PHOTO: Cllr. Tiawan Saye Gongloe–Government position is for public service, not for public stealing
By Joe Bartuah, mienwon2001@gmail.com
A little over 25 years ago on February 21, 2001, I, along with three of my colleagues from the indomitable NEWS newspaper—Abdullah Dukuly, Jerome Dalieh and the late Bobby Tapson—was arbitrarily thrown into the dilapidated Monrovia Central Prison on Center Street in Monrovia. Our “crime” was exposing some of the sleazy practices of the Charles Taylor kleptocracy which reigned in Liberia at the time. Mr. Tapson, one of our investigative reporters had stumbled over a cogent documentary evidence, which claimed that the Taylor regime had expended US$50,000 for “helicopter repair” at the time.
Being patently aware that the Liberian Government didn’t have any helicopter to the best of our knowledge, coupled with the fact that the purported expenditure was indicative of how public funds are dubiously squandered in Liberia with little or no accountability, as the bulk of our people groan in squalid conditions, we decided to publish the story after exerting all efforts because the public has the right to know.
But instead of addressing or clarifying the substantive issue regarding a questionable expenditure, the Taylor regime claimed that the publication was aimed at inciting the Liberian people to rise up and overthrow the regime. For a regime which had earlier in November 1998 manipulated and dispatched clutches-wheeling, handicapped combatants to invade our offices and brutalize our staff, subsequently branded The NEWS as a “dissident newspaper”, they apparently felt that the helicopter story was a sufficient alibi to physically and psychologically torture us.
At the time we were thrown into prison, Counselor Tiawan Saye Gongloe–Liberia’s foremost human rights lawyer—had traveled to Ghana on one of his many international engagements. Two days later when he returned from Ghana, he went to meet with us at the prison and he promised to represent us in court in collaboration with the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission and other human rights lawyers.
At the time Counselor Gongloe went to see us in prison, going to South Beach was a strenuous physical effort, because the few cramped up taxis that were still plying the streets in Monrovia were limiting their services to Broad Street. In other words, during that hot February weather, the eminent jurist had to literally walk from Broad Street in that sweltering heat, down Center Street, just to see us and physically interact with us and more importantly, he offered his service pro bono.
I’m narrating this story that happened more than a quarter of a century ago because it vividly epitomizes the tenacity, indefatigable persona and serviceable orientation of Counselor Tiawan Saye Gongloe, the nation’s iconic human rights lawyer, who is observing his 70th personal holiday today, August 6, 2026.
Among Liberia’s more than five million populace, I can boldly say without hesitation that Counselor Gongloe is one of the few rare national gems. His inspirational brand of patriotism, which seeks to mainstream the very best for the country is action-oriented and his exemplary deeds speak louder than words. A consummate optimist about Liberia’s future, one of his signature slogans is: A Better Liberia is Possible. Of course, it’s needless to say that such optimism about A BETTER LIBERIA is contingent on majority of the Liberian people unshackling themselves from their self-imposed cocoon of defeatist complacency to usher in a reform-minded leader for the ultimate transformation of the Motherland.
In his nearly 40 years of legal practice, Gongloe’s foremost preoccupation has been selflessly striving to ensure the impartial application of the rule of law, rather than using his noble profession for self-aggrandizement as many of our compatriots tend to do. In so doing, he has consistently represented many economically-disadvantaged compatriots from diverse backgrounds, irrespective of their socio-political, ethnic or religious orientation, and in most instances, he has rendered those crucial legal services on a voluntary basis without charging most of his numerous clients.
Because of consistent insistence on societal fair play and the rule of law, because he resolutely believes that, Government position is for public service, not for public stealing, he had in the past, incurred the wraths and cruelties of some Liberian governments. For example, on August 22, 1984, when he was an Instructor of Economics at the University of Liberia, Gongloe was mercilessly brutalized by some Armed Forces of Liberia soldiers, who had been ordered by then Head of State and Commander-in-Chief Samuel Doe to invade the main campus of the university on Capitol Hill in reaction to student protests.
As they severely tortured him at the time when he told them that he was actually an instructor, not a student, some of the ruthless soldiers lashed out at him, saying that it was the teachers they were mainly looking for, because they believed that university professors were teaching their students “bad, bad ideas.”
Again on April 24, 2002, Counselor Gongloe was arrested by the Taylor regime while he was driving to his office. His “crime”, in the eyes of the Taylor regime, was a speech he had delivered in March 2002 in Conakry, Guinea at the Mano River Union Civil Society Movement’s conference, urging civil society organizations within the Mano River basin to actively participate in all political activities of their respective countries within the framework of the law. Because he had urged citizens of the Mano River sub-region to briskly carry out their civic duties by engaging in public policy issues in consonance with the constitutions and statutes of their respective countries, the eminent jurist almost law lost his life due to severe brutalization by the Taylor regime. Two plainclothes police officers were put in his police headquarters basement cell who tortured him throughout the night until the morning hours, when he was rushed to the emergency room of the S.D. Cooper Hospital on 12th Street, Sinkor.
The good news is that even though he had been victimized by anti-democratic regimes in the past, yet ordinary Liberians whose cause he continues to champion, have never relented in showing their gratitude for his selfless public service over the years. It’s therefore no wonder that some local people in Grand Gedeh County simply refer to him as Poleyon, while folks in Maryland County have simply tagged him Waamu (Blessing).
Counselor Gongloe’s audacity to candidly speak truth to power and his tenacity to make a positive difference in the lives of the Liberian people have over the years, attracted international recognition. For example, in 2003, the United States-based Human Rights Watch awarded him its highest award. Well known for his intellectually potent oratory, Gongloe has been guest speaker at some of the leading academic institutions of the world, such as the Columbia University in New York City, Stanford University in California, the London School of Economics in England and the Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he did one of his fellowships.
As this brilliant son of the soil turns 70-year young today, the entire Bartuah Clan joins hundreds of family members, relatives, friends and other well-wishers in Liberia and around the world in wishing the eminent jurist a blissful HAPPY BIRTHDAY.