National Reconciliation Now!
A Statement From Plaintiff Torli H. Krua Marking The 38th Anniversary of April 12 Bloody Coup (National Redemption Day / Matilda Newport’s Day) & Endless Violence in Liberia
How about A National Reconciliation Initiative?
By: Torli H. Krua
Contact: 857-249-9983 / harlankrua@gmail.com
With Liberia’s troubled history of injustice, violence and our broken and corrupt system of governance, now is the time to prioritize national reconciliation, justice, participatory democracy and equal opportunities! With his clean hands, free of the blood of innocent people, our popularly elected, athletic and energetic President George M. Weah is the best person to lead in bringing healing and giving Liberia a fresh start.
Today is April 12, the 38th anniversary of the 1980 military coup, when some members of the Liberian Armed Forces unlawfully seized power in a bloody military coup that unleashed insecurity and violence which climaxed in the 14 year civil war.
With the old corrupt and broken system of governance still firmly in place, the fallout from the violence continues unabated. Liberia needs a new direction and a complete overhaul of the system of governance created to enrich politicians and trap citizens in poverty and misery.
At the time of Liberia’s demise, the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity, Liberian President and father of many children, William Tolbert was disemboweled and brutally killed. 13 top officials were publicly executed. Without any legal mandate, the military declared themselves as the ‘redeemers’ and felt they did nothing wrong and didn’t need to apologize or reconcile.
Long before the military bloody coup torture and violence against innocent human beings did not convince politicians of the need to prioritize national reconciliation. By their agendas, actions and self-interests, Liberian politicians have not proven to be true servants of the Liberian People.
The feeling of self-exoneration didn’t start or end with the coup leaders. It goes back to the reckless disregard of the law by American President James Monroe and the creation of a lawless territory by US Navy Captain Robert Stockton who became the law to himself.
Self-exoneration went further to civilian employee of the Navy, Matilda Newport who enforced brutality in the stateless and lawless territory that became Liberia. Fast forward to recent players like Prince Johnson, George Boley, Alahaji Kromah, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tom Woewiyu and Charles Taylor who took the law in their own hands in the past 38 years. Asked about the legality of their roles, they are unanimous; “We did nothing wrong.”
Since American settlers landed in 1822, deception, lawlessness, political violence and hostilities have marred Liberia’s troubled existence, rendering Liberia a divided nation of winners and losers co-existing side by side.
When US President James Monroe, in 1819, defiantly overruled the Attorney General of the United States and ordered the unlawful creation of a lawless territory on the West Coast of Africa that was neither under the jurisdiction of the laws of the United States nor any sovereign power at the time, he set in motion a journey to the abyss fraught with more violence, cruel torture, deep deception and never ending chaos that have characterized Africa’s 1st republic for nearly two centuries. After nearly two centuries in the abyss, isn’t time for about face and a new direction?
On March 3, 1819, the United States Congress enacted a law, The Act In Addition To Acts Prohibiting The Slave Trade. Congress also appropriated US$100,000.00 to fund this legislation.
The Attorney at the time, General, William Wirt, in his October 14, 1819 opinion#229, wrote that no part of the US$100,000.00 could be legally used to purchase land off the coast of West Africa, transport free Negroes from the United States to Africa (except captured Negroes), pay the salaries of American Negroes Settlers or purchase tools for building a settlement.
President James Monroe and his friends at the American Colonization did exactly what the Attorney General’s opinion considered unlawful. Not only did they recruit, employ, pay and transport American Negro Settlers to West Africa, they also purchased land from native authorities in what became Liberia for a settlement and made a treaty to live in peace.
The short-lived peace was shattered by United States Navy Captain, Robert Stockton, who held a pistol to the head of King Long Peter and forced him to sign the deal against his will. Stockton introduced distrust, deception, lawlessness and violence as integral parts of Liberia long before the 1847 Declaration of Independence. The Political and Legislative History of Liberia by Charles Henry Huberich documents Liberia’s checkered past.
The American Settlers who were employees of the United States Navy began illegally encroaching on tribal lands using the force of arms. Matilda Newport, a civilian employee of the United States Navy used a canon belonging to the United States Navy to scale up the atrocities, killing hundreds of tribal protesters. Newport, who violated the Golden Rule felt she did nothing wrong because the dead were “savages”. Newport was honored with a Liberian national holiday. There has been neither justice nor reconciliation in Liberia because powerful perpetrators of atrocities feel their unlawful actions were “nothing wrong.”
With Liberia’s broken and corrupt system designed to keep the citizens trapped in poverty while turning politicians into millionaires, who is going to lead Liberia out of the pits of Hell, unspeakable violence and steer our country to the path to justice, peace and prosperity?
For nearly two hundred years, Liberians have waited in vain for politicians, presidents and lawmakers to lead the way out of Hell, to no avail.
Recently, it dawn on me that democracy is neither the outcome of an election nor the aspiration of an elected politician; democracy is a government of the people, BY THE PEOPLE and for the people. Because politicians are mere paid servants of the people, the will, aspiration and actions of the people are crucial for justice, peace, security and sustainable development in a democratic country. Perhaps, we the people need to stop waiting for politicians and take bold steps within the confines of the law to advance the common good or risk anarchy. That is why we, as ordinary citizens, took legal action seeking justice and accountability for atrocities against us.
KRUA V. SIRLEAF Et Al is a narrow civil action in an American Courts of competent jurisdiction against United States Citizens/United States Persons (individuals with lawful presence in the USA) who knowingly violated United States laws by organizing a violent guerrilla group on American Soil, providing material and financial support to their guerrilla group and aiding and abetting the atrocities, torture and debilitating mental distress that harmed us.
By design, Liberia’s corrupt and broken system o f governance ensures that the people are perpetually trapped in poverty, illiteracy, skyrocketing unemployment and insecurity of barbaric human sacrifices while Liberian politicians become overnight millionaires.
Asked to respond to the legality of actions in organizing, providing material and financial support as well as aiding and abetting a violent guerrilla gang that committed atrocities, Ex-President Sirleaf was defiant and unequivocal; “I did nothing wrong.” The question is not about her perception but rather the legality of her actions that caused irreparable harm, torture and atrocities. She said exactly what James Monroe, Robert Stockton, Matilda Newport, Samuel Doe, Charles Taylor said when they took the law in their own hands; “I did nothing wrong.”
Nearly 40 years of hostilities and divisions have decimated Liberia’s infrastructures, forced hundreds of thousands of Liberians into exile, created skyrocketing unemployment, scaled up corruption to an all time high, rewarded warlords and politicians with excessive salaries and benefits-higher than American lawmakers and created alarming insecurity where barbaric human sacrifices are the new normal.
While there are winners and losers living side by side in Liberia, for nearly two centuries, one nagging question refuses to go away; Is this the type of country we desire to leave behind for our children and grand children or can we come together at the table of national reconciliation to plot a new course that guarantees security, justice, equal opportunities and peaceful co-existence? I say yes, we can!
If Liberia is to depart from the culture of lawlessness, violence and corruption that have characterized nearly two centuries of existence and take a new direction of peace, justice, security and equal opportunities, every Liberian at home and abroad must get involved and demand reconciliation and a new system of participatory democracy.
We must begin to grow what we eat and eat what we grow. But Looking at our violent past and how we got here, it makes no sense to keep going in the same direction of lawlessness that was set for us by President James Monroe and the American Colonization Society on March 3, 1819 long before American Settlers arrived in 1822.
Liberia needs a new foundation upon which we shall build a fresh start for the new Liberia. Thanks to God, there is a President with clean hands and humble beginnings who can lead the way. President George M. Weah is the best person who can lead this nation in a new direction beginning with a Sovereign National Conference and National Reconciliation involving all Liberians at home and abroad. But the president is a paid servant of the people.
The Liberian People need to tell President Weah the truth; we desire justice, security, equal opportunities, national reconciliation and a new direction for our country. Louis Farrakhan said; “There really can be no peace without justice. There can be no justice without the truth. And there can be no truth unless someone rises up to tell the truth.”
That is why I rise on April 12, 2018 to declare that now is the time for justice and national reconciliation. If not now, then when? Article I of the Liberian Constitution sums up the whole truth: Article 1 “All power is inherent in the people. All free governments are instituted by their authority and for their benefit and they have the right to alter and reform the same when their safety and happiness so require.”