Ellen Is Going To The Mansion

By: Joseph G. Bartuah

In the name of fairness, I humbly request for space to respond to Mr. Jeremy Jallabah’s diatribe captioned: Where Are You Going, Ellen?” that was posted on your website on August 27^th. There is concurrence among semanticists that one’s interest basically dictates one’s choice of word, hence I have no intention of glorifying Jallabah’s reckless characterization of the next President of the Republic of Liberia in defamatory and derogatory terms, but to unambiguously answer his pertinent question that ELLEN JOHNSON-SIRLEAF IS TRIUMPHANTLY GOING TO THE EXECUTIVE MANSION, to provide much-needed leadership for the Liberian people; to ensure that henceforth, public funds are actually expended for the good of the public; to engender a culture of meritocracy in the Liberian society; to ensure due regard for the rule of law and democratic precepts, and to reconcile and unite the peace-starved people of Liberia. 

Jallabah, Ellen is definitely going to the Executive Mansion, not only to accelerate Liberia’s development process, but to also make the Mansion completely accessible to ordinary Liberians, because after all, it was built with their money; to make the executive chair a seat in which one can humbly sit to serve the people rather than sitting there to enslave the people. 

I don’t know how old is Jallabah, but he begins his mendacious crusade by saying that the name of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been “a household item” for the past 20 years. To some extent, I agree with Jallabah on this point. Indeed, our candidate is not a “Johnny-just-come” politician. In fact, she has been in the relentless struggle for the fundamental rights of the Liberian people for more than 30 years! Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf firmly believes and most Liberians agree with her, that our people deserve genuine democracy rather than despotism, however camouflaged such despotic regime may be. 

Jallabah says when Ellen was elected senator in the 1985 elections, “she refused to take seat on grounds that the late Samuel Doe was a native tyrant…”. Yes, after the actual results of the 1985 elections were hijacked, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was one of a very few gallant Liberians who refused to aid and abet the massive frauds that had occurred. In this instance, it is Jallabah, whatever his political persuasion may be, that is utterly shameless in trying to legitimize, or rationalize the criminalization of the electoral process in 1985. 

What Jallabah expected Ellen, as a conscientious Liberian, to do? To be an accomplice after the fact? History has always been on the side of those who stand for justice. However enticing it may be, the triumph of evil has always been oscillatory. Ellen refused because it was evident that the Liberia Action Party (LAP) had won at least 60 percent of the popular votes cast, as attested to by one of the few international journalists allowed to cover the elections, Mr. Blaine Harding on the BBC at the time. 

It was this revelation that forced former Information Minister Carlton Karpeh to speak his infamous “Sunday school language” at the time, because on questioning, he had no defense in the face of glaring evidence. If Jallabah was old enough at the time, he might still remember that hundreds of thousands of ballot papers were secretly burnt in the Kakata area, but one of those asked to carry out the heinous act photographed the episode and made it available to the FOOTPRINTS newspaper at the time. Of course, FOOTPRINTS published the story to the embarrassment of the Doe regime.  

Jallabah seems to be an adherent of ethnic bigotry. He says Ellen labeled Samuel Doe as “a native tyrant” and so, she didn’t want to go to the senate. Obviously, Jallabah is exasperated at the overwhelming support Ellen is receiving from all over the country, including Grand Gedeh County and he’s desperately scheming to erode her vote from that segment of the country. Unfortunately for Jallabah, following those excruciating experiences of the senseless war which plagued our country for fourteen years, Liberians have realized the richness of our diverse society and are therefore, not prepared to allow anyone exploit it for selfish reason. Can Jallabah tell me who was Jackson Fiah Doe, the standard-bearer of LAP at the time? Was Jackson Doe not “a native”? By the way, who is a “native”? Is Ellen not “a native”? What is Jallabah’s definition of “native”? Perhaps he has a peculiar dictionary, but to the best of my knowledge, Samuel Doe, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Jackson Fiah Doe were or are all Liberian natives, no one is, or was exotic.  

What if Samuel Doe and Emmett Harmon had honestly allowed the actual results of the 1985 elections to stand? Would Jackson F. Doe, “a native”, not have been president? Is Jallabah saying that Ellen would have still refused to serve as a senator since Jackson Doe was also “a native”?  Jallabah, it is only narrow minds that indulge in ethnic labels when discussing national issues. Ellen did not put a native tag on Samuel Doe in 1985; it is either a figment of your imagination, or your personal label of Doe that you want to disingenuously stick on Ellen. 

I agree with you that Samuel Doe was, as you put it, “a native tyrant”, but so too, William Tubman was a “Congo” or “Americo-Liberian” tyrant. The fact is that tyranny is evil and it is not what Liberians yearn for. Our country has vast endowment in terms of human and natural resources. Unfortunately, the lack of political pluralism has squandered development opportunities over the years. 

Just compare Liberia, which brags about being Africa’s oldest republic, with other countries in the West African sub-region and see how we are lagging behind in every aspect of socio-economic development. It is simply because we have over the years, had regimes and cartels that flout the law, intimidate the people and amass wealth for themselves. 

Unlike Jallabah and his likes who have chosen the path of complacency or conspiratorial reticence, there have been a very few compatriots who have remained resilient in their self-less strides for a political level playing field. I am very proud that candidate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf joins the ranks of a few other courageous Liberians in such nationalistic endeavor. That is why her name has become “ a household item”; she didn’t gain her name recognition on a silver platter, she earned it. Ellen has always striven for excellence and it is an excellent leadership that she plans to offer the Liberian people after the October 11^th elections. No amount of smear campaign will turn the progressive hands of the clock. 

Liberians are mature enough and they know what is good for them. Jallabah admits that there are 22 presidential candidates, yet he chose to unleash his diabolical tirades against only one of the candidates--the most inspiring and exemplary one. To me, it shows that indeed, our candidate poses a formidable challenge to whomever the likes of Jallabah are anticipating. I see a sign of panic and desperation, hence Jallabah’s retreat to gutter politics. 

If Jallabah is not blinded by ethnocentrism and he chooses to honestly dichotomize the perennial political struggle in Liberia over the years, he would realize that it has always been a struggle between the progressive democratic movements and the forces of despotism; it has never been an ethnic strife as a myopic Jallabah perceives it. We are proud that our candidate has consistently been on the side of the democratic movements. 

No amount of rumbling will deter Liberians from enlisting in the Renaissance Movement. Jallabah claims Ellen took advantage of the “the ethnic rift” between the Krahns and the Gios, especially between Doe and Quiwonkpa” and further adds, “However, the November 15, NPFL led invasion was thwarted and the ringleader was arrested and thrown in jail”. I just don’t know what November 15 invasion Jallabah is referring to. People who want to venture into an intellectual mine field must get their facts right, unless someone is deliberately bent on distortion. 

If Jallabah means the November 12 uprising of 1985,it’s another unfortunate chapter in our nation’s history. The November incident is another manifestation of the continuous struggle between despotic forces and democratic movements. Unfortunately, despotism prevailed at that time, due to the follies of the men who led the movement. Even with the failure of the democratic forces, the difference was starkly clear. Although members of the democratic movement had apprehended key associates of the despotic forces at the time, including the army chief of staff, the vice president, the justice and defense ministers, they did not butcher them as the despotic forces anxiously displayed their murderous instincts in the aftermath of the November 12 incident. 

Once again, Ellen does not subscribe to the absurdity of ethnic label as Jallabah does. Over the years, she has worked relentlessly to expand the horizons of the Liberian people so that they can realize their potentials. Perhaps Jallabah is mistaking the late John Rancy who singularly carved out the infamous “John Rancy Paper”, suggesting to Samuel Doe how to systematically eliminate his perceived enemies, especially the people of Nimba County as epitomized by General Thomas Quiwonkpa. 

Even after the Doe had largely succeeded, the “John Rancy Paper” was discovered and published by one of the respectable African magazines at the time, to the utter embarrassment of Senator John Rancy himself; it was not Ellen taking advantage of any ethnic rift. 

Besides, Ellen’s campaign as a senatorial candidate in 1985 was mainly concentrated in Montserrado County; she didn’t have to capitalize on any perceived inter-tribal rift. The fact remains that a few members of the People’s Redemption Council (PRC) junta apparently believed in some principles of democracy while shortsighted ones led by Doe insisted on military dictatorship. Those who sided with democracy such as Thomas Weh-Syen, Harris S. Johnson, Henry S. Zuo, Nelson B. Toe and eventually, Thomas Quiwonkpa were tagged as enemies and gradually eliminated. Jallabah, dictatorship knows no bounds to evil and so, although Harris Johnson and Nelson Toe were ethnic Krahns, they were however, eliminated, since they were labeled as “enemies”. 

Ellen has always been a democrat and she’ll continue to be a consummate democrat. What has happened over years is that some vampires had betrayed her trust, pretending to be democrats, cunningly maneuvering to gain national and international recognition her eminent stature and reputation. In the case of Charles Taylor, once she realized that the fast-talking miscreant was a bloodthirsty, power-grabbing criminal who would stop at nothing devious to gain power, Ellen promptly withdraw her support. It is on record that Ellen was one of a few prominent Liberians that met with West African leaders in 1990, prevailing on them to try and sanitize the chaotic situation in Liberia at the time. 

Jallabah, we are aware that our candidate is a mortal being and as such, she’s prone to error, she’s prone to aging. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has never laid claims to infallibility and I don’t think the elections in Liberia are being determined on basis of infallibility. Ellen has acknowledged on many occasions that she had made some public pronouncements in the past that she later realized, were inappropriate and she had regretted such public utterances. 

Ellen knows that life is a learning process and where she had erred, she has never hesitated to admit her mistake and pensively draw a lesson from such error. Jallabah must search his soul whether has never erred in his life time. If so, must he be disqualified and outrightly condemned for whatever endeavor he’s currently engaged in? Most Liberians are a forward-looking people who are sincerely in search of a president that will head an efficient government that will deliver some basic necessities for them.    

Jallabah, more and more Liberians are pouring into Ellen’s Renaissance Movement because they strongly applaud her unwavering commitment to democratic precepts; they know that Ellen is THE BEST AMONG THE REST, because she’s substantially au courant with the intricacies of statecraft and they know that her presidency will be primarily focused on taking the initiatives to inspire our people so as to optimize their potentials. 

Liberians don’t want to go through another horror of presidential on-the-job training where the intellectually limited presidential trainee becomes paranoid, extremely despotic and lethal in most instances, to the detriment of the very people the despotic presidential trainee and his cohorts claim to be liberating. Liberians now know that “electing” a camouflaged, an ill-prepared person is to the presidency is a recipe for socio-economic disaster. 

At this critical stage in our nation’s history, prudence dictates that Liberians elect a leader with a demonstrated capacity for developmental innovation. With her solid intellectual fortitude, most Liberians definitely prefer Ellen because they know that as president, she will not allow herself to be easily manipulated by residual elements of failed cartels and regimes that may still be bent on inordinate self-aggrandizement to the detriment of ordinary Liberians. Liberia has multiple problems and therefore, it needs a leader with multiple qualifications, experiences and orientations to effectively tackle such formidable task. 

Despite Mr. Jallabah’s illogical cynicism, the good news is that countless Liberians of diverse backgrounds have seen the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel and are positively responding by joining Ellen’s Renaissance Movement en masse. Liberians are a shrewd and sagacious people, they are farsighted; they know very well that nation-building, especially reconstructing a war-ravaged country is so herculean a task to be left to the unpredictably capricious whims of ill-prepared, street-reveling youth and their trigger-happy cohorts. 

Perhaps to Jallabah's consternation, Ellen’s Renaissance movement is supersonically surging on because Liberians are unshakably determined to redeem the image of our common patrimony from the doldrums of its ignoble past, so that it will regain its rightful place among respected nations of the world. More Liberians don’t consider our country to be a sort of football that can be kicked anywhere, anytime and by anyone; they know that if they blindly follow the bravado of a minute portion of street-revelers and turn Liberia into a political football, our dear country will definitely be KICKED OUT of the field of global respectability. 

Against this backdrop, nationalistic Liberians who really want our country to regain its dignity will turn out on October 11^th and elect ELLEN Johnson-Sirleaf, a qualified and capable leader whose administrative rectitude has over years attracted global accolades. Definitely, the supporters of Ellen are on the right path; we are on the victorious side of history. I humbly urge Mr. Jalabah to join us in effecting this historic transformational process instead of resorting to a cynical outburst that is shrouded in sheer calumnies, gross distortions and dreadfully poor recollection of facts.    

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About The Author: Joseph G. Bartuah is a Liberian who resides in Boston, Massachusetts and can be reached at: josephbartuah@yahoo.com