Archive for August, 2014

Ebola uncovered the real Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh

A humane way to pay tribute to the dead is not to talk bad about the person. After all, the individual is deceased; so saying bad things about the person is cruel and uncivilized.

Why say bad things about a dead person who is gone and cannot defend him or herself, in the first place?

In our natural world, however, we are expected to respect the dead, say good things about the individual, and wished that his or her soul “rest in peace.”

In an era of the Ebola virus that rages senselessly in Liberia, those widely accepted codes of ethical behavior are thrown out the window as Madame Sirleaf shifts blame to exonerate her administration of mishandling the crisis, even as her presidency whirls in an avalanche of confusion and incompetence.

Patrick Oliver Sawyer’s Ebola-ravaged body was barely cremated in Nigeria far away from the tears and anxieties of his wife and kids when Sirleaf, playing to the massive negative sentiments of the Nigerians and her local Liberian audience, threw a jab at the deceased in an unpleasant way.

Sirleaf reportedly attributes Sawyer’s death to “indiscipline and disrespect” when he knowingly traveled with the Ebola virus on a plane to Nigeria to infect others.

As controversial and deplorably bad Sawyer’s Ebola death was, the last thing a nation wants its president to do is badmouth the dead, a fellow citizen – her employee; even as she apologizes to Nigeria for Sawyer’s transgressions.

Patrick Oliver Sawyer succumbed to Ebola in July, but the politics and mind boggling presidential incompetence that followed has since exposed the Sirleaf administration for what this president has been all these years to the Liberian people.

Madame Sirleaf did not only show incompetence in the way she handled the Ebola crisis; she is clueless, which is as dangerous as the virus that continues to wreak havoc in Liberia today.

Sadly, over a month after Sawyer passed away in Nigeria; Madame Sirleaf seems to hop from one ambiguous social experiment to the other in an attempt to prove to her critics that she’s “trying her best.”

Trying her best means setting up an Ebola holding center in the overcrowded coastal slum community of West Point, right in the heart of the city of Monrovia, when a holding center could have been erected in a less populated area faraway from the city.

How can a president who orders the quarantine of a community to prevent residents from traveling from one area to the other so as not to spread the virus, put a holding center in the same community?

And when citizens of West Point protest the president’s curfew and quarantine policies, which did not include a workable plan to distribute food to the affected areas, her military opened fire and killed a 15-year old teenager, Shakie Kamara.

Knowing historically how the non-independent Liberian judicial system works with past administrations, and how President Sirleaf often manipulates the court’s decisions, Shakie Kamara’s death could be in vain without a single individual going to prison or held liable for the senseless death of young Kamara.

So why West Point, in this era of Ebola?

Like New Kru Town, Logan Town, Jamaica Road and other parts of Liberia, these areas have suffered woeful neglect from politicians for decades, in terms of economic and infrastructure development.

So when Madam Sirleaf imposed her unilateral decision on the citizens of West Point to erect a holding Ebola center in that overcrowded slum, which could easily cause long-term illnesses and possibly exterminate those poor people, they have the right to oppose their government’s cold-hearted intrusion in their lives.

The Ebola crisis is out of control and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is overwhelmed, with no answer whatsoever to deal with the enormous public health crisis that continues to kill Liberians, and expose her leadership flaws.

Leading terribly from behind with no credible Ebola and disaster management policy in sight to combat the deadly virus or future natural disasters, a frustrated Sirleaf dismissed government officials whom she claimed defied her ultimatum to return to Liberia from their foreign trips.

However, the latest estimate so far have Liberia leading in the number of Ebola deaths in West Africa; ahead of Guinea and Sierra, the two countries that reportedly exported the virus to Liberia.

Equally disturbing is the fact that Sirleaf heads the Ebola task force, which makes no difference, anyway, because on Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s watch as head of that (photo-ops) task force, more Liberians are dying, the virus just don’t want to go away, and some Liberians are beginning to demand (understandably so) that the Sirleaf administration be replaced with an interim government.

This is interesting because once up a time, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf once saw her popularity go through the stratospheres during the heyday of her presidency.

For this image-conscious and manipulative lady who invest millions in international awards and public relations to hide her obvious lack of leadership, naked arrogance and lack of compassion, to be the most hated person/politician in Liberia today, says a lot about what money cannot buy all the time.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf failed the Liberian people. Ebola uncovered what she’s all about.

Replace her!

August 29, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

What Hodge failed to mention about Tipoteh’s activities in Liberia

By J. Kpanneh Doe

In Theodore Hodge’s article, “The Great Liberian Drama: The Leading Lady and her Supporting Cast” that was published in The Perspective’s August 22, 2014 edition, was short on specifics.

Hodge wrote about President Ellen Sirleaf, Amos Sawyer, Henry Boima Fahnbulleh, Jr., Mary Broh, and Togba Nah Tipoteh. A good writer that he is – Hodge did not do himself justice. Perhaps, because he was too anxious to paint everybody with the same brush, which is dangerous for a fine and experienced writer like him.

Since Hodge seems not to be aware of the activities of Korwreh Duwree Togba-Nah Tipoteh on the ground; perhaps, I could be of help to him – I know him too well. That’s all I intend to do in this article. This is not a rejoinder, rather a presentation of FACTS that can be readily obtained by anyone who wants to present a balanced view of the person he/she is writing about.

First, the analogy of ‘supporting cast’ doesn’t fit Tipoteh. Tipoteh’s advocacy and work with the Liberian people since the 1960s is an open book. Having made this point clear, let’s look at the reference he made of Tipoteh’s lack of activities in Liberia.

The critique started of sarcastically:

“Then there is Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh. No, he’s not an active member of the official circle, but he plays a key part, anyway. It’s like a great actor in a movie. He doesn’t have to deliver great lines or play a great role, all he has to do is make an appearance in a scene. It was the late great Dr. Martin Luther King who said, “In the end, we will remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” And so it is with Dr. Tipoteh. The silence from him is deafening.”

Find below a partial list of Tipoteh’s engagement with the President, government policies, the general public and the Liberia people:

(1) “Talking with the President: Poverty Reduction: The Case of One Poor Liberian” – The

Agenda, October 3, 2008.

(2) “Talking with the President: In Praise of Teachers” – The Agenda, October 10, 2008.

(3) “Talking with the President: Leaders and Crisis” – The Agenda, October 17, 2008.

(4) “Talking with the President: The Obama Victory” – The Agenda, November 2008.

(5) “Talking with the President: The Kakata Retreat” – The Agenda, November 1, 2008.

(6) “Talking with the President: The DRC Crisis” – The Agenda, November 13, 2008.

(7) “Talking with the President: The Food Problem” – The Agenda, November 27, 2008.

(8) “Talking with the President: The Case of a Lost Child” – The Agenda, December 4, 2008.

(9) “Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh’s Message to the People of Liberia” – The Agenda, December 23, 2008.

(10) “Togba-Nah Tipoteh: Misunderstood and Misinterpreted” – The Liberian Dialogue, April 25, 2010.

(11) “Presidential Aspirant 2011: Tipoteh’s New Year’s Message” – by Tipoteh, 2011.

(12) “Tipoteh: I’m Back and Prepared” – The New Republic, June 26, 2013.

(13) “Sirleaf Sends Out Peace Message – But Tipoteh Differs” – August 20, 2013.

(14) “Liberia: So, So ‘Lies’” – The New Republic, February 7, 2014.

(15) “State of the People: Liberia Government Must Take Action for ‘Growth with Development’” – The Perspective, March 18, 2014.

(16) “Tipoteh on Correcting GOL Budget Short Fall” – May 2, 2014.

(17) “Tipoteh Presents Action to Make Economy Strong” – The Analyst, May 30, 2014.

(18) “What the UMC’s Big Tent Looks Like in Liberia” – United Methodist Insight, June 4, 2014.

(19) “Tipoteh Cites More Reasons for High US Rate… Names American Citizens in Gov’t as One Factor” – The Inquirer, July 3, 2014.

(20) “Tipoteh Says President Sirleaf Breaks Laws - - Calls for Due Process of Law” – The Analyst, July 11, 2014.

(21) “Ellen Takes Side In Nimba Protest” – The New Republic, July 13, 2014.

(22) “On Gov’t Decision On Violent Protest in Nimba: Tipoteh Disagrees with Ellen… Says She Breaks the Law” – The Inquirer, July 14, 2014.

(23) “High US Rate Causing Price Hike” – The Inquirer, July 14, 2014.

(24) “Tipoteh Calls for New National Elections Commission” – The Analyst, July 22, 2014.

Having missed the proof provided above, Hodge continued:

“Sadly, there are those who still believe he has fought a good fight. After all, he was a teacher and teachers have a way of embedding onto the minds of impressionable youth certain ideas or images that are difficult or impossible to erase. He shall, therefore, always remain a good memory to his faithful students, but to the rest of us he shall remain less glorified. In fact, he will remain vilified. To rage all that hell and then turn silent and complacent in subsequent administrations is an abomination.”

The question is, where was he when the Editor of theperspective.org wrote the introduction to Tipoteh State of the People’s message, titled: “Liberian Government Must Take Action for ‘Growth with Development’” (thepespective.org March 18, 2014 edition). The introduction reads:

“Editor’s Note:

On February 3rd, Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh, founding leader of the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA) and Presidential Candidate in Liberia’s 2011 Elections, delivered his annual ‘State of the People’ message to Liberians at an event organized by the Fiamah Future Intellectual Discourse Center. Delivered a week after President Sirleaf’s 2014 Annual Message to the nation, Dr. Tipoteh’s speech clearly outlined the serious economic problems (particularly the deepening mass poverty) plaguing the people of Liberia.

Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh, a development economist by training, professor Tipoteh explains that contrary to what the President declared in her annual message, Liberia “is not stronger, safer, securer and steadier than in the past”. Liberians, he notes, are still trapped in a “growth without development” syndrome or nightmare, mainly because of a chronic lack of commitment on the part of the present and previous Liberian governments to take action for “growth with development”. Below is the full text of Dr. Tipoteh’s speech, which demonstrates his classic style of elegant simplicity of language.”

“Dat it there - oh!” As Liberians are fond of saying in case like this!

I need not bother you any further with Hodge’s quarrel with the man he knows nothing about. Now, let me share with you how involved Tipoteh is with ordinary people. The story is about “The Case of a Lost Child;” published in the December 4, 2008 edition of The Agenda:

Talking With the President: The Case of a Lost Child

“Madam President, once again Happy National Agricultural Fair (NAF) Day. My Commentary for NAF Day was made last Friday and so it will not be repeated here. However, as we celebrate NAF Day it would do us all some good to reflect on the plight of our children. In this Commentary, attention is drawn to the plight of a lost child, who was selling in the streets of Monrovia for her family to get money to buy food and send her to school.

“Two days ago, on my way home at about 6 O’clock in the evening, I observed that a crowd had gathered at the intersection of Broad and Johnson Streets, closer to the Johnson Street side, between Broad and Carey Streets. I parked my jeep and asked what was going on. I was told that a little girl had come to the city center to sell some home-baked biscuits in a covered white plastic bucket, but could not find her way back home.

“Then, I heard someone say that the girl lived in Duala, near the Duala market on Bushrod Island. There was a lot of talking and even some shouting with some people in the crowd quarreling with the child while others were making suggestions about how she could get home, wherever that was. When the little girl emerged out of the confusion, stopped crying and seemed clear about Duala as being the area of her residence, I intervened and promised to drive her to Duala to conduct a search for her home.

“Most people in the crowd approved of my intervention and allowed me to take the little girl into my jeep to begin the search for her home. In the jeep, I began a conversation with the little girl and she told me at the outset that her name was Nyonohn Wleh. Nearing the Gabriel Tucker Bridge, she said that her parents lived in Duala and she could identify her home when we reached Duala. Approaching Logan Town, little Nyonohn Wleh changed her story, saying that she was going to Duala to see her Uncle. By that time, she had told me her age, mentioning that she was 11-years-old.

“When we arrived in Duala, Nyonohn Wleh, holding on to her nearly empty biscuit bucket, could not identify any place in Duala as being her home or that of her Uncle. Then, I said that I would take her to the St. Paul Bridge Police Station so that the police could assist in the search for her home. When the little girl heard what I had said about going to the police, she then started

appealing to not take her to the Police Station. Suddenly, she said that one of her Aunts lived near the St. Paul Bridge.

“Thereupon, I drove towards St. Paul Bridge and asked her to identify her Aunt’s place. About 300 yards from the Bridge, Nyonohn Wleh yelled “that’s the place to the left with the bright lights”. So, I drove to that place and parked off the highway. When I asked her for the name of her Aunt, she replied “Aunty Felicia”. Looking for someone who knew Aunty Felicia, I had to wade through a lake of boys, in their low teens, playing pool on make-shift pool tables under a lighted tree.

“My worst fears began to show when no one showed up who knew Aunty Felicia. As a crowd began to gather around my jeep, greeting me with the sound MOJA, MOJA, I took advantage of the friendly disposition and asked some of the greeters to go deeper into the nearby community and ask for Aunty Felicia. I asked Nyonohn Wleh to described Aunty Felicia. She said that her Aunty was dark and fat and she sold farina. Two women were brought to the jeep, but each of them carried a name other than the Felicia name. But the greeters persisted in their probe, which went beyond 7PM and the persistence paid off as a fair and medium sized lady came by the jeep, saying that her name was Felicia.

“I put the inside light of the jeep on and asked her if she knew the little girl in the car. Before I could finish my questioning, she yelled “Nyonohn, what are you doing out this late?” Relief in “my disposition began to glow on my face, as this was the first sign of evidence regarding the family of Nyonohn Wleh. I told Aunty Felicia how I came across the little girl. Then Aunty Felicia told me that Nyonohn Wleh lived in Virginia, near the Deaf and Dumb School, with her Grandmother. Aunty Felicia volunteered to take the little girl home if we could arrange taxi fare, to and fro, for her.

“As I wanted to see the end of this sad but regular or daily story in our country, I told Aunty Felicia that I would drive her and the little girl to the Grandmother’s place, despite the fact that I had been on this case for more than two hours. Sure enough, when we reached the rear of the Deaf and Dumb School, we met the Octogenarian Grandmother exhibiting at once disbelief and relief upon seeing her Grandchild. In fact, the Grandmother could not take it all, as she began to sit on the bare ground in the yard, near the jeep, and began to cry with her hands on her head. The Grandmother had sent out a search party for Nyonohn Wleh, but returned empty-handed. A family member there whispered to me saying, that Nyohn Wleh’s Aunt in the United States of America sends money on a monthly basis for the upkeep of the family, but the little girl is sent out daily to sell biscuits, right after school. When asked about the little girl’s parents, I was told that the parents are alcoholics.

“Madam President, I thought to bring Nyonohn Wleh’s plight to your attention because it is representative of the plight of our children in our country. We should, can and must do better. Starting this week, I will show the family how the money from the USA can be used so that Nyonohn Wleh stays in school and sells no more.”

This is a fraction of Tipoteh’s involvement with the Liberian people. Those who don’t know him have all sorts of fairy tales about him. “He’s too tight-fisted (mean); too honest. Whenever he travels abroad on government’s account, he usually brings receipts and returns the money he did not use. He lives a simple life; his automobile might be 20 years old, and his wife must see something in him that the Liberian people are missing.”

Longtime political activist and publisher of The Liberian Dialogue, Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh, in the April 25, 2010 edition of that online website, writes: “Togba-Nah Tipoteh: Misunderstood & Misinterpreted”).

Togba-Nah Tipoteh is a rare breed of a human being who you don’t see quite often in Liberia. He’s principled, disciplined, smart, humbled, uncorrupted and consistent in his politics, the way he live his life, and the seriousness he has shown since he arrived in Liberia in the early 70s, to contribute to the development of his homeland.

Those traits are admirable in a country where politicians and the person at the lowest end of the totem pole always want to get over at the expense of the citizens and the nation, and are also admirable traits for anyone who aspires to work in public service. And if Liberia can get many more Tipotehs to lead, inspire, and show Liberians how to carry themselves gracefully in their politics and their daily lives the way he has done for decades, we all could be better humans, and Liberia, perhaps could be the developed and prosperous nation we all want it to be…

However, for a population that needs a complete overhaul in their standard of living, and a country that needs serious transformation and infrastructure development, one would think Togba-Nah Tipoteh is the overwhelming ideal choice to lead a nation that needs serious attention.

As it is now, and because he is often misunderstood and misinterpreted, Togba-Nah Tipoteh will never get a chance to be the president he always wanted to be.

What a shame!

J. Kpanneh Doe can be reached at: [email protected].

August 28, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

PM Netanyahu: "Show me the science!"

By David Leffler

Remember “Show me the money,” from the film Jerry Maguire?

We ask Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Show me the Science!” He asserts that bombardment of Gaza will continue… . “We are determined to continue the campaign with all means and as is needed. We will not stop until we guarantee full security and quiet for the residents of the south and all citizens of Israel <http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/israel-gaza-militants-trade-fire-aft er-talks-fail/2014/08/20/93f08e76-282c-11e4-8b10-7db129976abb_story.html> .”

Can PM Netanyahu cite any scientific research published in reputable peer-reviewed journals showing that bombardment will create full security and quiet? Is bombing going to create lasting peace? There is no statistically-validated guarantee that this non-scientific strategy will work. It certainly has not in the past. Why should it now?

Albert Einstein is famously quoted as saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” History shows that using violence to quell violence ultimately just ratchets up the spiral of violence. PM Benjamin Netanyahu should be commended for his lofty goals of “full security and quiet.”

They are statistically viable, if he supports his words with a proven, advanced military technology for Israel’s military arsenals. Lasting peace and prosperity are a consequence of the scientifically-validated approach of Invincible Defense Technology (IDT). Extensive in-field military experience, coupled with peer-reviewed research shows that IDT can effectively, efficiently, and quickly end the current turmoil, and eliminate the rising spiral of violence.

If the defense forces of Israel quickly deploy this statistically-verified approach it will not be necessary to base Israeli defense operations on guesswork or to risk the lives of non-combatant citizens on either side of the border. This IDT approach to reducing stress and violence is already part of the training of America’s future commanders at Norwich University <http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-06/transcendental-meditation-m ay-help-stressed-vets> , and has been field-tested by other militaries <http://www.police-writers.com/articles/combating_stress_in_police_work.html > . It is validated by 23 peer-reviewed studies carried out in both developed and developing nations <http://www.davidleffler.com/1999/sapraalternative/> .

They include the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Independent scientists and scholars endorse it, based on 25 years of research. IDT Reduces Societal Stress A specially trained military unit, an “IDT Prevention Wing of the Military <http://www.gapwm.org/home/preventive-wings-in-the-military/> ” uses IDT to reduce stress in the national collective consciousness. IDT could also be introduced into other large groups such as the police forces, militias or the national guard.

As the cross-border stress and frustration ease, the combatants are more capable of finding orderly and constructive solutions the issues that have separated them for generations. Experience with IDT in other war-torn areas of the globe have demonstrated increased economic incentive and growth of prosperity. Entrepreneurship and individual creativity increase. With increased civic calm, people’s aspirations are raised and a more productive and balanced society emerges. Such a society abhors violence as a means for change or as an expression of discontent. With this the ground for terrorism is eliminated <http://www.davidleffler.com/2002/quantifying_physics_orme-johnson/> .

What is more fascinating is that this change takes place within a few days or weeks after IDT is introduced. The changes are measurable from such statistics as crime rates, accidents, hospital admissions, infant mortality, etc. The changes are measurable from such statistics as crime rates, accidents, hospital admissions, infant mortality, etc. The IDT soldier’s daily routine includes the practice of the Transcendental Meditation <http://www.tm.org/> R technique and its advanced “TM-Sidhi program.” As a societal coherence-creating military unit, soldiers practice these techniques together in a group twice a day, seven days a week, preferably in a secure location near the targeted population.

Their presence need not be disclosed to achieve the effect of violence reduction and conflict resolution. Such coherence-creating groups have achieved positive benefits to society, shown experientially, in just 48 hours. Modern statistical methods demonstrate a consistent causal influence of the IDT group on reducing the conflict and preclude chance or coincidence. The IDT approach has been used during wartime, resulting in reduction of fighting, reduced war deaths and casualties, and in speeding the progress toward resolving the conflict through peaceful means.

An Israeli civilian IDT group decreased the intensity of war in Lebanon in 1983 in a dramatic way in 48 hours, to name only one of 50 successful demonstrations. (See a summary of the Israel study published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution <http://davidleffler.com/2011/sapratableii/#b41> and summaries of follow-up studies in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality <http://davidleffler.com/2011/sapratableii/#b13> and the <http://www.invinciblemilitary.org/articles/heterodox_theory_rebuttal.html> Journal of Scientific Exploration).

Documented Transformation in Mozambique In 1992, the Mozambique military <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/out-the-darkness/201212/can-meditation- change-the-world> carefully analyzed the IDT research and decided to try it. As predicted, violence disappeared by 1993 and Mozambique became more self-sufficient <http://www.peace.ca/maharishieffectanalysis.htm> . Economic growth reached 19%. Once the world’s poorest country in 1992, it had moved up to be the world’s fastest-growing economy by 2000. Former Mozambique President Joaquim Alberto Chissano, who learned Transcendental Meditation himself, introduced it to his cabinet and then the armed forces. 19 years of civil war and drought ended and President Chissano is the first to give credit to IDT for this effect.

Mozambique continues to be a shining star for Africa and a model for development. President Chissano was awarded the inaugural Ibrahim Prize in recognition of the unprecedented positivity that unfolded throughout all Mozambique under his unique and wise guidance. CONCLUSION Real and lasting peace and prosperity for both sides can be assured, not by guesswork bombardment and rocket retaliation, but by a scientifically-verified means to end the decades-old cycle of violence.

When the Israeli military adopts IDT it will become even more powerful and respected worldwide because this will be a demonstration of a peace technology the whole world can apply, for the betterment of all humanity. It is important to note that the IDT defense technology supersedes all other known defense technologies <http://www.istpp.org/military_science/Hagelin_military_lecture.html> (which are based on electronic, chemical, and/or nuclear forces). IDT creates genuine and lasting reconciliation and friendship where there was once only hatred and conflict.

The military that deploys this powerful human-resource-based technology disallows negative trends and prevents enemies from arising. No enemies means full security and a normal, productive life for Israel and her neighbors. If Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu arranges for his defense forces to establish Prevention Wings of the Military, they will ease the current high tensions, reverse centuries of mistrust and hatred and permanently prevent future unrest.

Extensive scientific research objectively says, “Yes, the approach works.” This is a military “campaign” that should be championed with “all means.” It is desperately needed. There is truly no other solution. Now is the best time to act, before the storm clouds of Middle East tensions explode.

Dr. David Leffler <http://istpp.org/military_science/#leffler> is the author of “A New Role for the Military: Preventing Enemies from Arising - Reviving an Ancient Approach to Peace <http://www.davidleffler.com/preventing-enemies.html> .” He was a member of the US Air Force for nearly nine years. Dr. Leffler served as an Associate of the Proteus Management Group at the Center for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College. He now serves as the Executive Director at the Center for Advanced Military Science (CAMS) in Fairfield, Iowa and teaches IDT. He is on <http://www.twitter.com/drdavidleffler> Twitter and Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/david.leffler> .

August 26, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

PM Netanyahu: “Show me the science!”

By David Leffler

Remember “Show me the money,” from the film Jerry Maguire?

August 26, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

Police accused of curfew abuse in New Kru Town

By Omari Jackson

Daily Observer

-Rob residents of Ld5, 500.00, and two mobile phones

The imposition of a nationwide curfew to halt the spread of Ebola is reportedly being abused by unscrupulous police officers to extort money and mobile phones from residents in New Kru Town.
Physically shaken after his experience, a 28-year-old businessman, who would not give his name for fear of reprisal, told the Daily Observer Thursday that four police officers in uniform, along with a couple of women in civilian clothes approached him, while he was closing his door, at around 8:30p.m. in time for the curfew.
“One of the officers asked me to come out but I told him I was going to bed,” the man told the Daily Observer. “The officer grabbed part of my door and began to force it open.”
The businessman said when he began to pull the door shut, “the officer also began to hit my hand to force me to leave the door.
“The officer, assisted by another officer,” he said, “brought me out of the door and began to charge my pockets. It was around 8:30p.m and I had my day’s proceeds from my work in my pocket.”
“The officers took the money, about LD$2, 000.00,” he explained. He was then taken to the New Kru Town Depot, and was released some time later.
“When I came home,” he said, “my wife and children told me that the police officers who did not follow us to the police station forced themselves into our bedroom and turned over my mattress and finally took away another LD$2, 000.00 that was kept there and two mobile phones.”
He also claimed that the officers searched the women, fumbling into their lappas, as well as playing around their waists to locate money bags that market women normally tie around their waist.
“How could they treat women like that?” he wondered. “My son’s left arm was struck and he is now complaining of pain.” The case, he said, was reported to Zone 1 Police Depot, on Bushrod Island.
In another incident, another Fulani hataye seller told the Daily Observer that two police officers came to his door and arrested him for breaking the curfew.
“It was after 8:00p.m,” the alleged victim, who also would not give his name, explained, “The officers took LD$1, 500.00 cash from me.”
Another resident, Annie Weah said officers came to her door to demand that she turned off her light.
“The one who came close to my door had a rattan with him,” she said, “he threatened to arrest and beat me for breaking curfew; but I did not open my door, when he demanded me to do so.”
She said some police officers do not understand the meaning of the imposition of curfew in the country and appealed to the Liberia National Police to ensure that officers don’t invade homes, in the wake of the ‘state of emergency’ to abuse Liberians, who simply want to be left alone to fight the Ebola outbreak in their communities.
When the Liberian National Police (LNP) authority was contacted yesterday, Police spokesperson Sam Collins said they were not aware of such incidents, but that authorities would investigate the matter.

August 23, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

“Let me sleep on it:” UP Government's response to the Ebola virus

By Siahyonkron Nyanseor

“Let me sleep on it” is the Unity Party government’s response to the Ebola virus in Liberia. This too is the case of “Play, play killed bird”; and the misinterpretation of “Wait; let me sleep on it until tomorrow.”

Well, the leadership of UP and the Liberian people – both at home and abroad have been sleeping on it for too long for ‘bad, bad things’ to be happening in our country. We have been making too many excuses for the “Old Ma” for which she has gotten away with similar practices she accused her predecessors – Tolbert, Doe and Taylor of violating.

Like we say in Liberia, “She has been given a free ride.” This indecisiveness by Liberians at home and abroad has put both Liberians and foreign nationals at risk in the country. And all we hear, “The Old Ma is trying!” Was she elected to be trying these eight years? Wasn’t she the one who had ALL the answers to our problems because of her international connections?

I am reminded of an elderly Bassa Griot who is fond of saying, “Nee ju, cede bay niaan chen keh, zlue nyon jay cede chen nii, orr cede zlue nii.”

Meaning, when an unwise person ‘learned book’ (obtained education), his book knowledge becomes useless. This seems to be the case with many of our book people in the country and the Diaspora. They are ‘tongue-tie’ to speak truth to power. Instead, they join the chorus of cheerleaders while the majority of the Liberian people barely have food to eat, while the ‘do-nothing Legislature’ passed a lucrative retirement package for themselves and their families.

Unwise people are not proactive! The record shows Liberia was forewarned as far as March this year about the Ebola virus. “The government slept on it’ and did not put in place the proper educational programs, which could have included the necessary preventative measures to contain the virus.

Now it has reached crisis proportion, and in the face of deaths, still many in the general population believe it to be a hoax. The Liberian people, including a Senior Senator, Cletus Wotorson (UP, Grand Kru) are in denial. He is reported as saying that, “… the Ebola noise made by health authorities was much ado about [nothing] and intended to extort money from donors.” What a misstatement! What was he thinking?

This is no time to sympathize with the President when these eight years she did not care for ordinary Liberians. She took ‘good care’ of her family, relatives, friends and associates with the MONEY earned from our resources, and the funds given by the international community as her OWN. How can she be excused when in eight years, there is no safe drinking water; electricity is provided by generators that pollute the environment with toxic substance that might likely cause lung disease and cancer in the population.

My nephew and another person died because he took his generator inside the house while it was still on for fear that if left on the window, it would be stolen. The toxic fume overwhelmed them and they died. With this kind of thing happening to ordinary people, how can she and her Unity Party administration be excused?

The ordinary people including teachers have to ride on those things they called ROADS for two to three hours to obtain their monthly pay checks (salaries).

Just over two weeks ago, a colleague’s older brother who is a principal in Grand Kru died in an automobile, accident along with another teacher when the Pehn-Pehn they were riding collided with an NGO vehicle on their way back from Barclayville. They had traveled there to obtain their monthly salaries (pay checks). This was the same system back in the day when I was in junior high school – Zion Academy, to be exact. Both men did not die on the scene, but died on the way to seek medical attention.

This tragedy and many others are what some Liberians including Dr. Abdoulaye Dukulé, a policy advisor to the president says we should not talk about because of the Ebola crisis going on in Liberia. Dr. Dukulé is absolutely wrong! Liberians should not be silenced because of this tragedy that has generated such raw emotions because it involves human lives. This Ebola crisis only represents a culmination of a deep leadership failure under the Unity Party government that we have seen in all spheres of our national life during these past eight years.

The automobile accident and many other tragedies around the country can be attributed to the President and her Unity Party government’s failure to be proactive.

A case in point is the Ebola virus that Liberians are dying from.

For example, on March 26, 2014, FrontPageAfrica, published an article titled: “Liberians on Ebola, Want Stronger Government Effort.” The article revealed that members of the National Legislature received the news of the Ebola cases in Liberia with grave concern. As the result, the Senate and the House of Representatives’ Committees on health were delegated to work closely with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in finding ways to combat the virus.

It is reported that “…during their separate regular sessions, the issue of the outbreak of the disease was discussed with consensus for collaborative efforts with the Executive Branch of government through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in tackling the spread of the disease. Senator Peter Coleman of Grand Kru County, a medical doctor by training, who once served as Minister of Health of Liberia told his colleagues to take seriously the current news of the spread of the virus in Liberia by making interventions in the best interest of the population.

Senator Coleman also stressed isolation and confinement of affected persons as some of the surest ways of preventing the virus from spreading to others and the need to make a national decision in terms of the provision of funding to the national emergency efforts. Also at the House of Representatives, a communication from Representative Eugene Fallah Kparkar (CDC, Foyah District), Lofa county was read in plenary.”

There were many suggestions from both students and other concerned citizens who wanted stronger Government actions to prevent the spread of the disease. Some call for the closure of the borders between Liberia and Guinea, as well as that of Sierra Leone. One Cooper Ikpah, a student at the University of Liberia felt that the government should declare Lofa County “an emergency zone.”

Ikpah went on to say, “I think government should declare it [Ebola] as a situation of emergency so as to curtail the spread of the virus. Look my brother, Ebola Virus is almost dangerous as the situation of war so for the government to take it lightly is worrisome. The Government should declare Lofa now as an emergency zone; people who will be coming from Lofa to Town [Monrovia] should be tested because if this is not done those affected may spread it to other parts of the country.”

One Titus Allen Sebo posted under Jay Wehtee Wion’s article titled: “Liberia’s Pandora Box Now Half Way Open,” carried on July 26, 2014 on FrontPageAfrica, wrote:

“…Ebola has nothing to do with the government. This sickness is just the first step on how God will deal with us if we don’t live the life he want[s] us to live as Christian[s]. Can’t you see that God is tired with our dirty ways? Man loving to man, woman loving to woman, people killing their friends for money???? Can’t you see????? My people!!!!!!!!! and God has his own way of punishing his children, and he will give it to them one by one…this time around, [it] is Liberia. So please, let us leave the government out of this, and start praying for our self…. we know the government got to try, but we can’t hope on them 100% cause no amount of money can save us right now, but to ask God to have mercy on us”.

The gentleman is almost right but did himself injustice by bringing into the discussion the “Dukulé Approach.” This made him to miss the mark! The government was not elected to try and keep trying in eight years; they were elected to serve the Liberian people, not a select few! In a democracy, the people have two choices: to praise and to be critical of their government when they are NOT doing what they were elected to do, for which they took oaths.

You see, the Liberian people have parables for everything. Two that readily comes to mind in this situation are: “When you dig a whole, make sure you dig one for yourself because that’s the one you will fall in.” Another one goes like this: “What goes around will surely come around.”

Dr. Dukulé, your boss lady dropped the ball! It is her leadership failure and competence that Liberians of all walks of life are now questioning, including members of her own party as to whether she is fit to continue in the position of the presidency.

I am in agreement with Jay Wehtee Wion when he said, “Ebola is going to be President Sirleaf’s ‘Watergate.’” When a leader is forewarned in March, but failed to act and allowed the people she was elected to serve and protect to die senselessly because she neglected to put in place preventive protocols, that leader’s action needs to be questioned.

As Liberians would say, “whenever you play with fire, fire will burn you.” The lack of leadership and inattention to the cries of the Liberian people on the problems of corruption, nepotism, cronyism, youth and adult unemployment, presidential arrogance, social injustice, widening income inequality between the haves and have-nots, poverty, callous disregard for public opinion, and now the Ebola crisis, have become cumulative over time, showing cracks in a regime under its own political weight it has created. Moreover, this brings into question our moral foundations and values as a nation supposedly founded on Christian principles.

Liberia, it is believed was founded on Christian principles; but does not follow those principles. Instead, it copied the bad and ugly things coming out of the West, especially, America. Liberia is a classic case of not wanting to do away with the North America antebellum plantation culture of master and servant relationship. This practice has been perfected by the Unity Party leadership. They look to outsiders for everything; from healthcare, legal judicial precedents, national currency and approval of its local policies. This dependency have caused Liberian leaders not to plan ahead in the Ebola situation because America did not hand-feed them. Therefore, they did not put in place systems and preventive protocols to fight the Ebola virus went they were forewarned as far as March this year.

The Ebola virus is not a Liberian or West African disease. The Liberian government should have taken the lead to protect its citizens. With the world being a global village, every country should be involved in finding a solution, because it will take a collaborative effort by everybody in our global village to find a cure to the virus.

I will be remiss too if I don’t mention Africa’s post-colonial mindset that has contributed to our backwardness in almost ALL areas. Despite our educational achievements, both on earth and in space (NASA), we choose to remain dependent and colonized. This mindset has conditioned us to be good at providing services for others abroad, while we neglect our own country and continent. Were Liberia and Africa to make progress in conquering diseases such as Ebola and other potential pandemics, it has to rethink its approach and become creative in using its resources to address the health needs of its people, and address its archaic and dilapidated health infrastructure.

As a patriotic African, I feel it is about time for African countries to come together and organize an African National Medical and Scientific Organization (ANMSO), whose sole purpose is to conduct research and find and develop vaccines to combat the various diseases that keeps popping up on the continent.

First, it could start on a regional basis through collaborative efforts free of Anglophone and Francophone divide. The organization should be funded by African governments. We have resources to make this happen. From the start, no outside funds should be accepted! Africa has too much wealth and the best of minds, many of whom are employed outside the continent. Putting the right program in place could jumpstart the project.

All these African countries ought to do is hire competent African researchers, medical doctors, scientists, nurses and related healthcare workers to work in the interest of the survival of our people - to combat virus outbreaks on the continent. This approach will stop us from running to outsiders for help each time we have an outbreak like the Ebola virus. It can be made possible if African leaders put aside their selfishness and greed, and commit to this project. We can do it! I foresee this happening if we put Anglophone/Francophone divide and politics aside.

Finally, let me leave with you the profound words of the late G. Henry Andrews.

“…Never again should we allow a president to maintain four to five security forces, stock them with his people, and mold them into robots that do his [her] every wish and command, good or bad, right or wrong, legal or illegal. Liberians must learn and live by the principle that the greatest right in the world is the right to be left alone as long as you don’t break the law.

This is followed closely by the right to freely and fairly choose those who will govern you. The third great right is the right to hold your leaders accountable for their actions. In those rights lies the essence of democracy, no matter what kind”.

Liberians, it is wake up time, the Government has been sleeping on us too long!

Siahyonkron Nyanseor is the Chair of the ULAA Council of Eminent Persons (UCEP), Inc. He is a poet, Griot, journalist, and a cultural and political activist. In 2012, he Co-authored Djogbachiachuwa: The Liberian Literature Anthology; his book of poems: TIPOSAH: Message from the Palava Hut is now on the market. Nyanseor can be reached at [email protected].

August 16, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

“Let me sleep on it:” UP Government’s response to the Ebola virus

By Siahyonkron Nyanseor

I am reminded of an elderly Bassa Griot who is fond of saying, “Nee ju, cede bay niaan chen keh, zlue nyon jay cede chen nii, orr cede zlue nii.”

The ordinary people including teachers have to ride on those things they called ROADS for two to three hours to obtain their monthly pay checks (salaries).

The automobile accident and many other tragedies around the country can be attributed to the President and her Unity Party government’s failure to be proactive.

A case in point is the Ebola virus that Liberians are dying from.

One Titus Allen Sebo posted under Jay Wehtee Wion’s article titled: “Liberia’s Pandora Box Now Half Way Open,” carried on July 26, 2014 on FrontPageAfrica, wrote:

Finally, let me leave with you the profound words of the late G. Henry Andrews.

Liberians, it is wake up time, the Government has been sleeping on us too long!

August 16, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

Patrick Sawyer was One of Us: In Remembrance

By Jonathan J. Geegbae

Patrick Oliver Sawyer, “PO” was a true patriot. I say this with strong convictions. He believed in Liberia and was convinced that the country’s best days are yet to come. Patrick demonstrated his love for country in many ways.

In December 2008, he left his wife and kids in Coon Rapids, Minnesota and took a job with the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs as County Development Officer in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. He left the luxury of his Coon Rapids city to reside in a town that had no running water, no electricity, and not even a drivable road.

He accepted these challenges and performed his duties diligently without a government-assigned vehicle, and with little to no logistics. For two and a half years Patrick traveled the length and breadth of Grand Bassa County either hitchhicking rides or riding on motorbikes driven by untrained motorcyclists. He made all these sacrifices earning US$2,000.00 which was never paid on time. With the level of hardship he endured rendering service to Liberia, he was never associated with corruption or bribery. Patrick epitomized nationalism as compared to some government officials who are now demeaning him, even in death.

The “system” failed Patrick. If the country had a comprehensive Ebola containment plan, Patrick would not have boarded the plane to “export” Ebola. Some may argue that he should have self-contained. That is true, but, did he know he had the deadly disease? We will never know. Or perhaps, God destined him to die this way to awaken the country’s leadership, and to expose the level of ineptitude in the management of the country’s healthcare system.

It is being reported that the authorities at Mittal Steel cautioned him to stay away from their facilities after they learned that his sister died from Ebola. How did the authorities at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MHSW) miss that? Was he ever monitored? Did the MHSW inform the Ministry of Finance of his exposure and the risk he posed?

Poor inter-governmental coordination manifested itself in this situation.

Patrick was a well known figure in the healthcare circles in Liberia. As a Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs’ employee, he voluntarily attended high-level meetings at the MHSW. He was a PhD student studying Public Health. This made him valuable in those meetings. It puzzles me to learn that officials from MHSW could “not easily locate him” to be monitored or confined. How many other people have been exposed and are walking around Liberia, or may have even left the country?

The Ebola crisis exposed the weaknesses in our country’s healthcare infrastructure. Let us stop the “blame game” and pay respect to a Liberian who died performing official government functions. He traveled on government-approved trip; he was given taxpayers- funded per diem, and he kept in constant communication with government officials while he was in Nigeria-even eight hours before the report of his death was made public.

Patrick was not a “mad” man. Patrick was one of us. He was one of Liberia’s rising stars! The Government of Liberia needs to stand by Patrick Sawyer and his family, and not kowtow to some “regional super power.”

It is disappointing, discouraging and unfortunate to hear some officials of government making derogatory remarks about this fallen compatriot. They should not hide behind their own ineptitude to disparage the dead. If the Government had closed the borders with Guinea and Sierra Leone at the onset of the outbreak when it was publicly warned to do so, the Ebola virus would not have put the health security of Liberia and the entire region at risk.

Liberia should take the blame and learn from this crisis by putting into place a comprehensive and sustainable plan that ensures our countrymen and women who cannot afford to travel to Ghana or the United States to get better healthcare and health protection at home.

May the soul of Patrick Sawyer (the “Drum Major of the Neo-Progressive Movement”) rest in peace!! May the Angels escort him along the streets that are paved with gold!!

PO, papa O, rest in peace, my brother. You are a true patriot! I believe that one day, very soon, the Liberia that you dreamed of will come to pass.

Today it is Patrick Oliver Sawyer, Tomorrow might be YOU. Stop playing deceit and take responsibility for your failure.

“When you give to the poor the world calls you a saint, when you ask WHY the poor have no food to eat….the world calls you a communist want to-be, ooh what a world.” …Patrick O. Sawyer

Jonathan Geegbae can be reached at 404-707-7064, or
[email protected].

August 14, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

In Liberia village, shunned Ebola victims left to die

By Zoom Dosso

AFP

BALLAJAH (Liberia) (AFP) - The only sounds in the abandoned Liberian village were the cries of a little girl, shut up with her mother’s body inside the family home, starving and thirsty as she waited for death.

Eventually even the girl — 12-year-old Fatu Sherrif — fell silent as she too succumbed to the deadly Ebola virus that is ravaging her country and other parts of West Africa.

When AFP visited Fatu’s village of Ballajah on Sunday, she had been locked away with her mother’s body for a week after most residents fled to the forest to escape an outbreak of the virus.

Belongings lay abandoned around the village, the doors of some homes left open by those rushing to leave.

A few villagers remained, including Momoh Wile, a septuagenarian local chief, who told AFP Fatu’s harrowing story.

Ballajah, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the Liberian capital Monrovia, is at the heart of one of the quarantine zones established in the country in a desperate bid to try to contain the spread of the disease.

More than 1,000 people in west Africa are now believed to have died from Ebola since the start of the year. In Liberia alone, some 599 cases have been diagnosed, with 323 deaths.

Ebola was first detected in Fatu’s family on July 20 when her father Abdulah fell sick, Wile told AFP.

The diagnosis sparked panic among the 500 or so people who lived in the village. They called health authorities but by the time a team finally arrived, Abdulah, 51, had been dead for five days.

Begging for help -

His wife, Seidia Passawee Sherrif, 43, and Fatu were already sick. Only their son, Barnie, 15, tested negative for Ebola.

The health workers took Abdulah’s body, and, according to Wile, told the villagers “not to go near the lady and her daughter”.

“They were crying all day and all night, begging their neighbours to give them food but everyone was afraid.”

Fatu’s mother eventually died on August 10 but the girl’s cries could still be heard around the otherwise abandoned village.

The doors and windows to the house were sealed shut and there was no way to see inside.

Reached by AFP on Tuesday, Wile said Fatu had died overnight, still alone, and still without water or food.

The only surviving member of the family, Fatu’s 15-year-old brother Barnie, tested negative for the virus but was still shunned by his fellow villagers.

AFP found Barnie on Sunday taking refuge in one of the abandoned houses, alone and scrounging for food.

Looking tired and haggard, dressed in a dirty t-shirt and worn sandals, Barnie sobbed as he told his story.

“It is here that I sleep; it is here that I stay the whole day. Nobody wants to come near me and they know — people told them that I don’t have Ebola,” he said.

“When I am hungry, I go in the bush to look for greens,” he said. “That’s what God says so I accept.”

Asked about Barnie a few days later, Wile said he had no news.

The villagers who abandoned Fatu and Barnie have meanwhile themselves been shunned by neighbouring towns also in fear of the spread of the virus, Wile said.

Health authorities in Liberia — where President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf declared a state of emergency on August 6 — refused to comment on the case.

August 13, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post

Fighting Ebola in Liberia: A lesson from Kikwit, Democratic Republic of Congo

By Taiyee N. Quenneh

In 1995, in a city of 400,000 people some 450 miles outside Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, there was an Ebola outbreak never before seen since the first Ebola outbreak in that country in 1976. The World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, and a team of Zairean medical professionals converged on the city of Kikwit to contain the Ebola virus. Like in Liberia now, elders and family members of those infected with the virus in Kikwit insisted on burying their dead using cultural practices that characterized their tradition.

The sick would be hidden from authorities in fear of the social stigma attached to contracting the virus. With cases and deaths mounting, the Ebola containment team devised a strategy of a house to house search in the most endemic parts of the city of Kikwit. The Kikwit plan included teams of medical students, health workers, and community members who isolated the sick and collected the dead for burial. They also used the house to house search efforts to provide Ebola awareness, counseling, and social support. In about 3 months, the virus was contained and eliminated.

The total number of cases in Kikwit, as reported by the World Health Organization, was 315 with 285 confirmed deaths, an 81% death rate. According to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, as of August 4, 2014, the number of confirmed, suspected, and probable cases in Liberia stands at 508, while the number of deaths is 271, a 53.3% death rate.

While the death rate in the Liberian outbreak may appear less than Kikwit’s, the spread of the virus in Liberia is unabated with the cumulative incidence or measure of risk to the population of Liberia alarmingly trending upwards. Liberia needs to adopt an elaborate version of the Kikwit Ebola containment and elimination strategy.The level we have reached with this outbreak is more than a national emergency; the existence of the Liberian state is now at risk. We can quickly reverse course with the adoption of a containment and elimination strategy that includes but is not limited to the following suggestions:

Establish a national case identification and investigation team that will include volunteers from civil society, students from the medical school at the University of Liberia, community leaders, the military and the police.

Create Ebola search and rescue zones throughout Monrovia and other Ebola endemic regions in the country. Each community should be designated as a zone. For example, New Kru Town will be a zone; Logan Town will be another zone, and so forth. Build an Ebola monitoring and testing center in each zone fully equipment with the necessary protective gears for health workers and case identification teams. The strategy of zoning harnesses the resources of the community and gets the community involved.

Assign case identification teams to each zone with the mandate to go from house to house to identify suspected cases (any one with suspected Ebola symptoms) and separate the cases from the community by moving them to the zone’s monitoring center. Suspected individuals are examined for diseases such as malaria, typhoid, meningitis, and cholera with symptoms similar to Ebola.

This process will allow Ebola cases to be separated from other common diseases in Liberia. Contact tracing can then be done on each identified case through the capture of past movements, relations, and contact information in a zone Ebola registry. That information is then used to trace case movement, relations, and contacts. Treatment can then be administered to the Ebola cases. The military and police should be part of each zone team to provide support in the event confusion develops with recalcitrant community members. Each zone will then be able to submit reports to the national task force on suspected, probable, and confirmed cases and deaths.

Establish a mass burial site preferably on solid grounds or in areas with low water table. Establish burial teams similar to the case identification team for each zone to collect the dead from homes, streets, and monitoring centers for burial. The burial teams should be trained and protected.

Counties that have had no Ebola cases should be protected by establishing checkpoints on major roads leading to those counties to monitor movement of people. As is being done for travelers leaving the country, temperature should be measured for people leaving Ebola endemic counties to Ebola free counties.

All marketers selling “bush meat” should be identified and their inventory confiscated and burned. A reasonable compensation should be provided for the confiscations. The army and the police should play a pivotal role in ensuring that all “bush meat” in all of our markets are seized and burned.

In is important that public health authorities embark upon public awareness and communicate to the public every two days on the findings from each zone. The report will show any progress being made and the government’s efforts in fighting the virus. This will help calm public anxiety if the number of cases and deathsbegins to reduce.

Mineral water and food should be supplied to community zones as the house to house search efforts and the current lockdown of the city will create starvation that could lead to some unintended consequences.

The current fire brigade model or approach to containment will not work. We have to go to the community in a house to house campaign to identify cases, and pick up the dead.

Taiyee N. Quenneh is a doctoral candidate at Walden University School of Public Health – Epidemiology. He recently served as a panelist together with scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on an Ebola awareness program organized by the Liberian Association of Metropolitan Atlanta (LAMA). He can be reached at [email protected].

August 7, 2014 | 0 comments | View Post