PHOTO: PRESIDENT WILLIAM R. TOLBERT, JR. MAY 13, 1913 – APRIL 12, 1980
By Our Staff Reporter
Sunday, April 12, 2020 makes it exactly 40 years after Liberia’s 19th President William R. Tolbert, Jr. was assassinated by former Master Sgt. Samuel Kanyon Doe and his People’s Redemption Council (PRC).
The bloody military coup, which came one year after the country’s April 14, 1979 bloody rice riot, saw the introduction of a wave of executions of many other officials of Tolbert’s True Whig Party regime, plunging Liberia into long years of violent political upheavals.
Over the last 40 years, the family of the late Liberian leader, who was then current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (()AU), now African Union, the family of President Tolbert hold programs in his memory.
This year in the wake of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic, the Tolbert family has released a tribute to the fallen Liberian Chief Executive.
Below is the Tribute:
April 12, 2020.
Praise the lord; Praise the Lord. Praise the Mighty name of our one Lord and savior Jesus Christ !
This is the day that the Lord has made, so we will rejoice and be glad in it ! Our Savior is risen, so in the midst of sadness as we pay homage to our loved Ones , let us rejoice.
On this tragic day 40 years ago the history of Liberia, the Liberian people and the Tolbert family was forever changed.
Rev. Dr. William Richard Tolbert Jr., age 66 and the 19th President of the Republic of Liberia was assassinated in cold blood on the 8th floor or f the Executive Mansion, before the eyes of his wife and children.
We know who the executioners of that dastardly act were but the real “hidden hands” behind that Dark Night are still to some extent a mystery. However, the disastrous consequences of that bloody night are not hidden. We are still living with them today : ethnicism, tribalism, congau vs. country, sectionalism, economic stagnation, national stigmatization, infrastructural destruction, social disintegration, cultural breakdown, educational backwardness……… the list could go on and on.
In all honesty, the society over which President Tolbert presided before the coup was by no means an ideal one, with class and social stratification and hegemonism prevailing in many parts. Yet President Tolbert was doing his best to radically reform a century old moribund system much to his own detriment, battling forces from within and without , from above and below .Yet in the unforgettable words of his brother Senator Frank Emmanuel Tolbert before the Kangoroo Tribunal that sentenced him to death….”Such were the times and such were the conditions”.
Thus, on that our “Dark Night of the Soul”, April 12, 1980 , we lost not only a Father, Uncle, brother, cousin, friend , statesman, businessman, farmer, pastor of this very church but also the former President of the Baptist World Alliance, recipient of the Family of Man Award, former 19 year vice-president of Liberia, sitting Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (now AU) and 19th President of the Republic of Liberia.
We shall not see his kind again soon. What a loss to a nation, a people, a continent and his family.
The perpetrators and organizers of that wicked act must have forgotten the Biblical warning : ”Touch not my Anointed and do my Prophet no harm.” Do not play with the Word of God, for you do so at your own peril.
As we remember President Tolbert’s death on this day we must also remember all those who died with him on the night of April 12 and in the subsequent bloody days that followed the Coup and the hundreds of thousands of Liberians who have died needlessly in our senseless conflicts that were a consequence of April 12; President Tolbert’s 8 year old son Momoh who died in a hail of bullets as he ran to his dying Father; the loyal Kpelle soldier Lt. Vesselly (“Railroad”) who I knew personally who died at his post at the President’s bedroom door; the dozens of loyal security men like SSS major Gabriel Moore who perished in the course of carrying out their duty to defend the President; and the commander of the Executive Mansion Guard Colonel Charles Railey killed as he rushed to the President’s rescue at the first sound of gunfire from his quarters on the Mansion grounds. May All their Souls rest in perpetual peace.
Nor can we on this somber day forget the 13 Senior members of President Tolbert’s Government, including his elder brother my Father and Chairman of the Deacon Board of this Church Senator Frank Emmanuel Tolbert sr., who were executed ten days after the coup on April 22 , 1980……”They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old ; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them. “ ( Lawrence Binyon).
But on this Special Day which this Year happens to coincide with Our Savior’s Glorious Resurrection Morning, we must not merely mourn and reminisce but must also remember and rejoice for a life well lived as surely as we rejoice for Our Savior’s ultimate sacrifice for the Salvation of mankind.
And as we remember and reflect on this tragic occasion let us also not forget to celebrate the triumphs and achievements of his magnificent life:
-In just 9 years as President he waged a valiant war against Liberia’s principal enemies, Ignorance, Disease and Poverty :
– He instituted free public elementary and high school education and subsidized up to 50% of college tuition and books;
-He initiated the construction of the new campus of the University of Liberia at Fendall greatly expanding educational opportunities for all Liberians;
– He created a government agricultural Company (AGRIMECO) to spearhead land clearance for agricultural cooperatives;
– He established public corporations (LPMC and LCCC) to maximize production of oil palm, coffee , cocoa etc.,
– He established a National Housing Bank, Agricultural bank and Bank for Development & Investment (LBDI);
– He was instrumental in the establishment of the African Development Bank;
– He expanded health facilities to provide free medical care for pregnant mothers and infants up to the age of 2 years;
– He constructed thousands of low cost housing units in Barnersville, Gardnersville, Matardi, Cabral , New Georgia and Stephen Tolbert estate;
– He lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 ;
– He established a Ministry for Action and development;
-He constructed major infrastructure such as the new Johnson Street Bridge, Hotel Africa Complex , Robertsfield International Airport Terminal, urban and rural markets etc;
-He arranged financing with the Chinese for what would later become known as SKD Stadium;
-He supported anti-apartheid and liberation movements throughout Africa;
-And he established Liberia as a respected leader in the Comity of Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement.
This was not a Saint or a Perfect Human being by any measure. Which of us can say that we are ? But truly he was a Giant among men, a Speedy for his times who lived and not only believed that “ Ku Kele Kuka Tonon “……..We all, we are One People.
And so in closing, as we remember President William R. Tolbert on this Glorious Easter Sunday, we pray that like the rising of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from the ashes of the grave so too will Liberia and the Liberian people arise from the nightmare of the past 40 years during which we have been wandering like the lost people of Israel in the Wilderness and by the Rivers of Babylon into the glorious sunshine of a New Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey for all.
Speaking if I may on this occasion of behalf of the Tolbert family, I say that we have forgiven all those who wronged or harmed us in any way and pray nothing but Peace, Unity and Prosperity for all the people of this our beloved homeland. Long Live Liberia.
Richard Vacanerat Tolbert.
Monrovia, April 12, 2020.