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The
LAC tragedy, mediocrity in government, exploitation
and miscalculations
Monday,
December 10, 2007
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
There's a reason for
everything. Just ask the proud and hardworking people
of districts #3 and #4
of Grand Bassa County, and also ask their brethren in
nearby River Cess County why are they angry? Their
response would be that they are against any expansion
of the Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC), intended to
uproot them once again from their ancestral land and
homes that were passed on to them by their forefathers
without consultations and a credible deal.
Those
are fairly legitimate reasons for anyone to be angry,
and good reasons for any human being to vigorously
oppose such a draconian policy that undermines their
survival, their self esteem; and even tempt them do the unthinkable when he or she feels
threatened, which is not unheard of in this day and
time when tribes or nations will go to war to protect
the homeland and its sovereignty, especially when that
tribe or nation thinks the other party wishes to grab
their land to expand its own territory.
Even
though the confusion in Liberia today is not between
countries, it is between two powerful interests;
namely, the government of Liberia and its rich foreign
(friend) company, both of whom are tag teaming against
the poor and defenseless people of that region of
Liberia whose fierce opposition to any attempt to
bulldoze their homes and forcibly take away their land
has gotten worldwide attention.
Like
the people of Grand Bassa and River Cess counties,
Liberians in general are overly protective of their
ancestral land and villages, especially when it is
about encroachment and the exploitation of their
natural resources by a government they hardly trust to
negotiate deals that exclude them and don’t benefit
them.
With
overwhelming evidence to justify their fears, courtesy
of the history books and its historical narratives of
outright exploitation of the nation’s people and
their natural resources, the wanton neglect of the
people whose sweat, blood and tears tended to the only
place they always called home, are enough reasons for
tempers to flare whenever there is any talk of yet
another land deal the government wants to sign or has
already signed with another multinational company in
the name of creating jobs and putting money back into
the economy.
The
November 17, tragedy at the Liberian Agriculture
Company (LAC), that took the life of manager, Bruno
Michaels by some unknown individuals as he was leading
a team of surveyors with the intent to expand the
company against the wishes of the Liberian people, was
a time-bomb waiting to explode.
That’s
because the whole land and concession issues and any
talk of expansion from the beginning was a fuzzy one,
was ill-planned and ill-defined, was disrespectful to
the wishes and interests of the citizens of Grand
Bassa and River Cess counties whom according to
reports did not approve the deal, were never a part of
the negotiating process, and was also an insincere
gesture.
It is
unfortunate that Mr. Michaels lost his life on a
Liberian soil because the Liberian people takes
enormous pride in being good and compassionate hosts
to their many foreign friends living among them. And
if I can take a bet on it, (not including civil war
casualties), I will bet that there has never been a
tragedy of this kind in modern day Liberia that
resulted in the killing of a foreign worker that
incriminates a Liberian or the Liberian people.
Not
even during the one-sided 1926 land deal that
guaranteed Firestone Rubber Company one million acres
of land for 99 years with an annual rent of 0.06
percent per acre and a 1 percent sale tax on its gross
income, caused any uproar or fatality. The locals
watched helplessly as the deal was signed in the name
of creating jobs and improving their lives during
those dark days as their sacred ancestral land left
their hands for the enrichment of some officials of
the Liberian government and their foreign friends.
And
that’s not all. William V. S. Tubman, whose November
29, birthday the current president, Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf celebrated with fanfare as a national holiday
a little over a week ago, was the lawyer for Firestone
and its founder, Harvey Firestone, and one of the
negotiators who sold Liberia to the highest bidder for
his (Tubman’s) own personal aggrandizement. Mr.
Tubman later became a dictatorial president of Liberia
for 27 years. How did Tubman become president of
Liberia after such blunder and not charged with
treason, jailed and hanged to death is anyone’s
guess?
With
such a dismal record on the part of past Liberian
governments, why should the people of Liberia trust
the current government in negotiating contracts? Some
of my fellow citizens want me to believe President
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is doing her best in negotiating
or renegotiating the contracts of companies that
intends to do business in Liberia, and the ones that
are already operating in the country; but I have yet
to read, or the public hasn’t seen the fine prints
on the final documents for its own independent
analysis.
The
death of Bruno Michaels is certainly a blow and a
public relations disaster for the Sirleaf
administration trying desperately to lure foreign
investors into the country to do business, while at
the same time was once engaged in the secret sale of
Iron Ore to a Canadian Company in 2006.
When
the news of the secret sale was unearthed and the
government was approached about the deal and its lack
of accountability and transparency, the ever-present
and bloviating former Justice Minister, Francis
Johnson Morris, now Commerce Minister said the
following: “Government is not forced to make public
concession agreements,” and also said that “there
was no provision in the Constitution that calls for
the revelation of any agreement government enters
into.”
This
is the kind of arrogance in government and the obvious
lack of respect for the Liberian people, and the lack
of accountability that got us to the disastrous point
where we are as a nation and people today. President
Sirleaf should have reprimanded and dissociated
herself publicly from the obviously insensitive
comments of this undiplomatic and loud-mouthed lady;
instead, she was later transferred to the Ministry of
Commerce to a new assignment.
This
is the same Francis Johnson Morris, who was heard
saying during the rice crisis this year right after
she was appointed Commerce Minister that “I am not
going to bow down to rice politics,” and that “we
cannot continue to feed on others for over 25 years
because rice politics in the country have lived on for
several years making the entire country and its people
to hang out their hands and mouths to rice producing
countries for over 25 years.”
We
have a long way to go, my people, and this tragedy
could have been averted and Mr. Michaels would be
alive today if people like Francis Johnson Morris and
others like her were capable and competent enough to
deal with national issues in a more professional and
compassionate way, and not used insults, raw power and
naked force to impose their will on an entire nation. The
truth is, the Liberian government and President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf brought this one on themselves.
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