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Fahnbulleh's
national security warning breached his legacy
Sunday,
September 24, 2006
By
Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
H. Boimah
Fahnbulleh Jr., is known to be on the other side of
the fence as an articulate, bombastic and
no-nonsense intellectual and opposition politician who will verbally attack or
put down anyone found to challenge him or his
positions on key political issues.
That combative and condescending approach in the way he handles his critics made Fahnbulleh, who is
the current national security advisor to President
Sirleaf the darling of those who find his style
admirable, and a drawback to others who don’t have
any respect for him because of the aggressive way in
which he deals with his detractors on the other side
of the political spectrum, who are always careful not
to cross his path so as not to be the object of his
wrath.
H. Boimah Fahnbulleh Jr.
Fahnbulleh’s perceived negative public
persona eclipsed the significant contributions he made
in his long and often tumultuous political career as a
pro-democracy activist, whose name many believed
should be cemented in a positive way into the annals of contemporary
Liberian history, but is easily credited in the most
negative way for what he said today or yesterday, and
the way he went about saying it than the courage he
showed when he joined others in fighting for
democratic change in Liberia decades ago.
With his gift of gab, his keen intellect and
his understanding of the issues, H. Boimah Fahnbulleh
Jr., is in a better position to play a pivotal role
(not to turn the clock back) and suppress dissension
in post-civil war Liberia, but to fight for change at
a time when the nation needs all of its sons and
daughters to help in its rebuilding efforts.
However, Fahnbulleh, who was once a progressive
opposition politician known to speak his mind when he
was on the other side of the political spectrum seemed
to have lost it, and just put a dent in his
credibility and got the attention of civil
libertarians and ordinary Liberians after he
threatened that “those who issue reckless utterances
that lead to disturbances will be held responsible.”
This is hard to believe; because it is coming
from a man no one ever thought would sternly warn
political dissenters about their “reckless
utterances,” when he is or was once a political
dissenter whom past administrations found guilty of the
same “crime” he’s warning critics of this
administration about.
I still don’t understand the national
security advisor’s definition of ‘reckless
utterances’ and the reason behind his eerie warning,
since he did not clarify himself about the consequence
of a possible violation, but left us all hanging on an
avalanche of confusion as we think about what will
happen next if we are found in violation of just what we have been told not
to do.
The warning from the administration is coming
at a time when criticism of President Sirleaf and her
government is becoming frequent and louder from
Liberians, who are asking tough questions about the
president’s frequent foreign travels amid mounting
problems in the country, the direction of the country
and the president’s leadership on the rice issue,
the environment and sanitation, the Isakaba boys
crime spree and other pressing domestic issues that
warrants urgent presidential attention.
I strongly believe it is the right of the
people to speak out when the president’s Unity Party
sent its party members – not out of work young men
and women from all political, social and religious
persuasions for security training to China, at a time
when most Liberians are unemployed.
Had he not been employed by this government, we
all know H. Boimah Fahnbulleh Jr., would have been in
the forefront attacking the unfair and discriminatory
practices of President Sirleaf and her Unity Party,
and the president’s muteness on the issue because
the freedom to speak, to criticize, to dissent is a
guaranteed right of every individual on this planet
as long as that person is not shouting fire in a
packed theater jeopardizing the lives of the people.
It is unclear why Fahnbulleh, whose style
don’t fit the national security advisor job took
this particular job in the first place, and not one
that fits the man who lived his entire life as a
professor/political scientist dissecting, teaching and
analyzing local and global events?
Why not appoint the man advisor to the
president for political affairs, Hemispheric affairs,
European affairs, African affairs, domestic policy
advisor, or something in the political arena that fits
him, since a national security advisor to the
president of Liberia is often associated with spying,
intimidation, harassment, hunting down and crushing the
president’s so-called political enemies, as Mr.
Fahnbulleh’s attempting to do with his recent
warning?
History will not forgive H. Boimah Fahnbulleh
Jr., for the terrible mess he has created for himself
when he undermined his convictions to become a poster
child for hypocrisy. History will not forgive him
either for forgotten his past and
what he and others encountered years ago when they too were
cited by past dictatorial administrations for “reckless utterances."
Why do we forget so quickly, or why did H.
Boimah Fahnbulleh Jr., forget so quickly?
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