The Fatal Home Invasion of Justice Gloria Scott’s Home Shows the Liberian Nation Needs Real and Serious Leadership.
Posted February 25, 2023
by Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
It is difficult to stay away from Liberian politics.
How can I stay away from Liberia and Liberian politics when that place is as close to my heart just as the two individuals who brought me into this world?
Giving up on Liberia right now is like giving up on Palm Butter and Rice, my birth food, which I will never do unless my doctor advised that I give them up out of incredible concern for my health.
Haha, you know where I am going with this.
Even with both ears shut to not hear about the event there, there is a way that those profoundly terrible happenings in Liberia will reach me to spoil my day.
With eyes to see things, and relatives and friends reaching out to tell me about those events in this 24/7 news cycle, most definitely, there is no way of insulating me from the sad news coming out of Liberia.
Public safety and the rule of law are serious problems in Liberia, coupled with the cruel and contemptuous culture of impunity often talked about as drivers that mock the democracy that the George Manneh Weah administration finds itself embracing and defending daily.
The scary and disgusting thoughts that a former Liberian Supreme Court Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott, is unsafe in her own home brings home the thoughts that the no-name, ordinary Liberians are unsafe in their homes.
Former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott’s home was violated the second time and violently invaded by assassins – some say, armed robbers, who killed her daughter, Charloe Musu, a graduating student of Starz University in Monrovia, during the crime spree.
This is not the first in this year and not the first in previous years, either, for the homes of prominent and not-so-prominent Liberians to be fatally invaded, making fatal home invasions the new normal in Liberia, a country that cannot seem to shake itself of being the proverbial unsafe destination to live, raise your kids, and do business.
The nation needs leadership when these things happen, a credible leadership that brings sensitivity, empathy, and credibility to governance to calm the fears of those living in the country.
The political leadership, especially the President of Liberia, George Manneh Weah, is virulently silent on these national issues often preferring to channel his time and energy to the blasphemous worship of God and the blasphemous preaching of the gospel in his church, and donating money - $10,000 to the family of the deceased Ghanaian-born footballer, Christian Atsu, who perished in the recent earthquake in Turkey.
There is something wrong with the picture when a nation’s president – like George Manneh Weah did, ignores the myriad of unfunded problems in his country only to find the funds to donate to a family in another country during times of their bereavement when those funds could have been donated to victims of crimes and crimes prevention funds in Liberia, his own country.
Roads and bridges are impassable. Schools are dilapidated and falling apart. Hunger and begging are daily occurrences. Sea erosion is decimating coastal Liberia, and corruption is as rampant and out of the control as ever.
Yet, this president is reaching out for cheap adulation and silly validation everywhere.
In Liberia in 2023, sick patients with no money to buy their medications are turned away by hospitals and clinics and are told to return only when they have the money to buy their prescriptions from the health practitioner who is also in charge of the dispensary.
There is something wrong with the picture when President George Manneh Weah, always looking for cheap validation and adulation from abroad, often ignores his country’s unfunded mountain of problems only to find the money to travel with a huge entourage to another country with per diem waiting to be paid out to the president and his traveling companions.
These evil things are happening in Liberia in real-time as a painfully silent president never takes to a microphone to speak on the issue of the day to the nation like a president of a country would do to show sensitivity and empathy, ease the fears of the citizenry, instill confidence in a wary citizenry, and use all available state resources to find the criminals and prosecute them.
Even though this guy, George Manneh Weah, the President of Liberia, never addresses the nation on these slew of critical issues to find practical solutions, his hordes of sycophantic followers and shameless enablers will quickly cite the stale and meaningless State of the Nation Address (SONA), that says nothing about anything to recite his imaginary ‘accomplishments’ as president when there is nothing there to cite.
This is the time for real leadership in Liberia.
If there is any evidence that a member of the president’s inner circle is involved in the home invasion of the former chief justice’s home as has been hinted that presidential buddy and Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee is believed to be behind it, he should be investigated and prosecuted.
Also, instead of President George Manneh Weah’s supporters scrambling all over the place to find something to point to as their pastor and leader’s accomplishments as President of Liberia, they should be telling him to get with the legislature to fund and reduce the cost of prescription drugs to help poor and unemployed Liberians to get their medicines, donate to victims of crimes and crimes prevention, drugs and alcohol addiction, and the creation of jobs in Liberia.
The mysterious deaths of the four auditors, Princess Cooper, presidential sons John Tubman and William “Bill” Tolbert, are still genuinely unresolved and on our minds.
The latest home invasion of former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott’s home and the violent killing of her daughter is the latest sore piercing the history of Liberia that cannot be left untreated.
The Liberian nation needs real and serious leadership.
It is nowhere in sight right now.
dorbioh@hotmail.com.
klorbah@hotmail.com.
www.theliberiandialogue.org.
