Philadelphia, PA, January 25, 2012:  The National Administration of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas (GGAA) has read with grave concern an article published in the Independent Eye – an online news magazine which is attributed to Mr. Fred T. Gwyan, former President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas.

In that article, Mr. Gwyan accused the National Administration of GGAA for failing to present a quarterly report since its inception in violation of Article VII, Section 4 (D) of the association’s Constitution.  Mr. Gwyan also admitted that his allegations are based on discussions he held with few officers of a number of chapters.

According to a release issued here today, the National Secretariat of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas emphasized that it is constrained to offer clarification in this matter because it has the potential to mislead public opinion and undermine goodwill and solidarity towards the cause of serving the needs and aspirations of our people.

The release indicated that contrary to Mr. Gwyan’s assertions which have no factual foundations, the National President of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas on October 3, 2011 submitted a Quarterly Financial Report covering the period June –September 2011 to the Board of Directors of the association through its Chairman, Mr. Eric Kohn.   The release noted that if Mr. Gwyan had genuine interest in obtaining information regarding the financial information, he would have easily gained access instead of rushing to the press with the view of winning political points through the circulation of misinformation.

The release also observed that in the same publication, Mr. Gwyan alleged that the National Administration in disregard to Article VII Section I (L) has not submitted its budget to the Board of Directors of the association.  The release pointed out that on December 24, 2011, the National Leadership through and by its National President submitted a budget to the Board of Directors in compliance with the Constitution of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas.

The release further observed that for Mr. Gwyan as a former Presidential Candidate in the May 2011 National Elections of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas to base his allegations on “rumors” as reported in the Independent Eye is grossly regrettable and represented an error of judgment as it relates to the operation of community-based organizations like our beloved association.

The release said that the National Leadership remains committed to working tirelessly through the framework of transparency and accountability in order to ensure that our association matches the mandates derived from the electorates during Convention ‘2011.

The release wishes to re-assure that public that the claims contained in the article issued by and under the name of Mr. Fred T. Gwyan, former President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of our association are unfounded, baseless, imaginary and only circulated to re-enact his 2011 campaign strategies  that are far in history.

The National Leadership of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas said that “we will not be swayed by any level of misrepresentation and unsubstantiated allegations from the important tasks of servicing the needs and aspirations of our people whose trust and confidence we continue to enjoy.”  The release encouraged Mr. Gwyan and those similarly situated to join in the efforts of rebuilding a vibrant association that is centered on transparency, accountability, sound management, unchallenged commitment to service, unity, openness, socio-economic progress and pragmatic approach to problem solving in helping our community, county and country move forward.

The National Leadership of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas also urged Mr. Gwyan to utilize the open channel of communication available to members of the association through the National Secretariat and the National Membership Committee in accessing valuable financial, operational and administrative resources and information pertaining to the association in order to curtail any temptation of vilely misleading public opinions.

The National Leadership of the Grand Gedeh Association will forever remain cognizant of its constitutional and moral responsibilities to its constituents and will continue to rally our people to positive action in fulfillment of its obligation and duty to our people and country.

Signed:

Y. Michael Gilman

Chairman, Membership Committee

Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas

Approved:

J. Grody Dorbor

National Secretary General & Chairman of the Secretariat

Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas

Editor’s note: This is a GGAA Press Release, for inquiries and concerns please contact the GGAA

The Road to Rebuilding Liberia’s Future

By Jackson Blamo

The past six years have ushered relative peace, but fragile stability in Liberia.  As Africa’s oldest republic, the nation has endured years of degradation and neglect, as a result of bad governance, corruption, government’s mis-management, fraud, waste and abuse and a brutal 14 years of civil war.

Currently, eighty percent of Liberia’s roughly three and half million people are out of work, or unemployed.  Most of the unemployed are ex-combatants and remnants of the country’s bloody civil war; they are comprised of mostly youth, who can neither read nor write, and lack the basic skills needed in a developing country.

Liberia is amongst the ten poorest countries in the world.  Eighty percent of Liberians live below the poverty line, and the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in 2010, was estimated at $500 million dollars.

Liberia’s domestic growth rate, in terms of the development of infrastructure projects, has been dismal.  The country currently lacks the basic necessities of life, such as clean running water, electricity, and paved roads in some parts of the capital city, Monrovia, as well as major highways connecting Monrovia to the interior or rural areas.  According to the 2011 United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) world factbook, it is estimated that out of the country’s 10, 600 km roadways, nine thousand, nine hundred and forty three kilometers (9, 943 km) are unpaved.  While President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has managed to maintain peace and fragile stability under the support of the U.N. Peacekeepers, her government has been very slow in embarking on widespread developmental projects that the country desperately needs.  Primarily, most of the developmental projects that have been initiated in the country have not been on a large scale; instead, infrastructure developments have been fragmented and basically isolated to Monrovia, while the people in the interior or rural areas are living in despair.

With Liberia’s nearly $5 billion dollars of international debt permanently eliminated, the country now needs a sound and sustained leadership that is capable of addressing the urgent needs of its people, aimed at not only rebuilding its infrastructure, but also rehabilitating its deserted youth.  The government must initiate programs that cater to the rehabilitation of its deserted youth.  As such, the government must invest in creating trade schools for its young men and women, or provide incentives to private companies that hire and provide on-the-job training for unemployed youth.

Another way the government can address one of Liberia’s urgent needs is to undertake widespread development not only in Monrovia, but throughout the country to include the construction of major roads (highways) that connect the various counties to Monrovia, so that people living in the interior can market their produce to Monrovia and other parts of the country.  Such initiative (road construction) will create jobs while providing on-the-job training opportunities in road construction for thousands of unskilled Liberians; thus, helping to stimulate growth and improve the economy.

Additionally, the focus on re-electrifying the entire country and providing clean running water will set the country on the right path to development.  It will attract the right kinds of foreign investments which will translate to good paying jobs, as well as improving the quality of lives of all Liberians.  Instead of hydro-electricity, investing in solar energy appears to be a viable option for Liberia at the moment.  The world is gradually moving toward solar energy which is provided by sun light, and Liberia is blessed with abundance of sunlight; the government’s current objective must be focused on the exploration of solar energy as an alternative to its current electricity (power) quagmire.  This is the time to do so, instead of exhausting the country’s resources, erecting light poles and running electrical cables underground while the rest of the world is gradually moving to solar energy.

Liberia is very rich in terms of its vast supply of mineral and natural resources, including fertile land for agriculture and human capital.  The strategy is to focus on the re-exploration of its natural resources that will generate the funds needed to finance Liberia’s vital development initiatives.  While the government cannot employ all of its citizens, it can create an environment necessary to attract sensible investments and sustainable growth and developments.  Liberians should also be encouraged to form partnership with foreign investors in investing in Liberia’s mineral and natural resources and other private sector businesses.  As an incentive, the government should offer tax incentives for joint investments between foreign investors and Liberians, as well as tax incentives to companies hiring and training unskilled Liberian workers.

Liberia cannot afford to fail! Liberians have learned that government neglect, corruption and most importantly, war is not the answer moving forward.  Liberians must not take the current fragile stability for granted.  The U.N and other international organizations currently operating in the country will not remain in Liberia forever.  Consequently, all Liberians, including its leaders, must begin to plan for the transformation of the country from post U.N. peacekeeping and the presence of non-governmental organizations to maintaining and sustaining itself, should these organizations dismantle their operations in the country.  If Liberian leaders fail to take advantage of the fragile peace and international presence, and fail to embark on developmental programs that will help rehabilitate its youth, create jobs for the roughly 80% unemployed, and improve the quality of lives for its people, it appears the country may be headed to a failed state.  That, Liberians cannot afford; therefore, Liberia must not fail!

Ronald Free

Take for instance, Mr. Nyenon wrote: “The first being the Gedeh Website established in 2002, by Mr. William Grear Nyanue, while serving as National President of the GGAA.

The second badge is the Gbarzon Radio and Website, established by Mr. Nathaniel Pour, in October of 2008 and February of 2009, respectively.

The third informative Gedeh Medium Institution is the Website of the Grand Gedeh Association of the Minnesota (GGAMN), established in June, 2009, by Mr. Ranold Free, under the Administration of Mr. Jerry B. Saylee.

Then came the forth, the Minnesota Website, otherwise known as the ‘MN Web,’ which was established in October of 2009, under the leadership of Mr. Alexander Barmon.”

As you can see above, Mr. Nyenon single-out individuals who he thinks established those media institutions of Grand Gedeans, but as he approaches the MN Web where he serves as Editor in Chief, he portrayed it as collective establishment by  cleverly saying “the MN Web was established under the leadership of Mr. Barmon.“

Why couldn’t Mr. Nyenon state the same for all the other institutions? Why try to single out individuals when it came to other institutions? What is the motive behind this kind of acknowledgement?

For the records, I will like to inform the entire world, that the Grand Gedeh Association of Minnesota’s Website was not established by me (Ronald Free) as an individual. It was established by the leadership of Mr. Jerry B. Saylee. Why should Mr. Nyenon give me credit for a project that was undertaken by an institution under someone’s leadership?

I think the same should be said in the case of Messrs. William Nyanue and Nathaniel Pour. I think Mr. Nyenon should have said under Mr. Nyanue’s leadership, Gedeh Website was established. In my view, to single-out an individual, is a dangerous sign that has the propensity to de-value the efforts by the membership and other individuals that make-up the leadership.

Based on the logic of individualism as established by Mr. Nyenon, why if Mr. Nyanue as an individual decides to take credit for the “scholarship program” under his leadership? I think if said program actually existed, it was done by GGAA as an institution; not an individual. This is my point!

I thought when it came to the Gbarzon District Association’s website and Radio; the Editor in Chief totally disregarded the leadership of Mr. Alphonso Zeon-Soe and decided to single-out Mr. Nathaniel Pour who may be member of the leadership structure. I challenge Messrs Nyanue and Pour to set the record straight as people who believe in institution.

Another issue that caught my attention in Mr. Nyenon’s editorial was when he said “Attempts at trying to mix our African Traditional values, with western democratic values is totally unacceptable.”

Even though I am an executive of the Grand Gedeh Association of Minnesota, an independent institution and as such, will careless about what happen in another Grand Gedeh Association; I thought such statement was worth my contribution.

I really hope my comrade will understand that civilization is the development from one culture to another; not the negation of one’s culture for another. In other words, you cannot abandon all your cultural beliefs, values, and tradition; to wholeheartedly ascribe to the cultural beliefs, values, and tradition that you don’t even understand well.

Who told you that in a democracy, there is no “arm twisting,” “maneuvering,” and from some people’s perspective “undue influence peddling?” These things happen in politics! Sometimes, when these things happen, a person can choose to obey or rebel against his/her based.

Take for instance, when the Democrats realized that New York’s Governor, David Paterson who was also a Democrat did not stand a chance of winning re-election, president Obama along with the Democratic Party leadership asked Governor Paterson to step aside for the sake of the party. Should Mr. Obama and some party leaders be considered anti-democratic elements? Or are they not ascribing to the “western democratic values”? Please read and decide for yourself: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE58J0CW20090920

I believe that sectional organizations in our community seek to perform similar functions since elections in county organizations are not base on political parties. In my judgment, sons and/or daughters of a sectional organization could be rejected by that sectional organization based on interest. And in return, said sons and/or daughters could also rebel against their base as Mr. Paterson initially did.

However, he later on saw the need to step aside, thereby giving Mr. Andrew Cuomo, a fellow democrat and the Democratic Party the needed victory in the November 2010 mid-term elections.

 If we are using “western democratic values” in the context of America, then I see nothing wrong with what the elders of Tchien and Konobo Districts may have said to Messr Gwyan and Youboty.  

I hope my comrade and the Editor in Chief of MN Web, Mr. Nyenon understands that America is a society that believes in wholehearted cosmopolitism. 

In America, we are told that no person or group of people should be discriminated against based on cultural, religious, ethnic and sexual practices.  So, I don’t know by which measures, the editor in chief of MN Web thought it was “unacceptable to mix African Traditional values with western democratic values.”

Trying to describe possible statements made by some Elders of Tchien and Konobo Districts as “so-called African traditional values”, only point to some of the problem confronting us today as a people.

The elders in this case were not calling for the cancellation of elections; they were doing the same thing that president Obama and the leadership of the Democratic Party did to Governor Patterson of New York.

Mr. Editor in Chief, in this case, some of our elders understand political precedence!

As a proponent of African Traditional values, I am prepared to intellectually engage Mr. Nyenon or anyone for that matter on this topic in the future.

I believe that if we are to make a difference as Grand Gedeans/Africans, we must not misrepresent the African traditional values just to make some political points, as in the case of the editorial by the Editor in Chief of the MN Web.

1335 N. 59^th Street             .          Philadelphia            .          Pennsylvania 19151-4411

Tel.(1-215)471-3380, Res.  (1-215)609-5472, Mobile  .  Email:bai_gbala@yahoo.com

November 30, 2010

His Excellency Barak Obama

President, United States of America

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D. C. 20500

Ref: Appeal/Request

Dear Mr. President:

It is my honor and privilege, most respectfully, to present sincere greetings and compliments, with wishes of good health and long life throughout the coming years.

A US-educated, pro-USA, law-abiding citizen of Grand Gedeh County of the Republic of Liberia and former Political/Economic Advisor to the government of Liberia, now a visitor in the United States of America, a Nation with which Liberia has been and is privileged to enjoy and continues to enjoy special, historic ties since its (Liberia’s) founding in 1822; a nation from which Liberia has received and continues to receive enormous socio-economic and political aid/contributions and benefits, particularly humanitarian assistance contributed during Liberia’s recent, historic tragedy of the (National Patriotic Front of Liberia) the civil war; and the kind, gracious and humanitarian action of opening your nation’s borders and doors to Liberian refugees who fled from destruction, human suffering and death, having graduated from while others are now enrolled in US schools, colleges and universities, I register and extend, hereby, profound gratitude and appreciation for this great, humanitarian assistance and relationship.

Accordingly, I beseech, request and appeal to Your Excellency, the US Departments of State and Homeland Security for your intervention in the effort to release Dr. George E. S. Boley, Sr. from detention and prosecution for a crime alleged to have been committed in Liberia.

I do not question nor am I questioning legitimate, immigration proceedings against Dr. Boley or any individual, consistent with US law; however, I am suspicious of and do question the legality of the false and politically-motivated charges against and detention/prosecution of Dr. Boley.

FALSE, ILLEGAL & POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED ALLEGATIONS

Although agents from the local, USCIS office where Dr. Boley is being held and prosecuted visited us here in Philadelphia because of our concerns raised, and assured us that Dr. Boley is being held only and only on immigration charges, it is now shown that this is not true; in that, the trial, Immigration Judge, recently threw out, as false, concocted, video-conference testimonies from Liberia by alleged “witnesses” to war crimes, allegedly committed by Dr. Boley.

These false allegations were and are the creation, with “doctored” photographs, of some NPFL-connected, Liberian elements residing in the USA and their friendly journalists and “human rights” groups in an attempt to resurrect the NPFL’s deadly conspiracy against the ethnic/tribal people of Grand Gedeh County by false and vicious allegations that Dr. George Boley, a prominent citizen of Grand Gedeh County, Republic of Liberia, was a “rebel, warlord and committed extra judicial killings in Liberia”.

Mr. Kirkpatrick Weah, a Liberian citizen now residing in Minnesota, USA, writes in a widely-circulated article [(kirkpatrickweah@yahoo.com), dated February 16, 2010] that Dr. “George Boley, the man who presided over the notorious LPC (Liberia Peace Council), is behind bar. He will be there (behind bars) as long as . . . those who witnessed the atrocities committed by LPC come forward like in the case of Chuckie Taylor (Mr. Charles Taylor, Jr.), who is sentenced for  . . . 75 years in prison”. In other related, internet postings, Mr. Weah takes the Liberian President, Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, to task or “blood votes, Ellen pardons George Boley” and “pleading for Boley, what will deads do?”

Closely related press reports include such headlines as “George Boley of Clarkson accused of war crimes”, dated February 7, 2010 in the newspaper, the Democrat & Chronicle, written by Gary Craig (GCRAIG@DEMOCRATAND Chronicle.com) and Jeffrey Goldberg’s “George Boley, Liberian Warlord, is finally under Arrest” (www.jeffreygoldbergtheatlantic.com). Additionally, Journalist Goldberg says “I was subpoenaed by a human right group in Minnesota . . . to testify against Boley in a defamation lawsuit that he . . . (Boley) filed against the group. I eventually provided a sworn affidavit in the case, in which I detailed what I knew of Boley’s activities in the civil war – which was a lot – . . . that his organization (the LPC), the grossly-misnamed Liberia Peace Council . . . For starters, the lawsuit, unsurprisingly, was dismissed . . .”

In 2006, USCIS agents arrested and detained Dr. Boley on immigration charges; three months later, however, the charges were dismissed and Dr. Boley was released for failure of the prosecutors to provide lawful support. Therefore, Dr. Boley filed suit against the officials for “wrongful arrest” and detention. Dr. George Boley, a former City School Administrator and temporary service employee, contended that he could get no employment due to negative, unfavorable publicity of the wrongful charges against him. That suit is now pending.

Moreover, based on false statements and accusations of “human rights violations in Liberia” by some ethnic Liberians in the USA and the dismissed, unlawful charges against Dr. Boley, the Advocates for Human Rights of Minneapolis, Minnesota, publicly accused Dr. Boley of Human violations. Thereupon, Dr. Boley, also, took the human rights organization to court for defamation of character. That case was dismissed on “sworn affidavit” evidence by Journalist Goldberg in Minnesota. Thus continues the vicious, false allegations against Dr. Boley by a media campaign which includes a “doctored” photograph (herewith attached) showing Mr. Charles Taylor (brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle) and “field Marshall” Prince Johnson with Dr. Boley under the caption, “what these three guys have in common is killing innocent people”.       

WHAT ARE THE FACTS?

Firstly, that the Charles Taylor/Prince Johnson-led NPFL organization was an illegal, armed insurgency, that invaded Liberia, a legitimate, sovereign state, with the objective to seize political power by force of arms (targeting and victimizing, particularly, the ethnic/tribal people of Grand Gedeh county), was and is so self-evident that it needed and still needs no proof. In that, on December 24, 1989, the day of the invasion, Mr. Charles Taylor, as leader of the NPFL, proclaimed on BBC Radio Focus on Africa that the NPFL commenced and was engaged in an armed struggle designed to “remove a dictator (by illegal means), President Samuel Kanyon Doe, a prominent, ethnic/tribesman of Grand Gedeh County.

Not only that this announcement and subsequent activities of the NPFL provided the convenient, political foundation for and gave unique, tragic expression of the “assaults” upon the ethnic/tribal people of Grand Gedeh County, but also that the insurgency rapidly developed into a willful, vicious and systematic manipulation and exploitation of indigenous, inter-ethnic/tribal, political differences, a condition that inflamed inter-ethnic/tribal passions that gave rise to the nation’s historic explosion of the fifteen-year, ethnically-driven, deeply-divisive and deadly-armed conflict that severely victimized the ethnic/tribal people of Grand Gedeh County, simply because the first indigenous citizen who became the nation’s president happened to be an ethnic/tribal, Grand Gedean.

Comparing or associating Dr. Boley with Mr. Charles Taylor by a “doctored” photograph with the argument that “what these three guys have in common is killing innocent people” is a blatant, deceitful, vicious falsehood without validated, evidential support; in that, Mr. Charles Taylor has been indicted by the UN-backed Court in the Republic of Sierra Leone for War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity; he has also been indicted and is presently being prosecuted for War Crimes, Crimes aganst Humanity and Violation of the Geneva Conventions on Military Rules of Engagement. On the contrary, there are NO such charges or indictments against Dr. Boley, as leader of the LPC, a Resistance Movement, in Liberia or anywhere in the entire world.

Secondly, and most importantly, Mr. Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu, an NPFL ideologue, was not only Defense Spokesperson (Defense Minister) and head of the NPFL fighting forces, but also the No.2 person (Taylor being No.1) in the NPFL hierarchy – planning, policy, organization, management, operations, etc. – command & control, military orthodoxy. Moreover, not only that the name “Tom Woewiyu” was, in fact, “NPFL”, but also that it was a national/international household-word during the heyday of the conflict. In this very important, powerful position, Mr. Woewiyu declared publicly that “the best Krahn man (ethnic/tribal citizens of Grand Gedeh County) is a dead Krahn man”.

Thus, when “Taylor’s Bloody War” (Mr. Taylor’s own words) finally reached the city of Monrovia and the gates of the Executive Mansion (Residence & Office of the President of Liberia), the NPFL gained unparallel momentum with new (non-Grand Gedean (Krahn), non-Mandingo) “converts” who, with NPFL “freedom fighters”, marched the streets of Monrovia and the corridors of state power to the cadence of the infamous refrain:

“Charlie (Mr. Charles Taylor, NPFL) come, Charlie come

To remove the Krahn/Mandingo People

From the Face of the Liberian Nation”

Accordingly, upon capture and occupation of Grand Gedeh County by force of arms, the NPFL announced a policy decision to annex the southeastern county, ancestral land and home of the Krahn Tribal People, to Nimba County, the county’s northeastern neighbor. This announcement was intended to give effect to planned policy as expressed by the marching chorus above. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that had “Taylor’s Bloody War” succeeded as planned, Grand Gedeh County would have been wiped off the map of the Liberian nation and ceased to exist as a political subdivision with its status as socio-cultural, political entity, as we know it today.    

Thirdly, because of the forced, armed occupation of Grand Gedeh County with threat of annexation to Nimba County, including gruesome atrocities viciously committed against the citizens of the county, thousands of men, women and children fled in February and March, 1990 to and took refuge in the neighboring republics of Sierra Leone and Guinea. The NPFL, however, swiftly pursued the fleeing, Liberian refugees into Eastern Sierra Leone and inflicted wanton destruction, human suffering and death upon them. 

This development – the ferocious, vicious and rapid pursuit of the fleeing, Liberian refugees into a foreign country and, there, inflict atrocious human suffering and death upon them – created one of the most crucial, important turning points in the history of the Liberian, civil tragedy.

 RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS

Fourthly, the refugees, – old and young men; old and young women, and children that included almost all of the tribal elements of Liberia – after a spirited debate and analysis of the conflict and its devastating impact on them, decided that “. . . we have had enough And that we will run NO more . . .”.  Thereupon, in their hideout in a small town in eastern Sierra Leone, the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) and later, the Liberia Peace Council (LPC) were formed and established to “resist the rebellious, illegal, armed insurgency into our country, Liberia, and, thereby, victimize the citizens. These refugees, as indicated, were a mosaic of or an ethnic/tribal diversity of Liberian, tribal elements – Kissi, Krahn, Kru, Kpelle, Bassa, Grebo, Gola, Vai, Mendi, Loma, etc.; the founding chairman of ULIMO was a Kru tribesman, although the majority of the movements’ partisans were Krahn/Mandingo, because they were particularly targeted and victimized.      

The notion or concept of Resistance Movements is not new; for, it characterized the political activities of men and women in their abiding quest for freedom, justice and equality of treatment throughout human history. The Liberian Resistance Movements (ULIMO, LPC, etc.) were organized in the tradition of and for achievement of the objectives similar to the Resistance Movements that rose up against Nazi Germany during World War Two. Notable among the WWII Resistance Movements were the following:

The Yugoslav Partisans

The Polish Home Army

The Soviet Partisans

The French Forces of the Interior

The Greek Resistance

The Dutch Resistance                                                    

These groups played critical roles in defeating Nazi Germany. They were not defined as rebels, warlords or prosecuted at Nuremburg for resisting an illegal, armed insurgency desirous of political power-grab and dictatorship.

This is not to argue that Resistance Movements or their members, were or are exempt from obedience to the Geneva Conventions on Military Rules of Engagements. On the contrary, Resistance Movements are required to abide by the Geneva Conventions. However, trials/prosecutions for such crimes should and must be and are lawfully held in a court of law and in the territorial jurisdiction of the nation/country in which such violations are alleged to be committed or the International Court of Justice, based on objective evidence subjected to rigorous cross examinations in the courts thereof, not just in any foreign country and based upon second-, third-, fourth- or fifth-party hear-say testimonies by video conferences and exaggerations, based on ethnic/tribal bigotry and politically-motivated “evidence”.

And Fifthly, it was or is the direct result of the brave men and women (of the Resistance Movements, ULIMO & LPC) whose sacrificial action drove the NPFL forces from southwestern Liberia – Grand Cape Mount, Bomi and Lower Lofa Counties. Moreover, the LPC drove the NPFL forces out of southeaster Liberia and re-captured Grand Gedeh County. 

It is very important and significant to note here for posterity, Mr. President, that if the ethnic/tribal people of Grand Gedeh County, in collaboration with other ethnic/tribal peoples of Lofa, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, Montserrado and Nimba Counties, as partisans of the ULIMO and LPC Resistance Movements, had not spoken loudly, eloquently and acted bravely and decisively in resisting and “standing tall” against the illegal and murderous insurgency by the NPFL, the course of recent developments and history of Liberia would be different than it is today; in that, the relative peace, law & order, individual/collective security now prevailing in the country would not have been possible. 

For, Mr. Charles Taylor and his band of “freedom fighters” were forced, by the Resistance, to restrict their activities to the so-called “Greater Liberia” consisting mainly of Bong and Nimba Counties and conceded to peaceful, political dialogue and negotiation for resolution of our political differences. This approach led, in turn, to the several peace conferences and accords, with the final end of armed hostilities and general elections in 1997.

IN THE LIGHT OF THE FOREGOING, I SUMBIT THAT:

1.  The charges against Dr. George Boley, Sr. are, in fact, NOT concerned with violation of US Immigration Law, but allegations that Dr. Boley was a rebel, warlord who committed war crimes of extra-judicial killings during the civil war in Liberia and that they are patently false, distortions, misinformation, vicious, ethnically-driven and politically-motivated.   

2. The crimes with which Dr. Boley is alleged to have committed and for which he has been arrested, being held in detention and prosecuted were NOT committed in territorial United States as required by law; nor is Dr. Boley a charged fugitive from law in any country – not even in Liberia where the crimes are alleged to have been committed.

3. And finally that the arrest, detention and prosecutorial action, against Dr. George Boley by the local USCIS and its prosecutors, is NOT only an attempt to establish “justification” for the pending “wrongful arrest” suit filed against them by Dr. Boley, but also that the action is politically-motivated and in connivance with US, local elements/organizations seeking economic gain and Liberian, tribal, political groups having NPFL connections, by seeking to silence Dr. Boley through these false and illegal arrests, detentions and prosecutions.

Now therefore, we respectfully pray, request and pray for your kind intervention, that of the US Departments of State and Homeland Security, for the discharge and release of Dr. George E. S. Boley to rejoin his family – American wife and US-citizen children, without further detention.

Respectfully Submitted,

Bai M. Gbala

ENCLOSURE:

Current: Liberian Diplomatic Passport with US Visa

Documents: Position as Former Political/Economic & International Affairs Advisor to three, Liberian Government Administrations

Late Father Feeney

Mankind, down through the ages has come to cry for knowledge and more knowledge. Around us, everything is changing and nothing seems permanent and fixed. The mountains crumble away, the rivers dry up in the Sahara Desert, and cease to flow, islands sink and new seas are formed. The great oaks, in all their majesty must succumb to transition, to change, or death. Man goes on his way and crosses the borderline into the unknown and seems to end his existence in the twinkling of an eye.  Is there any part of man, therefore, or any part of nature, that is immortal, unchanging permanent and conditional?  Still, there was always the quest for knowledge and the desire for answers to problems unsolved. Why are we here? Who are we? Whence have we come? And where do we go?  Is this personality of ours, this individuality which we strive to build up through idealism and the elimination of undesirable traits, merely a temporary or imaginary creation of our minds?  Mankind in contemporary time looks up to religious individuals for answers and Rev. Father John Feeney, S.M.A, stood out as the only priest who moved quietly among the Krahn speaking people of Liberia and tried to answer some of these questions. Preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to his new found flocks, helped to open the minds of those who were seeking answers that materialism failed to provide.  To the young Krahn boys and girls that enrolled at the Catholic Mission School, St. Philomena Elementary, he was an inspiration, especially his linguistic abilities, for he spoke both Kru and Krahn languages fluently.

Rev. Fr. Feeney died in his home town in Ireland on November 2, 2010, and was buried at the Roveagh Cemetery right behind the church where he was baptized in County Galway, Ireland. His funeral Mass was celebrated by Fr. Brendan Darcy, SMA, and Vice Provincial SMA of the American Province. His Eminence, Bishop Kieran O’Reilly led the prayers of commendation.

According to the SMA central office in the United States, Fr. Feeney was born on August 10, 1922 in Galway, Ireland and was ordained a priest on February 10, 1949, at the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. He arrived in Liberia, in March of 1950 and began teaching Religion and History at St. Patrick’s High in Monrovia. In 1952, he took up assignment at St. Francis Parish School in Pleebo, Maryland County. Years later, he was asked to move to Zwedru City, Grand Gedeh County. At the time of his travel to the Krahn land, there were no roads for vehicles. He traveled on foot for days just to reach Grand Gedeh . When he arrived in Zwedru, he established an elementary school called St. Philomena, by 1962; he completed one of the beautiful churches in Zwedru City and indeed in Liberia, Christ the King Church.

Rev. Fr. Feeney was a man who wore many hats. From 1968 to 1973, he served on the Provincial Council in the United States, a position which provided him the opportunity to make periodic visits to oversee and especially to provide support to the various SMA institutions in Liberia. In 1973, he return to Grand Gedeh County and established a second Catholic Mission in Zleh Town where he built a rectory, school and a church. In 1983, he served as the Regional Superior of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Tanzania and was on the Provincial Council.

Rev. Father Feeney educational initiatives laid the foundation for the academic and intellectual developments of young Liberians within the South eastern region of Liberia, especially in Grand Gedeh County. His contribution is so profound; one only needs to list some of the names of the individuals who passed through the elementary school he established, St. Philomena Elementary. This elementary school gave birth to a high school called Bishop Juwle High School (named after the first Indigenes Liberian Bishop, Patrick Kla Juwle, )

This high school is one of the best high schools in Liberia.

The legacy of this Irish missionary left behind a vibrant church and educational institutions in Grand Gedeh County. The Catholic educational system can boast of producing men and women who have and continue to contribute to the development of Liberia. In fact when one analyzed the names of prominent Grand Gedeans, the graduates of St. Philomena Elementary stand out. Names like, Dr. George N. Flahn, MD, Dr. George Boley, P.hD, Dr.  Albert T. White, Jr, MD, Dr. Peter Coleman, MD, Dr.  Philip Seton, MD, Dr. Eugene Cooper,  MD, Dr. J. Christopher Wreh, Ph.D, Dr. Joseph Gbaba, Madam Julia Cooper Grear, MBA, Mrs. Maria Tarlue Keita, MSN (Clinical Nurse Specialist) , Ms. Felecia Reeves, BSN, Mrs. Sophia Nyanue, M.Ed., etc.    The interesting thing here is the number of medical doctors that this elementary school has produced, considering the population of Grand Gedeh County.

Whenever I hear the death news of individuals, especially those who have given so much of their time to the improvement and advancement of Liberian lives, it saddens me. Are we truly ready to follow their path, are we ready to make the sacrifices which they rendered on our behalf, are we conscious enough to take up the cross of service and are we ready to learn the lessons of our turbulent and brutal, historical experience. It is this experience that expectedly culminated in our recent, fifteen-year national tragedy, the historic nightmare of wanton destruction, population displacement, atrocious brutality and human suffering.  Each Liberian has an obligation to carry on the legacy of this great missionary.   Rev. Father Feeney lived his life in the service of Liberian youth.  He was indeed a great Soul.

Let me close with the following eulogy verse:

“Nature it seems stands on its head

When you mourn the loss of a great man

Today we remember his life with us

The years of laughter and fun,

We’re thinking of all the times that we shared

And though we are bowed with grief

Today we celebrate the great man we once had

Because it is our firm belief

That his life enriched us in so many ways

Brought sunshine and happiness into our days

And though we are heartbroken and very sad

Today we admit that we’re also glad

That we had him, if only for too short a while

Not yet but sometime we’ll remember and smile.”

MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PERFECT PEACE.

FAREWELL   GREAT  WESTERN MISSIONARY, SLEEP AND TAKE YOUR REST TILL WE MEET AGAIN.

Harold G. Tarr Sr.

Liberia’s Former Ambassador, to the

Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso & Mali

now Displaced in the USA

My Dearest Ambassador Tarr,

I am constrained to write you this open letter to let you and your fellow tribal bigots and the whole wide world know the role you played in the 14- year-old massacres that took place in Liberia and why you need to be held personally and legally liable and not me, Kwame or Jeremiah.

Based on the pieces of evidence gathered so far, you need to be formally indicted and sent to The Hague to your friend and Brother, Charles Taylor, on the following counts to wit:

1. NEGLIGENCE BY DESIGN         

2. GROSS INCOMPETENCE

3. DERELICTION OF DUTIES

4. DESERTION OF POST

NEGLIGENCE BY DESIGN: You knowingly, conscientiously, willfully and deliberately neglected your responsibilities by design and made it appeared as though you had no way of doing anything security wise and/or politically, to prevent Charles Taylor’s so-called National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) from invading Liberia.

As a result of your negligence, a United Nations estimated three hundred fifty thousand (350,000) Liberians and other nationals including Americans, whose government granted you statuary today, were massacred in Liberia during the 14-year-old senseless carnage. You need to be prosecuted for that.

GROSS INCOMPETENCE: You were grossly incompetent and knowingly accepted a position you were not qualified for, but was awarded to you based solely on tribal lineage and political patronage. As a result, you did not know what you were supposed to do. Unfortunately, your boss the (Foreign Minister) was stationed all the way in Monrovia and could not monitor your performance on a daily basis. 

As Deputy Minister of Labor, you could be easily monitored by the Minister, prior to your appointment as not just an Ambassador, but an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary meaning that, your representation of Liberia goes beyond just one country.

However, owing to your gross incompetence, Charles Taylor and his NPFL rebels passed right under your nose into Liberia and caused all that carnage. You did not even do the elementary thing of filing a diplomatic protest note to the Ivorian Government, through its Foreign Ministry.

Besides, if you were competent, you could have also utilized the available human, financial and material resources at your disposal at the embassy, by conducting shuttle diplomacy, first in the three capitals under your jurisdictions. You failed miserably in your diplomatic mission.

If you knew what you were suppose to do, you could have vehemently protested the flagrant violation of the charters on non aggression of ECOWAS, the former OAU and the UN against member countries allowing their territories to be used as launching paths to destabilize their neighbor(s) and other member countries. 

If you were patriotic to Liberia and knew what your role was, you could have advised your first country, Cote d’Ivoire (owing to your ethnic lineage and origin), not to destabilize your “second” country (Liberia), for which you were an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

Since you claimed to be a Liberian and nobody questioned your original nationality and/or ethnicity as you are now doing to me, Kwame and Jeremiah, you should have sincerely advised the Ivorian Government, perhaps that advice could have saved the little over a quarter million lives that were lost. Maybe you forgot that your bread was being buttered by your second country (Liberia).

As a result of your gross incompetence, it was not just Liberia that was destabilized, but the entire West African political sub-region, thereby causing the lives of three hundred fifty thousand people to be lost, according to UN estimate. You therefore need to be prosecuted for that.

DERELICTION OF DUTIES: Your Excellency, you were derelict in your duties, if you ever knew what those duties really were. You turned the Liberian Embassy in Abidjan into hotel suites for your uncountable concubines.

You also turned the Liberian Embassy in Abidjan into a market ground, where you were selling laisser passér for (US$35.00) a piece to fleeing Liberians, when they should have been issued freed of charge. You are corrupt therefore lack any moral authority for which you need to be prosecuted. As a matter of fact, where are the fees you collected?

DESERTION OF POST: After you neglected your duties by design, owing to your gross incompetence and were derelict in your responsibilities, you shamelessly deserted your post and fled to the United States to seek asylum and eventually become a U.S citizen.

Your Excellency, these and many other unnamed violations, warrant your prosecution and not me, Kwame, Jeremiah and/or the Grebo people you alluded to.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself, for questioning our ethnicities at this time in our nation’s history. You are nothing but a tribal bigot, (a person who holds blindly and intolerantly to aparticular creed, opinion etc.).

You are also a traitor of the Liberian Republic and Nation, for what you did that resulted into the deaths of a little over a quarter million people in Liberia, This is why you need to be prosecuted.

You and your surrogates, Joseph Solo and Jackson Towah thought you could have silenced me by falsely accusing me of murdering Old man, Nathaniel Logan in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County, during the war when infract, I was never in the county during the war you perpetrated by your acquiescence. So how could I have murdered Mr. Logan or anyone else in Zwedru?

For your factual information, I never murdered Mr. Logan or anybody else in Zwedru or anywhere else. I left Zwedru at the end of 1979 to live with my late brother, Richard Nyenon, who was murdered on the Dupo Road by the NPFL in 1990.

The last time I was in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County was in 1986 when I went to bring my late father Magistrate,William Brown to Monrovia for medical treatment. I remained in Monrovia, Montserrado County until Friday, October 16, 1998 before I departed for the United States.

Your strategy was to try to silence me by any means possible, but that strategy failed. As a matter of fact, it energized me even more than ever before, to continue to do what I am doing, serving my people of Grand Gedeh County through our Association, the GGAA. You guys need to find another strategy.

Your Excellency, I understand what it means for you to fall from grace to grass in the trickle of an eye. You were once Liberia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary accredited near three West African Capitals of Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Bamako, Mali. All of a sudden, your empire collapsed.

Rremember when you arrive in Monrovia, Liberia those days with your tailor made customized and monogrammed designers’ coat suits, already waiting for you at the OAU Villa with any concubine of your choice line up, as well as your black Mercedes Benz, 500-SCL, with Special Security Service (SSS) escorts opening and closing doors for you 24-7.

That is all history and are only a figment of your imagination now. I imagine how tough it must be for you nowadays, with all of us displaced here in America, doing odd jobs just to survive one way or the other. It must really be tough for you now Papay; especially with all the luxury gone and all of us passing around like headless chickens.

Gbarplehs like us who could not even come closer to your Mercedes Benz let alone argue with you during those “good old days,” that must be one of the reasons why you are so angry at us, as though we were responsible for the disappearance of  your “gravy train.”

You are now in America, arguing with your grand children like Kwame Oldpa Weeks, Jeremiah Sokan and Tarnyon Nyenon, not over development issues in Grand Gedeh County, but over who is or is not a Krahn or more, half or whole Krahn than the other and how Grand Gedeh belongs to only Krahn people. What a broken taboo Mr. Ambassador?

I wish to however remind you Your Excellency, that your deeply rooted tribal and ethnic bigotry will never deter us. We will continue to make our voluntary contributions to our beloved people of Grand Gedeh County. Your sectional hatred has no place even within your Niao community, the Gedeh and the greater Liberian Communities.

I wish to congratulate the following Liberians from the bottom of my heart, for their courageous stance against tribal, ethnic and sectional bigotry and for speaking out very loudly and clearly, across the borders of their respective counties.

They are Messrs Francis Duwana, Ephinstone Birch, Dennis Jah, Morris Kenneh and Sekou Kenneh. Others are Messrs G. Quiah Seeyon, Clarence Gono, Joe, God Fair Truth and Miss Beatrice Johnson. I also congratulate Messrs Jeremiah Shar, my Brother, Alphonso Nyenuh, Harrison Saydee and Rancy Wright.

I must acknowledge and congratulate Mr. Joseph Solo, my ach opponent, for being on the right side of history this time around. I must thank him for his courageous stance of advising you, Mr. Ambassador to stop the tribal bigotry, but you refused.

I hope their outcry and outrage has sent out a clear message not only just to you, but all those who share your fanatical views, including “DR. EDMOND BORBOR ZAR ZAR DENNIS BARGBLOR,” ANOTHER TRIBAL BIGOT AND SELF PROCLAIMED ONLY MOST EDUCATED GRAND GEDEAN HERE IN THE UNITED STATES, ET AL.

Tarnyon Nyenon

Sincerely yours’ 

Tarnyon Nyenon

Your “Son,”

Minnesota, Tel. (763) 226-3634-Cell

Y. Michael Gilman

It is often said that “the older, the wiser” and “wise man changes”. We are also reminded that we always run to the Oracle of our Elders for pieces of advice and disputes settling. History also reminds us that the “Town Crier” is only a Messenger from the Oracle, the Elders or the Town Chief. I also want to recollect my late Grand Dad popular classroom parable, “when the green leaves are burning, how much more you dried leaves”. 

The Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas past elections have really drawn a line between families, friends, and even ‘dodees’ so much that with all that have been said from courthouse to courthouse, from basements meetings to the Oracle of our Council of Elders, from teleconferences to Radio Gbarzon and from the Minnesota Web to these Listservs, we continue to see the divide within our Community and amongst its people. Yet we do not realize the damage that is being done to ourselves and the lasting effect it will have on generations unborn.  

In my first ever statement on this GGAA fiasco, I indicated that our Elders have failed us miserably such that they do not have a way to go about resolving the crisis. They breathed a sigh of relief when the Courts accepted the case and subsequent appeal. Hoping that they would have gotten their desire result; “that Henry Glay is declared President.” They failed so badly like the burning green leaves that they are asking the dried leaves, “are you burning too?”

How can the Hon. Bai M. Gbala try to pick a fight with Little Weeks, “Kwame Oldpa Weeks?”

Let me hasten to say I have come in no way in defense of Kwame O. Weeks but, to speak to the failures, causes and possible resolution to the current crisis. Mr. Weeks is learned and can better defend himself. Who could adequately debate Hon. Gbala on Grand Gedean or Liberian National Issues?  Maybe then, but not now. No one person is Law and Gospel; and not the Honorable as well. His questions posed to Kwame only speak of an angry and frustrated Statesman who wants his way and no other way done. Because of his stature, no one, and not Kwame, a “young Grand Gedean” should.

These questions and attitude on the part of some of our elders only bring to mind that polarizing and divisive statement we used to hear in Krahn, “balla sey sunma ye, bueh ye sunma ye?” And if you recall, you know exactly the implication. “Big Boy Glay not President, that Martha Kanneh will become President?” These are hard facts, but they are real. They will hurt, but it is necessary in order to make the healing and reconciliation a well founded one. Prove me wrong, Hon. Gbala is not neutral in this conflict. So are Mr. Charles Breeze, Edmund Barblor and the likes of Joseph Solo. We must learn to “call a spade a spade.” 

Hon. Bai Gbala and his Council of Elders can only do the right thing by prevailing on M r. Henry Glay to end his fight and join ranks with President Martha Adolphine Kanneh and the Convention 2010 in Philly. (Hopefully the James Larsah fiasco at L.I.F.E Town hall meeting in Maryland with Pres. Sirleaf will serve as a lesson.) The Council of Elders cannot re-do or revamp the courts’ decisions. They had all the time before the appeal was trashed by the court. Now is the time to re-unite the Community with a oneness of purpose for continuous growth and development. 

We cannot allow ourselves ridiculing one another on the Internet and expect others to respect us. Our Elders must learn to accord due respect and courtesy to our young people as it has always been with the young people respecting the Elders.

We live in the “free and civilize world” where due process and courtesy is the order of the day.

While I pick no fight with Hon. Gbala and our Elders, it is only fair to let them know that we are frustrated over their lack of leadership and the common wisdom to resolve this crisis. But we are not despair in our frustration, but ever hopeful that the “Court’s Decision’ will be used as the guiding tool to cause the Glay Faction to bring the fight to an end and support President Martha Kannah Administration. 

Let’s go to the 19th National Convention in Philadelphia this Memorial Day Weekend as a people with that Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection knowing we’ve come a long, long way! 

Y. Michael Gilman

313-957-9702

Edmund Z. Bargblor

The Origins of the Conflict within the Grand Gedeh Association and the Struggle to Finding a Workable Solution

The migration of Liberian refugees into the United States, since the start of the Liberian civil war, December 24, 1989, compelled community-based nonprofits organizations to take upon themselves to provide social and economic safety-net for their fellow tribesmen.  Liberian county associations to a greater degree, continue to help newcomers to adjust to their new social and political environment and, in some cases, preserve their cultural identities. Annual conventions help to cement their cultural bonds and commonalities, and to be abreast with social-political and economic developments at home in Liberia.

The Origins of Conflict.

But, coming together and fostering democratic elections at times produces tensions among community members whose perception of democracy seems to be limited to a superficial expression.  The last presidential elections saw the interjection of past unsettled animosities. 

1. Some sentiments were re-echoed in an article published on the Liberian Forum written by Mr.  Samson B. Toe, in which he was critical of the people from Tuzon. It seems that some individuals from the Toe Town area, Gbarzon District, hold this point of view as reflected in Mr.  Toe’s article. . Unfortunately, this point of view has created feelings of hatred among certain elements within the Grand Gedeh Association as reflected in the last presidential election.  As the result of this hatred for people from Tuzon as reflected in Mr. Toe’s article and the desire of self-styled politicians to have Mr. Glay removed, the whole association has become engulfed in a conflict that has nothing to do with the goals and objectives of the  Grand Gedeh Association. This hatred for Mr. Glay is the underline cause for the alleged election fraud and the subsequent litigation process that ensued.  The execution of Co-chairman Thomas Weh Syen, Henry Duo, , Harry Johnson and the death of young Nelson Toe was a tragedy.  But, what this has to do with Mr. Henry Glay who was just a little boy at the time? Why implicate him in this unfortunate episode, he was never a member of the PRC government.  This is unfair on the part of some people from the Gbarzon District. The resurfacing of the death of Nelson Toe every time during the Grand Gedeh Association’s presidential election is a dangerous thing and this is unfair to the people of Grand Gedeh Association who are endeavoring to put the events of the civil war behind them.  Those that directed the execution of Nelson are all dead; it is illogical to include Mr. Henry Glay’s name and the inhabitants of Tuzon in this episode.  Henry Glay is not Samuel K. Doe.

1. II. On the other hand, there are others who perceived their presence within the Grand Gedeh Association as an opportunity to advance their political image on the national scene in Liberia. These individuals dislike Mr. Glay because he refused to accommodate their quest to use the Grand Gedeh Association as leverage to fostering their political ambitions and aspirations.  These individuals only intention is to use who ever in power irrespective of sections, to achieve their political objectives.

1. III. Lastly, there are others who have no interest in political power, be it Mr. Glay a Gborho or not, this third group is only interested in stealing the limited funds that the association has accumulated. Over the years in the association, thousands upon thousands of dollars have been taken by individuals in leadership positions and nothing has been done to persecute them.

These three competing forces formed an alliance during the last presidential election. This objective of the alliance was to remove or unseat Mr. Glay from power at all cost as reflected in the composition of the election Commission.

Composition of the election Commission:

Now let us analyze the composition of the election commission, in order to comprehend the motive for the alleged fraud by the perpetrators, and their unheeding determination to prevent Grand Gedeans in Rochester from casting their ballots… they have made up their minds to remove Mr. Glay from office, irrespective of the outcome of the election.

1. Mrs. Annie Barlee…chair of the election commission.  It is alleged that she is a closed friend to Mrs. Martha Kannah, and cousin to the removed former chairman of the board, Mr. Steve Boley.  Her husband Mr. Barlee, is uncle to the vice presidential candidate, Isaac Yonly.
2. Mr. McArthur Padea, wife ran as a vice presidential candidate with Mr. Pay Dennis and was defeated by Mr. Henry Glay during the last presidential election that took place in Demos, Iowa.  He is also an in-law to Martha Kannah.
3.  Mr. Moses Zeyan, a Gbarzon man who it is alleged hits Mr. Glay, because he is a Gborho.
4. Mr. George Scott or. Suekay Sharrow, he is cousin to the late Nelson Toe, also a Gbarzon who allegedly dislike Mr. Glay because he is Gborho.

Role of Board in the conflict:

The board failed to be a natural arbitrator as envisioned by the founding fathers of the association. The members of the board and its chairman undermined their credibility by taking sides with the election commissions and the camp of Mrs. Martha Kannah. The board should have endeavored to study the protest that was issued by the Glay’s camp immediately after the election, prior to sanctioning the results of the election. The present board from all indication lacks credibility and should be dissolved.

 A Comparative Analogy:

I would like for you to contemplate on the story by Dr. Theodore Edlich, pertinent to the need for community unity.

“Once upon a time there was a community that had many different people who lived together in harmony. The members of the community were very different. Yet each had a place, the resources of every person were considered valuable and utilized, and all had the resources necessary to sustain themselves in good and poor health. There was a real palpable connection each resident with the other and a sense of belonging with the community as a whole.

Then one day a great fog came that not only clouded the people’s vision, but fogged their minds as well so that everyone felt alone and isolated. While the fog eventually cleared from their eyes it never left their minds. What once perceived as a community (literally, a unity of people with each other) was now seen as a mere aggregate of individuals. Each was an island to himself/herself.

Each person, detached from the strength and security of their ties to each other, began to seek security within themselves through a desperate search for money, material ownership, and power. Each sought the support of persons most like themselves in frantic grab for what seemed limited resources. As a consequence, one group began to disparage the motives and abilities of other competing groups and the rights of others to what had been their fair share. As time went on, those who gained advantages gained greater advantages and those who lost advantages lost even those which they have had.

Soon the community was divided between those who had and those who had not. While the community of haves held out the propaganda that all could achieve and that each person had an opportunity to succeed, they also institutionalized a system of inequality in education, opportunity, and resources. Great fear and anger replaced the good feelings, generosity, and oneness that once had filled their hearts. The have-nots grew angrier and angrier at the injustice. The haves feared that what they had acquired would be stolen from them.

As strife grew, a few people longed for the sense of community that had once united the people and contributed to the prosperity of all its members. They decided that the best way to recreate that was to create a model in which members of the different factions met together and planned for rebuilding that sense of community and redressing the ills that had taken place; a model that would help people act like a family.”

Possible Resolution of the Conflict: Recommendations….

1. New election should be called at a time suitable to Mr. Henry Glay and Mrs. Martha Kannah.
2. That the date and place be agreed upon during the scheduled convention this May, 2010.
3. That Mr. Henry Glay remains president, since he is the incumbent, during whose administration the conflict took place.
4. That a natural board be elected at the national convention, equally representing the two camps.  The board will oversee the new election.  The Glay administration will appoint three individuals and the Martha Kannah camp will also appoint three individuals. An elder will be elected during the ensuing convention to chair the board.  The constitution of the association should be suspended at this time.
5. Upon the election of the new administration, a committee should be appointed at the National Conference to revise the constitution for the institution of an amendment that will call for the election of the national board of directors every three years during the National Conference of the Grand Gedeh Association and not by individual chapters. Due to the complicities of our time, any one aspiring for the board should be a college graduate. And any one seeking to be president or vice president should also be a college graduate.

1. At the National Conference, a resolution should be developed in which all Grand Gedeans should be called upon to lay the negative attributes of past political events in Liberia to rest. In this endeavor the President of Gborho Ahmuyan and the President of Gbarzon District should have a cow feast at which time traditional sacrifices will be made to the spirits of their fore fathers to ask for their forgiveness. The Gborho and the Gbarzon people are Dooe-dees. This bond that was created by their fore fathers is sacrosanct and should be revered. . It is now time to forgive each other and move on.

Conclusion:

The present hulling and pulling is not in the best interest of all Grand Gedeans. This only demonstrates that Grand Gedeans are incapable to handle their own affairs. Liberians are watching carefully to see if Gedeans have the fortitude to resolve differences as a people. And this resolution will also demonstrate to the Liberian people,  that Grand Gedeans have the political will and maturity to once again be entrusted with political power in Liberia. If Grand Gedeans can not forgive each other, how can they forgive other Liberians who have transgressed against them in the past?

A Wiseman man once said: “Only fools allowed their differences to destroy them.” Grand Gedeans, this is your challenge, this must be your determination. All Grand Gedeans should endeavor to remove the fog of hatred from their vision, in order to comprehend the social –economic and political complexities of the Liberian nation.

About the author: 
Edmund Zar-Zar Bargblor is an Educator within the Providence School Department, Providence, Rhode Island. He is a graduate of Cuttington University College, Liberia, Howard University, Washington, D.C, and Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. Mr. Bargblor is former Chairman, Board of Directors .Grand Gedeh Association, and grandson of Chief Bargblor of the Gborho Chiefdom, Grand Gedeh County. Presently, he is President of the African Catholic Community of Rhode Island. He can be contacted at: Zbargblor@aol.com

Hon. Bai Gbala

In my opinion, a member of the Grand Gedeh County Council of Elders USA, upon whom the hope and desire for peaceful resolution rest but most of the blame is cast for the continuing, painful condition, there are many crucial reasons, including the following: 

1. The absence of a Precise Definition of the Problem 

In terms of exactly about what or whom are we talking or a definition of the problem, there is not a precise definition or description of the problem; for, it is said that “a problem defined is a problem 50% solved”. Up to the present, that which is publicly and officially known is the following:  

(a) The allegation, from the court action filed by Messrs Wulu Karlar et al, that the Grand Gedeh Association, by and through its Elections Commission, denied them their right to vote as Grand Gedeh County citizens and members of the association. In other words, the dispute is between Wulu Karlar et all, Plaintiffs, Versus the Grand Gedeh Association (its Elections Commission), Defendants. 

(b) That the Grand Gedeh Association (its Elections Commission) has neither  denied nor affirmed, publicly, the allegation by Mr. Wulu Karlar & Associates. However, resolution of the dispute should, must and will be based upon objective evidence produced in support or denial of

2  Wulu Karlar’s allegation, in an open, free and fair setting. 

(c) The Delaware County Court of Common Pleas (Delaware County,   Media, Pennsylvania) before whom the action has been filed and upon whose ruling we (the Elders) and the Grand Gedeh community depended for legal interpretation and resolution of the dispute, has given no such ruling. Attached herewith is the response by the trial attorney that the “…case is still active”, dated April 9, 2010. 

2. Latent hostility 

Indeed, there is historic hostility, driven by age/generation, gender, socio- economic and ethnic/sectional considerations on the part of some citizens in this demographic group, towards and fiercely anti the so-called “informed”, “book people” and now, “re-cycled, old-age politicians” who should/“must sit down” and blamed for all the historic, socio-economic and political ills that earned our country the designation of a “failed state”. This group also tends to reject/refuse or to accept and be guided by our traditional, moral code which requires/demands humility, cooperation with and respect for elders and their advice or counsel, based on years of training, experience and WISDOM, a subject that is not taught at any school – college or university. 

Some of the demographic group’s socio-political “leadership” is beholden to the beliefs/principles of our old Traditional Society (see below) and dominated by “fire-brands”, some of whom were child-soldiers and graduates of the Liberian civil war who became “men & women” overnight, now “western-educated, socio-political, activist politicians”. These young “new breeds”, apparently in the absence of comprehensive knowledge and understanding of our turbulent history, do not appreciate its significance and relevance to the present and future of our nation, people and generations yet unborn.  

3. Belief systems of our old Traditional Society 

Our old Traditional Society from which, I had hoped, we have graduated, is characterized by superstition, secrecy, rumors (“I think”, “they-say” “hear-say”), Ethnic/tribal bigotry (fear, jealousy, antagonism, discrimination); while, on the other hand, the present Modern Society of the

21^st century in which we now find ourselves, is grounded deeply upon transparency, facts, evidence (the search for the truth), concern & care for fellow human beings & society, the “Rule of Law” and educated decision making. We have often wondered, in the light of our apparent, socio-cultural and political activities, whether we still have one foot in the old, traditional society and the other foot in the new, modern society. 

Concluding Observations  

Some Liberians tend not to confine debate/critical analysis to the issues at hand or the precise premise of a given, ideological encounters. They confuse the arguments by irrelevant grand-standing – personal attacks, character-assassinations, mud-slinging, ethnic/sectional, political-profiling, guilt-by-association, etc. This approach may be likened to that of a trial attorney who, when confronted by a damaging, un-impeachable testimony of an opposing witness, attacks the personality of the witness; classic example of Liberian approach to debate and “rational analysis: “ignore the message but take on the personality of the messenger”. 

“Opposition is indispensable”, according to (my high school) English Literature; this adage is a rational concept simply because not only that it contributes clarity and refinement of thought, but also that it exposes murky thought-process and reasoning. Notwithstanding these truthful realities, Liberians tend to regard opposition, political or otherwise, as an “eternal enemy” condition. 

Some Liberians will not even meet with opposing individuals, face-to-face, for engagement in an unrestrained, candid dialogue to discuss and resolve, quite possibly, ideological disagreements. In our opinion, this hard-line, closed-door approach is unreasonable; for, whoever one is or whatever is one’s level of socio-economic and political standing, we all want the same things in life – freedom, justice, equal treatment and opportunity for growth

4 

and advancement; therefore, by getting-together in a friendly, close encounter, it is often possible to eliminate/eradicate deep-seated differences, through educated discourse.

 The Clarion Call 

In the light of the prevailing conditions at home in Liberia and the critical, 21^st century challenges that we face and must undertake, we call upon all concerned, patriotic, nationalistic and reasonable Grand Gedeans/ Liberians to come together and peacefully resolve this shameful, unfortunate dispute. 

Your presence and participation in this historic gathering will be regarded as a private/public duty and expression of your concern & love for, allegiance and loyalty to the people of Grand Gedeh County, indeed Liberia; your presence has nothing to do with and does not question your right to support the party of your choice. But your presence has everything to do with your public duty and responsibility, as a leader, to resolve this ugly impasse on the basis of an open, free, and fair examination of the facts pertaining to these allegations. 

Mr. Anthony Geea, current Chair of the Grand Gedeh Council of Elders USA, informed us of a planned meeting of the Elders, the parties and the Grand Gedeh Community Leaders in the effort to break the deadlock. You will receive a notice very shortly. 

PLEASE FIND OR ALLOCATE THE TIME FOR THIS PURPOSE. THE FUTURE OF OUR PEOPLE AND THOSE YET UNBORN DEPENDS UPON YOU.

Zedueh Albert Doerue

As a practice, results were tabulated  but widely disputed at times; yet candidates and voters were not deterred, no one had to decide between who was Grand Gedean or not. Why should that happen to us now?

Trashing democracy invited civil war in our country. Consequently, the civil war got us nowhere, and affected each of us either directly or indirectly. As a result, if your loved one was not killed, it could be
your sister or someone else so dear to you. For some of us it is needless to mention how hurt we are because we are without our parents due to the choices of a few. How many of you can watch, wait and see
any of your parents be killed right under your very watchful eyes? Such was a condition that we Grand Gedeans (all Liberians not exempted) experienced for more than a decade.

Today all of that has become history which cannot be erased. The physical war has come and gone (a least so I thought), but the aftermath remains fresh on our minds.

The electoral process of Iowa that ushered Mr. Henry Glay in office of our noble Association was observed by people of all member chapters within the union across the United States. Yet, during that election Honorable Peter Yancy Flahn, a veteran Grand Gedean was denied the right to vote simply because, according to the election commission, he did not affiliate with any chapter, nor did he register with the national administration as an individual Grand Gedean.  His feelings and thoughts about Grand Gedeh Association, I believe, were not positive.

Again, a group of Grand Gedeans from western New York (Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester) were humiliated, disenfranchised and denied their right to vote during 2009 Elections in Philadelphia, even though they proved beyond any reasonable doubt that they were registered with proof of Ids to vote.  The election commission, this time, falsely charged them with a constitution provision that was grossly misinterpreted.

With this inhumane act, I beg to differ a minute. If someone like Hon. Peter Flahn became the recipient of all kinds of negative attributes due to what they term as lack of proof of identity, as well as over thirty other Grand Gedeans who were falsely prevented of a constitution provision that was misapplied, who then can we be proud of as Grand Gedeans? Who are the architects of this document (constitution) that
cannot be easily interpreted, yet pretends to be for the people but denies them the right to the pursuit of liberty and justice?

Every aspiring leader should remember that the ladder that takes you upstairs will be the same to bring you down. In other words, the very people that you intend to serve need to be heard and their views must
be taken seriously and into account. You must remember that no man is an island.

The geographic demarcation is not meant for division among us as a people. Whether you came from Tchein or Gbarzon, Konobo, Lower/Upper Grand Gedeh County, we are the same people. We all will encounter the same pain and bleed when we are cut with a knife. That is what makes us
different from animals. The senselessly war of Taylor brought untold stories to us all. The overall experience should be enough to teach us that diverseness is just a game that leads to a land of had I known.

The decision to create a room for the revision of the current GGAA constitution is very significant and necessary for selected members from every section of today’s Grand Gedeh must be part of. First, it means that we have come to realization that there is provision within that stems from the present constitution that is being misplaced by other members. We appreciate the effort of Mr. Nyanue and the
constitution review committee for their effort trying to review the constitution. However, considering the  fact that most members of the Association recognize Henry Glay as president and not Martha Kannah,
the constitution review can only be done under one leadership of Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas. Until we can resolve the leadership saga in the Association, it will be difficult to accomplish anything.

As we take on the path to recovery, it is our hope that all well meaning Grand Gedeans, sectional heads, various chapters heads will join us in our efforts to  put aside individual differences, self-enrichment and attend the forthcoming convention so that as a people we can prove wrong to those with divisive objectives among us. Once again, we call on the elders of Grand Gedeh County to continue the search for peace, multiply their efforts more than ever to end this nightmare. Remember that regarded of how you got here in the USA, whether by sea or air, the good thing is that we all know where we have
come from. And we can only get to where we want to go by holding hands together as a team… thereby defining our destiny together as a united group. Bravo to Mr. Henry K. Glay his patience and calm leadership style.  Many thanks to Martha Kannah for her perseverance in wanting to be leader of GGAA and showing signs that we can work together for our people wherever they are.

Let us now meet in the city of Philadelphia / Delaware during the Memorial Day week end (May 28-30) and allow the elders , Mr. Amose Tarley and well meaning Grand Gedeans  and even people within our immediate reach  to intervene and reunite the Association again. It is about time that we as a people come up to demonstrate a sign that we are a people of culture which we need to be proud of, a sign of belongingness. Remember that we are a country of culture that cannot be compared to any country. Let‘s be proud of what we have than what we have not seen. A house divided against it will never prosper. We owed it to our people. The time is now not later.

MN Web/ info@grandgedehassocincmn.com

Kwame Oldpa Weeks

On Friday, April 24th, when I turned on my computer, I saw a caption titled “MESSAGE TO GRAND GEDEANS,” so I decided to click on that first before going to others. Upon opening it, I could not believe what I was seeing, the nude corpse of Liberia’s 19th President, Samuel Kanyon Doe. The message came from a man who I once idolized as a mentor when I was growing up as a kid in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County James Monnie Youboty. I use to consider him a big brother and use to hold his paint brushes as he printed T-Shirts and designed billboards very craftily. This was the James Youboty I knew and wanted to be every inch of, because of his talents and impeccable printing skills. But his actions nowadays make me to think twice and wonder; that has led me to ask the question; “IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?”  

The display of the graphic photo depicting the nude corpse of the late Liberian Leader by James Youboty is repugnant to public decency, disgusting, humiliating not only to the Doe family, but every civilized being on the face of this planet, earth; that is what led me to ask the question; “IS THIS THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?”  

The allegation against decent people like Messrs Tarnyon Nyenon, J. Nabge Sloh, Kirpatrick Weah, Elphinstone Birch, Freeman Chea and Mrs. Annie Barlee, that they are from River Gee County and are the ones responsible for the growing tension and division within the Grand Gedeh Association without any proof, is not only untrue, but a blatant lie, absurd and has no place in our community. This kind of divisive attitude is not only worthless, but has the propensity of taking our debate to a very dangerous level; of brewing unnecessary tension between and amongst us as brothers and sisters of the same region, who are divided only by an artificial political boundary no matter our geographic location. This is what led me to ask the question; “IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?”

We may have very serious fundamental differences and disagreements as a people, as is natural. I am even surprised that he did not mention my name and classify me a Ghanaian rather than a Liberian much, less a Grand Gedean, since my late father was a Ghanaian, who settled in Grand Gedeh County, Liberia, where I was born and raised. First as a Liberian and then a Grand Gedean; that led me to ask the question. “IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?”  

Youboty accused the above named people of being the detractors, who do not like to see Grand Gedeans united, but I got news for him. Youboty, here is the partial comprehensive list of the real detractors within the Grand Gedeh Association and community, who do not want to see peace, unity and tranquility prevail. They are; Henry Glay, Joseph Kweedy Solo, James Youboty, J. D. Slangar, Jackson Towah, Albert Zedueh Doerue, Arthur Quaye, Edmond Bargblor and their collateral victim, Wulu Karlar etc. These are the people we consider extremists and fundamentalists, who believe that without Henry Glay at the Presidency of the Grand Gedeh Association, there should be no Grand Gedeh Association. That is why when he named Tarnyon Nyenon and others as the detractors. I was shocked. That is what led me to ask the question, IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?

Youboty’s latest article validates the point I made in an earlier commentary titled; “GIVE GLAY WHAT HE WANTS.” In that article I made it emphatically cleared that the divide within the Grand Gedeh Association was beyond the so-called alleged disenfranchisement of a few Grand Gedeans from Rochester/Syracuse, New York and more than just Henry Glay and Martha Kannah’s political squabble, but more of a sectional or regional struggle being perpetrated by the likes of James Youboty, looking for excuses in the name of fighting for Henry Glay’s (imaginary presidency in his Utopian grand gedeh association in the Americas.) That led me to ask the question; IS THIS THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?  

Parading our ex president’s nude photos, especially one showing his gruesome mutilated body, surrounded by his perpetrators pointing Kalashnikovs at it, is in my candid opinion, blasphemous to say the least. Youboty is behaving more than the killers of President Samuel Doe and is no different from the people he is trying to portray as the bad guys, while seeing himself as the good guy. The parading of the late Doe’s corpse on the world wide web convinces me, to classify Youboty as very cold hearted, inhumane, callous, merciless and ruthless for dehumanizing not only the Doe family, but the civilized world which makes him no different from the killers, that led me to ask the question; “IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?”

What is even more appalling and unpatriotic on the part of James Youboty, a professed photographer, who was on Gen. Prince Y. Johnson’s Codwel Base, where President Doe was killed  live on international television during the bloody senseless Liberian war, was his use of the LIBERIAN NATIONAL FLAG, OUR NATIONAL SYMBOL AND PRIDE, TO WHICH ALL OF US PLEDGE OUR ALLEGIANCE BESIDES THE ALMIGHTY GOD,  AS THE FIRST AND OLDEST INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC ON THE DARK CONTINENT OF AFRICA, to opaquely cover the late President’s genitals. I think this deserves an open and unconditional apology not only to the Doe family, but the entire Liberian nation. This kind of behavior by Youboty is unacceptable. That is what led me to ask the question; “IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?” 

Let me be clear, I did love and was proud of the late President Doe for several reasons among which are just these few, He was the first real indigenous to end neocolonialism in Liberia and gave birth to what we are all proud of  today as real multi-party democracy, no matter how embryonic and fragile it may be. He was the first real indigenous to be elected President of the Republic, which we are all proud of today etc. You do not have to agree with me, but these are historical facts. Whether or not you agree with me is irrelevant. The use of our national symbol in this case, led me to ask the question; “IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONEC IDOLIZED?”   

Brother Youboty, I have news for you, we of the Minnesota Chapter of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas, will on Saturday, May 15th, 2010 be celebrating the Thursday, May 6th, 60th birthday of our hero, Samuel Kanyon Doe. We will be displaying positive power point presentations, and not a nude body, enumerating all the good things he did for Liberia, Liberians and Grand Gedeans, as the first indigenous President; we invite you. We have plans to erect a public library in Zwedru, the political capital of Grand Gedeh County, Doe’s home county, to honor his memory and thank God Almighty for the opportunities he afforded us as a nation…These are the kinds of programs and activities, you need to support instead of fanning the flames of division, using the Henry Glay ceased Gedeh Website, created by Mr. William Nyanue, in 2002, during his administration as National President of the GGAA. That led me to ask the question, IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?     

I recalled very vividly the telephone conversation I held with Youboty a few months ago prior to the verdict from the Delaware County of Common Pleas, when he clearly told me that Judge Pagano, who was then presiding over the case, Wulu Karlar Vs GGAA, has dismissed the case and so he (Youboty) was going to shake hands with Mrs. Adolphine Martha Kannah, the democratically elected President of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas and express his willingness to work with her if called upon. But within twenty four hours of the dismissal verdict of the case, Youboty made a 360 degree u-turn to maintain the position of his boss, Henry Glay, to fight on endlessly and fruitlessly despite the court’s dismissal of the case. This tells me that the brother is unstable, dangerous and unhealthy for the Grand Gedeh Community; That is what led me to ask the question, “IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?” 

His vicious attacks on the innocent people of River Gee County do not conform to the norms of a civilized society. Citizens of River Gee County are just as Liberians first, as anybody else, who in my purview felt marginalized during the Doe era and saw an opportunity during Taylor’s regime to go solo. We all know this to be a fact and this has nothing to do with Martha Kannah and Henry Glay. Both Martha and Henry have collective and individual responsibilities to do a lot to unite our people they led and are leading today, instead of looking for scapegoats. That is what led me to ask the question; “IS IT THE SAME JAMES YOUBOTY I ONCE IDOLIZED?”

Kwame Oldpa Weeks/MN WEB

Son of Grand Gedeh County

Late Gen. Hezekiah Bowen

Interim Government of National Unity

General Bowen and I started working together at the Ministry of Defense in August 1991 under the Interim Government of Dr. Amos Sawyer. He assumed the position of Chief of Staff,   after one General Nimely, who was in command, fled the country.  President Doe had been killed and there was no government on the ground.  The presidential chair was empty for over 100 days under General Bowen’s watch.   On December 22, 1990, Dr. Amos Sawyer was sworn into office as Interim President and General Bowen turned the Executive Mansion keys over to him for occupation. 

Black Beret Story

The Black Beret story at the Ministry of Defense was grossly misinterpreted in the press. Here is the truth. When the Interim Government assumed office, the AFL was no longer enjoying the confidence of the citizens for their security. Most interim officials also could not trust the AFL for their protection.  At the same time, ECOMOG wanted to work with a local security unit to maintain peace in the interim government controlled area. But AFL human rights record was far below standards to be considered.

The only option the interim government had was to train a special unit called Black Beret to work with ECOMOG in isolation of the AFL.   But General Bowen said, the Black Beret should be trained and placed under the command of the AFL so that both could combine forces to work in unity of purpose.  He added that the interim-government was sandwiched by heavily armed factions, and conflict could break out any time. The interim authorities agreed. The Black Beret was trained and placed under the command of the AFL.  On October 15, 1992, NPFL forces launched a coordinated attack on Monrovia. The AFL, Black Beret and ECOMOG combined forces and swiftly defeated the NPFL onslaught.                                                                     

Soldier of Peace

General J. Hezekiah Bowen was a soldier of peace par excellence. Under his leadership, the AFL never supported or associated with any warring faction in the civil war. When Dr. George Boley sought refuge in the Barclay Training Center and rumors were spreading, accusing him of recruiting fighters for a new faction, General Bowen asked him to leave, saying, it would suggest to the public that AFL was supporting the formation of a warring faction.  When General Charles Julu entered the Executive Mansion in 1994 and proclaimed himself President, General Bowen disassociated himself from the takeover and sought refuge at the ECOMOG base in order to register his neutrality. When General Roosevelt Johnson and his forces entered the Barclay Training Center in April   1996 to challenge the government, General Bowen also disassociated himself and took refuge at the ECOMOG base. He believed all these incidents could tarnish the image of the AFL and jeopardize the peace process.                                          

Extraordinary Bravery and Loyalty to Country

General Bowen was a very brave and loyal soldier. During the crisis, most of President Doe’s trusted generals and commanders abandoned him and fled into exile. General Bowen remained on the ground with his troops.  After President Doe was killed, one General Nimely held the command briefly and went into exile. General Bowen assumed command and remained with his troops to protect the presidential palace.  The NPFL and INPFL forces intensified their attacks on AFL positions to seize power, but General Bowen held the ground until the interim president arrived and took control.  During the other conflicts that followed, many government officials and faction leaders fled the country

and went into exile.  But General Bowen never stepped foot anywhere until the crisis ended. If he had fled the country before the interim president arrived, one of the factions would have seized power and turned Liberia into a killing field. But he risked his life to avoid this worst case scenario.

The Allegation of Factionalizing the AFL

In September 1994, General Bowen was accused of factionalizing the AFL for power at the Accra Conference, and   he never recovered from the hostile sentiments of this empty allegation until he died. However, for those who were not around, here is the truth.  Under the ECOWAS Peace Agreement, every party (including AFL) was a major stakeholder and had the right to advance any proposal that would motivate their fighters to be disarmed and demobilized ( meaning, disbanded).  All the parties, except the AFL, wanted a power-sharing inclusion as a demand for them to be disarmed and demobilized. Other parties demanded that AFL also be disarmed and disbanded like other factions. 

In response, the AFL under General Bowen leadership advanced a Two- Count Position Paper, and One- Backup Position Paper.  Under the Two- Count Position Paper, ECOWAS leaders were advised that firstly, the AFL was a national army created by law to be restructured, not disbanded, at the end of every war. Secondly,   service members of the AFL listed for discharge should be discharged with honors and respect in keeping with law and Army Regulations.  Under the One- Backup position Paper, it was proposed that if the AFL would be disarmed and disbanded like other warring factions, then AFL should be included in the power- sharing arrangements.  At the end of the day, the ECOWAS leaders endorsed General Bowen’s Two-Count Position Paper and offered him the Defense Minister post so that he could preside over the implementation of ECOWAS Demobilization Plans for the AFL. 

Therefore, General Bowen absolutely had no power ambition.   If he had power ambition, he would have proclaimed himself President long before the interim President arrived. But refusing to do so and turning the Executive Mansion over to the Interim President clearly suggests that he was fully aware that the military is subject to civilian control in peacetime as well as in wartime.  Moreover, in all the elections held during the crisis period, many faction leaders contested the presidency.   But General Bowen did not. The only interest he had was to achieve stable peace.

Concluding Comments

Under General Bowen’s leadership, the AFL human rights record improved substantially.  He ended the harassment of civilians by AFL soldiers.   He also ended the harassment of Gio and Mano soldiers who were loyal to the AFL.   He gave red carpet welcome to over one thousand soldiers who deserted the AFL and fought for other warring factions. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice,   desertion in time of war is a crime of treason.  But in the name of peace, General Bowen, said, “Welcome back.”  We could go on and on listing his life-time achievements but space is inadequate to continue.

However,   J. “Hez” you accomplished your assigned mission and History will forever remember you.

Farwell and rest in peace.

Hon. Bai Gbala

Not only that the Grand Gedeh County Association USA is deeply split along ethnic lines, but also that ULAA, our leadership umbrella organization; UNICO of Nimba County; Sinoe; the Sarpo Group; possibly Grand Bassa, etc., etc., are hotly and passionately divided along ethnic lines. These ethnic/tribal Divides are also rampant and deeply prevailing in the national politics of our nation, Liberia. What is going on here?  What happen to our traditional wisdom that taught and teaches that when an elder is present with other folks under the palm wine tree, the wine-tapping knife should not, will not and must not be lost. Well apparently, not only that the knife is lost, but so is the wine taper.

There is presently prevailing a condition of what I describe as ethnic/tribal bigotry -  factionalism, antagonism, prejudice, name-calling, insults, anger and political profiling, bordering on hatred – led by young, so-called new “breed of informed” or “educated” fire-brands, guided only by passionate commitment to ethnic/tribal patriotism; some of them are, in fact, graduates of our recent, civil war nightmare. This mode of political “leadership” has no stomach for traditionally-accepted approaches or any rules of behavior ordained to systematic, peaceful resolution of disagreements/conflicts that challenge their only choices of action. Moreover, there appears to be an absence or lack of  agreement about what or whom are we taking about? 

But modern democratic rules (the Rule of Law) that govern 21^st century, human, political behavior, provide that a citizen is entitled to a political party and vote for the candidate of his/her choice; however, he/she is bound by the very rules to accept and respect the winning candidate chosen by the will of the majority, expressed by and through transparent, free fair open election. 

The Case of the Grand Gedeh Association. 

Not only that I returned to the USA upon the invitation of the Grand Gedeh Association to participate as Speaker for the Association’s 2002 Convention, but also as one of the surviving members of the Grand Gedeh County Elder-statespersons, indeed of the Republic, I deem it an abiding responsibility to take part in and be involved in any and all functions pertaining of the Association and the republic of Liberia; I have done so diligently with planning/advising activities at every Grand Gedeh function/convention since 2002.

The 2009 Convention & Elections 

It was in undertaking/expressing this obligation/responsibility that I participated in the 2009 Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Also, like any other Grand Gedean/member, I went to the city of suburban Darby to cast my ballot on that Sunday, May 25, 2009. As I was leaving the Hall after voting, a young man at the head of group of persons came up to me and requested my assistance/intervention with the Gedeh Elections Commission, which they stated, was preventing them from voting although, they claimed, that they are citizens of Grand Gedeh County and members of the Association in good standing.  This young man, whom I have never met and did not know, turned out to be Mr. Wulu Karlar. Thereupon I requested and inspected their IDs which turned out to be in apparent, good order. 

As I attempted to re-enter the Hall, the security at the door refused me entrance; but with the support of some prominent Liberian members, I was eventually permitted to re-enter. Accompanied by Honorable Charles Gaye Breeze, Jr., former Deputy Minister of Education of Liberia, I went to the stage from where the Elections Commission Chairlady, Mrs. Anna Barlee and her associates, were administering the voting process. Our objective was to consult with the Elections Commission in the effort to seek and find an amicable resolution to the alleged problem. For, Mrs. Anna Barlee and her husband D. Wilson are not strangers to me. My position and influence as presidential advisor resolved a housing dispute at the Matadi estate, Monrovia, in their best interest. 

Unfortunately, however, Mrs. Barlee refused to speak to me. After several failed attempts, Honorable Breeze and I left the stage and Hall disappointed, while Wulu Karlar and his associates threatened court action.

On Monday or there about, at 5:00pm, Mr. Henry Glay, Candidate for Re-Election, invited members of the Association including some Elders and me, to the Bong Mine Bridge Restaurant in Philadelphia and announced rejection of the announced results of the elections which, he claimed, were fraudulent. 

During that week of May 27, 2009, after a meeting at my residence, the Elders and some founders of the Gedeh Association agreed to embark upon a plan to mediate the developing dispute. With several concerned Grand Gedeans, led by Mr. Robert Dwuye, we contacted Mr. Henry Glay, Mrs. Martha Kannah and Wulu Karlar for preliminary meeting designed to mediate the dispute. We suggested that each of the faction nominate a member of its choice for membership on the mediation panel.Unforftunately, Mrs. Martha Kannah refused to participate.

Since then, I have written several letters seeking a peaceful resolution; I attended the court trial several times with the desire to withdraw the case and mediate, but to no avail. We, the Elders, did NOT receive the December Court Decision which, Mr. Gbardy claimed, dismissed the case. 

On April 9, 2010, I just received communication from the from the attorney that “case is still active in the Delaware County Court”.

In response to inquiries from the Gbarzon District Association and other local chapters of the Grand Gedeh Association, I have written that the Elders are willing, able, and prepared to intervene; but the young people must be willing to cooperate, respect and accept the advice based on experience, age and wisdom.

FLASHBACK/General John Hezekiah Bowen presents a large symbolic key to the City of Monrovia to Dr. Amos Sawyer Interim President during the early days of the 1990s (Photo Credit-GSMN)

He joined the Liberian Army in 1969. He was in the same recruited class with the late president Samuel K. Doe. I can remember the day they enrolled because I was there. This class also included the late Colonel M.M. Flanzamaton and many others from Grand Gedeh County. General Bowen rose through the ranks to become a Lt. General. 

In 1980 he was a 2^nd Lt. and when he was appointed Superintendent of Grand Capemount County after the military took over in Liberia. In Capemount, he was a popular Superintendent who was loved by the people. He was a friendly man who smiled a lot and identified with every category of people. 

When the country returned to civilian rule in 1985, Bowen continued to serve in the military. He was promoted to Brigadier General and became Commanding General of the Armed Forces of Liberia. Bowen became Major General and then Lieutenant General.

During the civil crises he was one of the leaders of the Armed Forces of Liberia which defended the constitution and Liberia’s sovereignty. They repelled Charles Taylor’s invading forces and when president Doe was murdered, Bowen and others organized a caretaker military government in the mansion. 

Late Gen. Bowen

Bowen was a loving husband, a father, a community leader and a gallant soldier. 

May his soul rest in perfect peace. 

Joseph Kweedy Solo,

Kwame Oldpa Weeks

BEFORE DELVING into my thesis, I like to give a little historical perspective about what I intend to discuss. On Sunday, May 24^th 2009, the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas (GGAA), held its general and presidential elections in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in which challenger, Adolphine Kannah and her Kannah/Yonly Team and incumbent, Henry Glay and his Glay/Yoway Team, contested the leadership of the Association. 

AFTER THE ELECTIONS results were announced, Challenger Kannah emerged victorious with an eight vote lead, over incumbent Glay. But surprisingly or not too surprisingly, incumbent Glay, along with his godfathers and surrogates, has been masquerading and still proclaiming himself the “legitimate national president of his imaginary (GGAA).” That is, despite the certification of the elections results by the National Elections Commission. 

HENRY GLAY has done everything humanly possible within his being, to undermined, sabotage and humiliate the democratically elected first female National President, Adolphine M. Kannah and degrade the office of the Presidency of the Association at all cause, thereby causing disunity confusion and possibly attempting to cause chaos within our Union.                

HAVING INTERVIEWED  and followed with keen interest, the activities of Mr. Glay over the months, I like to recount some of this brother’s activities which led me to ask the question, “WHAT DOES GLAY WANT?” 

GIVEN THE opportunity to serve a two year-term as National President of the Union, with his great fund-raising record and having been defeated in a democratic process, this once fine President for some of us; lately has been engaged in series of negative activities which I shall outline as follows: 

HIS FIRST dubious action was to walk to the Citizen Bank on the morning of June 1, 2009, withdrawing the entire amount of four thousand six hundred ninety one United States dollars, from the GGAA savings (Reserved) account with the hope of strangulating the Kannah/Yonly administration thus making it impossible for it to function. 

THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, the National Board stepped in, in a timely manner and secured the operational (checking) account thus adverting Glay’s traitorous design. 

GLAY’S SECOND callous move was to try to sabotage the Kannah/Yonly administration’s inauguration by lying to Grand Gedeans there was going to be no speeches and only a dance dubbed “Unity Ball,”  and that all parties were to be present, but again that turnout to be a big failure on his part. As a result, he failed to show up.  

GLAY’S THIRD vicious attempt was to try to politicize the death of Hon. Thomas D. V Hanson, former Governor of the National Bank of Liberia (NBL), when he issued a public service announcement on behalf of his illusionary “(Grand Gedeh Association)” without the consent of the Hanson family. 

THIS WAS INTENDED to make it appear like he (Glay) was still in control of the GGAA. He again miserably failed because when he got to the program, he was recognized only as a former president of the Association. 

HIS FOURTH design was to again issue a public service announcement calling on all Grand Gedeans, to rally financial support to come to the defense of Dr. George Boley, a son of Grand Gedeh. He did this again without the consent of the Boley family, but this time around, he was rebuffed by the family. See link: http://grandgedehassocincmn.com/?p=288 

HIS FIFTH desperate and selfish act was to call a private station (Star Radio) in Monrovia, Liberia claiming to still be “the national president” of the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas. 

HE FURTHER CLAIMED that the Association’s leadership is still being contested in a District Court in the United States, a situation I describe as making mockery of himself and unfortunately our elders are sitting back supinely and watching. This is heartbreaking, to say the least. 

GLAY ALSO alleged that the Court has asked the contending parties to return to the status quo apparently where he Glay will continue to be referred to as “the National President of the GGAA.”

INTERESTINGLY, what the brother does not know is that the man he tapped as his Inaugural Chair, Mr. Todd Garlo, has just relinquished power to Mr. Augustine Manyeah in the presence of Mrs. Adolphine Kannah, without any reservation. Handling the microphone; Mr. Garlo had a nice ‘Kanye West’ moment to have said he did not recognize President Kannah; drop the microphone and walk out. But he didn’t, instead he later accepted an appointment from Mr. Glay who lost to President Kannah in the 2009 elections. As a matter of fact, President Kannah and Mr. Manyeah who was considered a Glay Loyalist now forms part of the Kannah delegation which he (Glay) calls illegitimate.

STATISTICS HAVE SHOWN that the bulk of our educated ones exiled here in Uncle Sam’s backyard doing unskilled jobs; when in fact they possess vast knowledge and technical knowhow to be tapped as Managing Directors or Ministers in the Ellen Government. Instead of seeing this big cancer that is eating up our Krahness and degenerating in a state of decadence, some of our Elders continue to run around in Philly with this Glay Presidency charade and baloney.

GLAY IS NOT helping us in the media to better identify the flaws of this Kanah/Nyonly administration and inform the common due paying Grand Gedean as to how their funds are being spent. Instead we have taken one year to follow Henry Glay trying to undo the Kannah/Nyonly Presidency. 

FELLOW KINSMEN, it is my fervent hope that those we think are behind this division, will see reason to ask Glay (who always say he’s not the problem), to “throw in the towel” for it is glaring that this is NOT a fight for this presidency but a different fight; one that I believe is sectional. Those who still believe in this nonsense should go back to their villages outside Zwedru and be town/paramount chiefs and give us chance to help our people back in Grand Gedeh County.

Kwame Oldpa Weeks

Concern Grand Gedean

(1-516-303-6038)-Cell

The Glay/Yoway team has laid claims to the presidency since, on grounds that some Grand Gedeans (not members) from New York State’s Rock Chester/Syracuse locale were not allow to vote. Their claims were based on an assumption that those who were not allowed to vote were believed to be their potential voters, whose votes could have made a very big difference, thus carrying the day for their team. 

Although this assumption is highly debatable, since the voting process was based on secret balloting, however there is some logic to it since it was only the Glay/Yoway team that campaign vigorously in that area. It was also only the Glay/Yoway campaign operatives, who organized the Grand Gedeans there, by preparing a list and collecting the required amount, as one of the major requirements of the Elections Commission’s guidelines.

However, the only thing which was very, very crucial but was not done was, after Mr. Henry Glay, who was to have become the beneficiary of all  these efforts by his operatives, reportedly advised them (Rock Chester/Syracuse) New Yorkers, against submitting their list to the New York Chapter President, Annie Cooper-Wilson, in violation of the election guidelines, a decision which could have consummated their membership legally into the GGAA. 

This decision was apparently out of fear that President Cooper-Wilson might not have forwarded the list to the Commission, or tempered with it, since she was also one of the Campaign Managers for the opposing Kannah/Yonly team. But this reported Glay-advice proved pivotal at his own political peril, thus causing his team’s defeat at the poles.

Even though Glay’s fear may have been well founded, a lot of mechanism could have been put into place, since their fear was presumably bordered on trust. For example; a certified copy of the list could have been mailed to President Cooper-Wilson, along with the registration money. In that way, it could have been signed for and the name of the recipient known.

Besides, in addition to the original certified copy been mailed to President Cooper-Wilson, certified photocopies could have also been mailed directly to the Elections Commission and the National Treasurer and signed for by both the Commission and the Treasurer, just for the records. 

If all of these were done, while it may be true that all the 31 Grand Gedeans may not have voted for the Glay/Yoway team, I am of the strongest conviction, at least 20 or 25 out of the 31 might have voted for the Glay/Yoway team thus leading them to a resounding victory. This reported Glay-advice was one of his major political blunders that he and others will forever learn from.

 The other Glay blonder was when he knowingly, filed his protest against the elections result 24 hours after the expiration of the deadline for protest, instead of doing so within three hours as required by the Elections Commission’s guidelines, thus causing the Commission to deny his protest without prejudice. 

Another Glay blunder perhaps the most pivotal, was when he sub-consciously influenced Mr. Wulu Karlar, to sue the GGAA alleging disenfranchisement, excluding the rest of the other 30 Grand Gedeans, according to the lawsuit as prepared by Wulu Karlar’s lawyer which read, “Wulu Karlar vs GGAA,” rather than “Wulu Karlar et al vs GGAA,” which would have included all 31 respondents. 

The way the lawsuit was written, even if Wulu had won, the court might have only ordered the GGAA to compensate him for whatever expenses he might have incurred, because allowing him to cast his one vote, as per his Glay induced lawsuit, would not have changed the elections results, as a result of the exclusion of the other 30 Grand Gedeans. 

If I were an adviser to the Glay/Yoway team, I could have advised Glay to sue the Kannah/Yonly team, since it was the contesting party, if that was the only option, alleging elections fraud, and use the Rock Chester/Syracuse group as witnesses, since they were not a contesting party or stick holders, but were mere witnesses and third party in the electoral process.

The two parties that had interest in the electoral process, should have battled it out face to face, instead of Glay pretending to have nothing to do with it when in actually, he was and still is the brain behind the lawsuit. 

Having said all of these, there is no need to cry over spilled milk. What needs to be done now in order to resolve the disagreement is exactly what Hon. Charles Gaye Breeze has initiated, by mustering the courage to call for an elders’ national teleconference meeting to find a solution. Let us not pretend that there is no problem within the GGAA, indeed there is a big division, which must be resolved traditionally, since it could not be done by the U.S court.  

I am therefore using this global public square (GPS), through this medium to call on all well-meaning Grand Gedeans including Honorable William G. Nyanue, Philip K. Deah and Harold G. Tarr, of Illinois. William Youlo, Sampson Diahn and Washington Yonly of Minnesota.

Others are old men, Joe W. Barley, Sonnie Soe and Sear Tofoi of Iowa, Baitan Nyenow, John Garlo and Martha Doe of Missouri/Kansas. Others being called upon are Naygna Toe, Saydee Karpeh and Gabriel Kpanah of Georgia. Joseph Dorbor, Bleenyonah Baygbor and retired Army General, Willie Dennis of New England chapters respectively should join the BREEZE INITIATIVE with an open mind.

I am further urging the entire national leadership most especially President Adolphine Kannah, not her surrogates this time around, Vice President Isaac Bull Yonly, Secretary-General, Jeremiah G. Sokan, Sr., National Board Chair, Isaac Vowal, Co-Chair, Philip Wahblo and National Board Secretary-General, Sarah Toe McKinney, to put aside all their titles and pride and do this for GEDEH UNITY. They should participate fully in the BREEZE INITIATIVE, to see how best we can all resolve this matter and reclaim our GEDEH UNITY, which was once upon a time, the envy of all other Liberians.   

The media battle which has been fought between and amongst Grand Gedeans since the GGAA elections has not yielded any positive results.

Whether it is Tarnyon Nyenon leading the charge for the Kannah/Yonly team, which subsequently became the national administration, like a young law school graduate in the civil law court, or Isaac B. Rue, declaring a resounding victory for the Kannah/Yonly team, like a referee announcing the end of a football game, let us all end this quagmire by taking advantage of the BREEZE INITIATIVE, with an open mind.

Whether it is Jeremiah Sockon issuing clarifications on behalf of the Kannah/Yonly administration or Rancy Wright demanding substantiated evidence from Joseph Solo, against just making wild allegations against others, we must all take advantage of the BREEZE INITIATIVE with an open mind. 

Whether it is Ranold Free wishing for the death of the entire membership of the National Board, or Joseph Solo condemning everybody else including Mr. Tarnyon Nyenon, classifying him a non-Grand Gedean and ordering him to short his mouth and leave Grand Gedeh politics to Grand Gedeans and go to River Gee County, where according to Solo, he actually belongs and could make more meaningful contributions, we must all take advantage of the BREEZE INITIATIVE with an open mind. 

Whether it is Otavious Diahn accusing the Kannah/Yonly administration of misappropriating its priorities, or it is Edmond Bargblor posing as Dr. Borbor Dennis, to avoid being labeled a tribalist/sectionalist, we must all take advantage of the BREEZE INITIATIVE with an open mind, because we are all going nowhere with these media battles, because we may never convince our opponents to agree with our point of views.

After haven personally spoken to Hon. Gaye Breeze on this matter, I have no doubt on my mind unless proven otherwise. I am left with the impression that he sincerely means well in finding a solution once and for all. 

LONG LIVE THE GGAA!!!

LONG LIVE GEDEH UNITY!!!

LONG LIVE GRAND GEDEH COUNTY!!!

LONG LIVE LIBERIA!!!

Tarnyon Nyenon

Managing Editor/Editor-In-Chief

MN Web-grandgedehassocincmn.com

tnyenon59@yahoo.com   763-226-3634-Cell