimonies together with radio and newspaper
headlines attest to the numerous incidents of armed
robbery all over
Liberia
.. Insecurity
is being felt throughout the entire country. Even with
the presence of the UN peacekeepers Liberians are not
safe.
Just
imagine that banks, with all the security at their
deposal are no longer safe from armed attacks in
Liberia
. Incidents of banks being robbed constantly has
deterred many prospective business investors away from
Liberia
. As
peaceful citizens continue to press on for national
healing and development, the effects of armed
robbery has begun to quench citizen’s
enthusiasms in the rebuilding process.
Do
we have to wait for armed robbers to attack the Executive
Mansion
before the government comes up with a sound, careful,
and durable solution to combat armed robbery in
Liberia
? We,
as a citizenry, must force the hand of the government
and call them to action.
Action for us is not a death penalty, or a weak
and inhumane way to “deal” with trouble makers.
Instead we want the government to look at
itself and ask why there are so many people turning to
armed robbery. I
believe one area that must be addressed is the lack of
support for and integration of former child soldiers.
Thousands
of combatants under age 18 - some as young as six were
illegally recruited by Charles Taylor’s NPFL and
other warring factions in
Liberia
over the years. During the war in
Liberia
, child soldiers were usually made to take dangerous
drugs and commit serious crimes alongside adult
soldiers. Warlords and their financial supporters
believed that juveniles committing war crimes would
not be prosecuted so there was a very great chance
that warlords delegated more atrocities to be
committed by child soldiers.
Many
of these former child soldiers in
Liberia
today have become adults with little or no former
educational background. These kids are also aware that
those who made them to do what they did are in top
positions today in government but have no plans set in
place to create educational and employment
opportunities for them since the war ended.
Only big cars, fake political slogans, and
sugar coated speeches all over the place are heard on
radios and TVs.
Let
me put it this way: If you were a former combatant of
the NPFL of Charles Taylor, and if you were fully
aware that the present president of Liberia hugely
funded and supported the war against the Liberian
people, or if you were a former combatant of LURD and
MODEL rebel factions, and if you were aware that top
people in the present Liberian government who gave you
the arms to kill and destroy are enjoying and riding
big cars in the streets of Monrovia while you have
become mere street beggars, what would you do?
You
have realized that everything they promised is untrue.
You have realized that they are no different from
those that came before them. You have realized that
they are just old wines in new bottles. You have
realized that they don’t want to tell their side of
what they did during the war and you know that they
even visited the war front while you were fighting for
their cause. You put your life on the line for them
but you have realized that they just think you are an
idiot. You are old enough now, but you have no trade.
You are now rejected within the civilian
society because of what you did while you were a child
during the war. You are exposed and have become
community rejects. No
one knows your name anymore. All you now know is how
to use the AK 47 and the 40 Mac Mac (M203).
You
now have a wife and children you must support. You
have realized that if you do not do something to
support your children to obtain good education, your
children could be used by the children of those that
used you while you were just a child, and the future
of your children would become bleak as yours. But
mostly you have come to know that there are no jobs
anywhere in the country for the “type” of person
you are. You
are not permitted to be enrolled in both the military
and the paramilitary sectors of
Liberia
. You are called rebel forever.
Sometimes you want to see the president you
used to see at the war front while you were fighting
but you can no longer see her because you are now
considered a dangerous person. You
sit and watch your children cry because they are
hungry but you are unable to provide food for them.
Although you know that those who gave you the arms and
drugs should also be called rebels, they are now
called government officials.
You
and your children continue to go hungry 24/7 while the
president whom you really know continues to travel all
over the world for reasons you cannot understand.
You see men like Prince Johnson riding around
the street of
Monrovia
. He is not called a rebel but rather a Senator of a
county. And you know what he has done and what he has
instructed you to do while you were fighting for him.
And you wonder why no one is saying anything.
Your only option might be to create awareness for the
government to do something.
Suppose at first you robbed and used force to
get things from people, but you have heard that
government will now execute any armed robber who is
caught. Will you choose to spare the lives of your
victims, or would you rather destroy the evidence?
Creating
a sustainable social and economic re-integration of
ex-combatants into a peaceful society is what is
needed right now in
Liberia
. There must be comprehensive development projects
that are not temporary in order to continuously
facilitate the transition from war to peace. The only
way such programs can become sustainable and
successful is that, they must be integrated with and
supported by interventions for post-conflict
reconstruction and social and economic development.
Our government must focus on creating an
economy that can support its citizens.
Without this, people, regardless of their past
will look for other ways to support themselves.
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