By Siahyonkron Nyanseor 
Senior Advisor, MOLAC & CLACI
Ladies and gentlemen: I need not remind to you that our country Liberia is in leadership crisis. Liberia is in ethical morass and a state of organized BRAZEN plunder. And yes, our country is once more crying for us to expose those who use Liberia as their personal bank accounts, and their plantation to enrich themselves and their cronies at the expense of the Liberian people.
If anybody thinks the Liberian people are fools, than that person is ignorant of history. How can the Liberian people miss individuals who just yesterday were dirt poor, and out of a sudden are earning anywhere from $10 to $15,000.00 a month doing nothing but riding around in brand new cars with traveling allowances that can pay the yearly salaries of fifty persons in Liberia. How can the Liberian people miss individuals who yesterday rode “Holy, Holy” (public transportation) with many of us? Because of their new status, they acquired new-bad attitude; talk down to people as if they are their house boys and girls - with no consideration that the Liberian people deserve respect. How can the people forget such abuse that is done to them with impunity? How can they?
Based on the profound words of President Andrew Jackson, “One man with courage makes a majority.” This statement is true today as it was in his time!
One does not have to be nuclear scientist to know corrupt practices when they see it.
J. Kerkula Foeday is right to say, “Like Taylor, Ellen is today using our resources to smokescreen bad governance practices, including corruption in Liberia. We know this. So we are not surprised by the plan to use their privileged positions and ill-gotten wealth to mobilize their cronies and blind supporters to protest for corruption in Liberia.” He also said:
“So Emmett, save your money. No need for betting with anyone. It will augur well for you if you can donate the $100 to MOLAC so that we can buy and print more placards with anti-corruption messages.”
In a country where there are many poor and hungry people, money can do a lot; buy them for a while, use their own resources, which includes wealth earned from both their human and natural resources to make them feel good. History tells us that this approach is only temporarily.
Remember the phrase: “You can fool some of the people some of the time, and not all the people all of the time.” Liberians too, say: “Ninety years are not forever!”
To which C. Washington Tarpeh made an excellent observation:
“This game of yours has no absolute value/outcome. Therefore, a bet on such a game is problem prone. For example, an individual or a group of individuals may demonstrate to express their discontentment about an issue of social importance, and such discontentment may be relatively limited to this particular individual or the group of individuals. While corruption is rampant in Liberia, there are others who think the corruption in Liberia is not at a level to warrant a public demonstration. Therefore, despite the hundreds of thousands of Liberians in the US, only a small fraction of this number considers the issue of corruption fundamentally serious. Hence, the actual number of demonstrators may be less or more than 50. That said, what is important is the issue that precipitates the demonstration and NOT the actual number of demonstrators.”
On the other hand, one may have had the incentive to place a bet if the game were framed as follows: Of the hundreds of thousands of Liberians in the US, only a Zero number of Liberians will show up for the MOLAC’s planned demonstration. This game has an absolute value or a definite outcome, either nobody (0) shows up or somebody (1) shows up.
Thus, those who doubt the power of the people better watch out; history is about to be repeated. It takes “small axe to cut big tree down.” Those who do not believe in this adage should go on making fun of those of us who are dead serious of doing something about CORRUPTION in our country. They can go on betting that no more than 50 persons will attend the peace and lawful protest in New York. You watch out! Many are called, but few are chosen. If only two persons attend the peaceful protest organized by the Movement of Liberians Against Corruption (MOLAC) and the Concerned Liberians Against Corruption and Impunity (CLACI), they would have achieved their objectives. It would have achieved with personal sacrifices and funds obtained legally, and not STOLEN.
I will not be surprised if the Ellen regime mobilizes tugs and “who want work” (individuals looking for work in Liberian parlance) to show support for her corrupt government. They will be welcomed with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do;” (Luke 23:34) then take their pictures to have it posted on the new website that is being developed and have them stored for the reading public to view — as individuals or groups that assists Ellen and her associates to rip the Liberian people off.
MOLAC and CLACI are following the wise saying of Confucius that reads: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” To add to it, when you start counting, do you start from 2, 3 or 50? In the math taught me in the 50’s at Government Morning School, South Beach, you start from the NUMBER 1. That tells us that the number 1 is as important as 50 or 500. Since this is the case, if one person showed up at the UN to tell the world about the CORRUPTION in Liberia, we will be happy.
Dr. Zumo said it right:
…Every age has been one where people were afraid to speak up. This age has been one where people speak up commonly, but are afraid to offend where offense is needed. One person stepping forward to show the others what is necessary is a leader in the making. Unfortunately, more often than not, the courageous are the ignorant.
You would think that people who studied a little bit more of mathematics would know better about things in general and how these things logically unfold ultimately; but again, sometimes that is asking too much and is akin to asking snail for blood. Let the man bet all he want. The horse has left the barn. It is the quality of the numbers not the quantity. Even math educator (as he is; he is no mathematician) is expected to know that much.
We move on with 5 or 500! The message is clear. All that is needed is a troika of thinker, talker and thug. History has the rest of the answer for him.
To answer the questions posed by Ellen supporters through Art Weah Doe: “Who are they?” “Where did they come from?” “Why now?” we say, the hundreds of Ellen supporters that will gather in New York in support of her and her delegates will get to know the answer(s) on Tuesday, September 24, 2013.
MOLAC and CLACI are doing what Ellen did to President Samuel K. Doe. She protested against an elected government and raised MONEY to wage wars that led to the death of 250,000 people, and displaced a million other for the sole purpose of replacing him. Unlike Ellen, MOLAC, CLACI and all freedom-loving Liberians and friends are exercising their God-giving RIGHTS, and are doing it according to international laws and the Liberian Constitution. The protest is against Ellen and her associates for the “RAMPANT CORRUPTIONS” her DISUNITY PARTY has engaged in these seven (7) years.
Our cause is not personal, it is patriotic! Politics to me is not personal but about issues. Certainly, it is about issues in policies that affect us and the environment in which we live. Therefore, our protest is not personal; it is about a group of people that are using our wealth and resources as if it belongs to them. So, we do not need a Monday morning quarterback or armchair anthropologist to tell us what to do and how we should do it. In fact, we have decided to follow in the footsteps of men like former Rep. Bill Witherspoon, former Rep. Didwho Twe, former Minister of the Interior William David Coleman, Cllr. H. Raymond Horace, former Ambassador H. Boima Fahnbulleh, Sr., and Pamphleteer Albert Porte who had guts to speak to power for the abuse and violation of the laws and the constitution by Liberian officials who took oath to preserve, protect and defend the Liberian people’s RIGHTS.
In conclusion, we in MOLAC and CLACI believe that “Most people will always rally around a center of power, particularly if it is the center most accessible to them and it produces the results they want…” (Bork, Robert H. (2010), Coercing Virtue: The Worldwide Rule of Judges) These are the individuals and groups our protest is directed at. For now, let me leave with you the profound statement of the late Chinua Achebe that reads: “When old people speak it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouths; it is because we see something which you do not see.”
See you at the UN!
Our eyes are opened; the time of the people has come!
The poem below was written by me in honor of a principled bread of patriotic Liberians with guts, who the Liberian society dismissed as being Craky (Crazy):
PATRIOTS OR CRAKY PEOPLE!
© 7/22/1972
At one time in Liberia
Anyone who dare challenge
The unjust practices of the
Liberian authorities
Were considered CRAKY
So I came to the conclusion that
To be CRAKY
Was not such a bad thing to be!
Since all of the people considered
CRAKY, were reputable people
Individuals like
Rep. Bill Witherspoon
He was considered CRAKY
For refusing to contribute
To Tubman’s Birthday Funds
Didwho Twe too was CRAKY
As well as a traitor and unpatriotic
For challenging Tubman
For the Presidency of Liberia
William David Coleman and his son
Were murdered for attempting
To rock the boat
Something had to be really wrong
With Cllr. H. Raymond Horace
For refusing to beg Tubman
As for Ambassador
H. Boima Fahnbulleh, Sr.
He had to be out of his mind
To be caught with Communist
Materials in his study
As for Oldman Albert Porte
He was not only CRAKY
He was both CRAKY and CRAZY
For challenging
The Liberian authorities
For violating the
Constitutional Rights
Of the Liberian masses
Based on these CRAKY behaviors
I decided as a child growing up
In Rocktown, Monrovia that
If only CRAKY people
Were the only people
Who could speak their minds
I too would like to be CRAKY
So, there and then, I realized that
After all, to be CRAKY
Was not such a bad thing to be
Therefore, I made a promise to myself
That when I grow up
I too would be CRAKY like
Bill Witherspoon
Rock the boat like
William David Coleman
Refuse to give up my rights
Like Billy Horace
Add to my collection of books like
H. Boima Fahnbulleh, Sr.
Become a traitor and unpatriotic
Just like Didwho Twe
Go CRAZY and CRAKY like
Oldman Albert Porte
Because to me, these individuals
Represent Liberia’s true
Civil Rights champions
Therefore, I too want to grow up
To be CRAKY just like them
About the Author: Siahyonkron J. K. Nyanseor is a poet, a Griot, journalist, cultural and political activist, and an ordained Minister of the Gospel. He is Chairman of the Liberian Democratic Future (LDF); publisher of theperspective.org online newsmagazine. He serves as Senior Advisor to the Voice of Liberia newsmagazine as well as Senior Advisor to MOLAC and CLACI. In 2012, he Co-authored Djogbachiachuwa: The Liberian Literature Anthology. He can be reached at: [email protected]
