The way I see Liberia

I am in sympathy with Charles Gyude Bryant’s present state of affair. Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant was the head of a quasi pseudo government that came to birth as a result of a compromising pact between the 2003 Government of The Republic of Liberia (RL), the Liberian United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) and the various Liberian Political Parties, to carry out the mandate of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) that was signed in Accra, Ghana on 18th August, 2003. That accord gave legitimacy to warlords and murderers to be part of an organized government with lack of strict fiscal discipline and loose ordinances to maintain peace and set the stage for an election for a legitimate government.

Gyude, as the chairman was affectionately called, was alleged to have indulged in corrupt acts as the Chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) and so were more than 50% of the work force that made up the Transitional Government. It is true that the buck stopped with him as Chairman, but almost every time a sound decision was proposed, from what I can recall, there would be far cry from every corner of the factional camps that made up the NTGL, that such proposal was not part of the CPA.

The amount of money that the former Chairman of the defunct National Transitional Government of Liberia was alleged to have embezzled, +/- US$ 1.5 million, and has now being charged by the present Liberian administration for economic sabotage, is chicken change compared to some of the monies other government officials have knowingly, suspiciously or accused of embezzling from the Liberian people for the past twenty years. Some of the officials of government that are members of various political parties, serving in President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government, have blood on their hands and ill gotten wealth in their pockets; however, this present Liberian administration has not taken any punitive step to address the hideous crimes towards the Liberian people by those criminals.

Gyude has a fighting chance to beat this rap as to the amount of money he was accused of misappropriating. His one and only defense from my point of view is to stress that the money was used unsparingly and inappropriately for security reason. The blanket reason of security that made Liberia peaceful during his chairmanship that guaranteed peaceful sleep for many Liberians could be a strong and legitimate reason for the misappropriation of the +/- US$ 1.5 million.

Gyude's crime was his naivety of the enormous lack of power to govern as a legitimate manager with fiscal and economic discipline within the framework of the Accra Accord and his gross lack of accountability of the Liberian people's money since it was a free for all government in some corners of his administration. Gyude should be credited for achieving the Accra Accord’s mandate while working in an uneasy environment with criminals who should have being incarcerated or executed for the many hideous crimes they committed against the country and the armless, loving and forgiving people of Liberia.

An individual must be held accountable and take full responsibility for any questionable act he engages in during his service to the nation; moreover, if that individual is the leader, he must take the fall for his troops under his watch; however, Gyude must be a special case since in reality the troops were never his.

There comes a time when we as a nation should draw the line and start to hold any person of trust, responsible and accountable for his attitude of misappropriation. When do we start? We can start now but not with the chairman of the defunct Transitional Government if the amount of money in question is the amount he is accused of stealing. Well, since he has being charged with a crime, let us leave the case with the courts.

It is my honest opinion that anyone suspected and accused of alleged corruption; that accused, must be charged and sent over to the courts so that jurisprudence may decide the guilt or innocence of the accused. If the accused is found guilty, he must face the full weight of the law. Let us begin from the root of corruption from my view. The following questions should suggest the pros and cons for the temptation for corruption. Are the employees being paid appropriately in accordance to their skills, along with the cost and the standard of living? Are the employees being paid regularly at an appropriate date of each month? Are the working conditions conducive and all the tools available for work? Are the guidelines concerning corruption perfect and equal across the board? If any one of the aforementioned points is not met, then the fight on corruption is a losing battle and will fail in every step of the way.

From where I sit, I am in no way encouraging corruption; in fact, I am of the opinion that if one is allegedly accused and found guilty of corruption in the appropriate judicial setting, he must face the full force of the law. On the other hand, the situation that might encourage corruption should not prevail in the work place. The way things are at present on the ground, corruption is the order of the day and will be for a long time and that is the reason and the only reason I am in defense of Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant. The fight on corruption is not perfect. Make it perfect and Liberia will prosper in all her endeavors.