CAPITOL HILL/ MONROVIA LIBERIA
PRESS RELEASE
Scholarships on Sale At Foreign Ministry
Feb 19/ 11: In the past, employees of the Ministry have benefited immensely from scholarship opportunities to studies abroad both on a long and short terms basis, but the days are now over, as scholarships are now being awarded to friends, family members, girl-friends and most often awarded to people who have no expertise or experience in the field of study.
Occasionally, these scholarships are sold out to people outside the Ministry by the Bureau of African and Asian Affairs. Presently, there is no merit system in the awarding of scholarships in the Ministry, as only is the one who make the selection of who benefit.
Appointment of Unqualified Foreign Service Officers
One area of major concern is the persistent appointment of incompetent, inexperience and inept Foreign Service Officers into the field despite the present of qualified, experienced, educated, professionals and trained Foreign Service officers and graduates of the FSI are present at the Central Office doing nothing.
Most disappointing is the posting of children and ill-responsible people to strategic missions with no or little knowledge in diplomacy service, thus leaving out qualified and experienced Foreign Service graduates well schooled in diplomacy and those recalled from the field.
Also, there is on-going of secret appointment Foreign Service officers at the Ministry who are on the list of being sent into the field, with no reference to record ones at the Ministry despite of long service to their country.
It has also been noted that those sent into the field forced their way through by beating the system to purchase their appointment, by bribing top officials of the Ministry or by favoritism on the part of some high up at the Ministry.
The situation makes one to wonder why should the Ministry preferred to send inexperience ones in the field when well trained diplomats and graduates of the FSI have expressed their readiness to return to service.
Those requesting for those documents are usually and intentionally delayed work on documents until they are bribed to speed-up the process, as a result, those who do not comply find it very difficult in recent time to get their documents process on time and deliver.
Prostitutions at Foreign Ministry
Some females at the Foreign Ministry have been subjected to sexual exploitation and harassment by some senior officials of the Ministry who have taken advantage of their positions to sexually exploit some female staff members.
Among the perpetrators of this ugly practice include Deputy Minister Sylvester Grigsby who Offices on the 3rd Floor and Chief of Protocol Eddie Dunnh who rank equivalent to Deputy Minister, with offices on the 4th Floor, among others.
For Deputy Minister Grigsby, he has gone so bad that he approaches every good-looking and nice lady at the Ministry, ranging from the Basement to 4th Floor of the Ministry.
He is noted for constantly approaching women and persistently on a phone with ladies. Some of his casualties include a black looking light-skin, in shape big-legs lady identified as Antoinette Munnahe Wollor assigned on the 4th Floor and another bright female assigned on the third floor, among several ladies.
This lady in recent time has been a regular visitor at the Deputy Minister office and sometime seems during night hour in the Deputy Minister’s white vehicle driving towards unknown destination, perhaps on a honeymoon.
Shealso maintains a strong intimate relationship with her boss , the chief of protocol who is also at the center of subjecting his subordinates’ female staffers to sex before awarding them with benefits. This same lady also had relationship with a former deputy minister who resiged his post and a former comptroller who was dismissed for stealing and also a former assistant minister who has been replaced from the ministry. Also there are several other females at the Ministry who are sleeping with their bosses.
Other officials of the Ministry, ranging from Assistant Ministers to Directors are also engaged into similar repugnant act by constantly subjecting their staff members to sexual exploitation and harassment, with those who resisted their requests are sidelined while those who comply are giving special treatment and recommended for high allowances and other benefits, to the determine of other shown in the disparity of monthly allowances and distribution of gas slips.
In recent time, passport applicants and visitors have complaint of continuously coming contact with officials of the Ministry who are in the habit of demanding that they sleep with the applicants before assisting them to quickly obtain their passports.
Done Appoint Angela Cassell Bush
On a serious note, we have received unconfirmed report that plans are underway for the appointment of Madam Angela Cassell Bush as the new Inspector-General of the Foreign Service. If the report is to go by, we are strongly warning against the appointment of Madam Bush, as the new Inspector-General of the Foreign time she is appointed to the position which requires confirmation. She does not the moral rectitude and technical expertise to run that dedicated office.
She is inexperience, unrepresentable, unprofessional and lack the basic diplomatic training for the post, and we again reiterates that she leave the Ministry. This record for lobbying for the retirement of the former Inspector-General and several Ambassadors-At-Large, and others who were recorded from the Foreign Service and several persons dismissed from the Ministry and sent to the Ministry of
Justice.
Currently, there is an exodus of employees from the Inspector-General Office to anther Bureaus following reports that she is about to be appointed to the office. She is the one indirectly who run the financial bureau at the Ministry and decides who receive monthly allowance and gas slips, as well as who get on the payroll, while the Deputy Minister for Administration is being remotely run by ghosts of the former Foreign Minister.
Theses ghosts are still visible at the Ministry and directing things to the disappointment of the general workers. Let it be categorically states that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs deliverance from the ugly activities on-going at the Ministry if the new Administration is to success in its drive to regain the Ministry lost status and restore its credibility.
The situation of administrative malpractice has dramatically becomes and practice of the day, with those employed in recent time are either family members, close associate or friends of the Deputy Minister for Finance and the Assistant Minister for Administration as well as other officials of the Ministry. Recently, new batch of employees have been placed on the payroll while some of those who been working at the Ministry for years and months fate are left in the balance, with no news about their employment.
Greed For Foreign Trips
Another issue of major concern is the attitudes of one Assistant Minister and Deputy Minister with offices on the Ground Floor and 3rd Floor and the Chief of Protocol to be the only ones to attend all foreign trips without surprising their subordinates to attend of the trips. It is so unacceptable that they have become unpopular in the eyes of their immediate deputies and some staff members, who usually gossip about them.
They are hardly seemed in their respective office for a month without traveling, just for allowances and other benefits. Both of them were at the recent AU Summit in Addis Ababa , and they about to travel again.
Corruption
Another negating happening at the Ministry is the failures of the authority to combat corruption at the Ministry especially at the Bureaus of Achieves, Legal, Protocol and Passports, where staff members at these bureaus usually demand illegal money before working on importance documents such as Articles of Incorporation, Verbal Notes, Duplication of Legal Instruments and documents and processing of passports to the detriment of the applicants.
Daily Bribery
Those assigned at the Bureau of Legal Affairs usual over charged applicants more than the stipulated fees of US$20.00 for the processing of Article of Incorporation, with some applicants paying between US$50.oo to US$200.00, while some staffers at the Bureau of Protocol are in the habit of requesting money from government officials travelling abroad before preparing their Verbal Note and at the same time delivering same to a diplomatic missions in Monrovia responsible to issue visas.
This Bureau is performing below standard due to lack of competent and qualified persons. The staff are the bureau are noted for blundering on importance as was the case of ceremony marking the President’s Annual to the National legislature and the party.
During the party they were concern loading their hand bags with food instead of catering to the guests most of whom had no seats. When one of the protocol officers was threatened by a senior official with dismissal over her unwanted attitude displayed to towards guests, she said that she will only be dismiss accept her boss have not see her nakedness.
Also, the Bureau is in the habit of demanding officials of government to pay extra money under the pretend of sending the verbal note out of the country through couriers. This embarrassing practices at the Protocol Bureau has become and money making adventure.
Last week Tuesday, one official of government was seemed in the corridor of the Ministry vesting his frustration over the preparation of delay of his verbal note. The man alleged that he was asked to speedily facility the process but refused to comply to the illegal act and threatened to expose those involved.
Another bureau which employees considered as a fast money making area is the Bureau of Passports and Visas where applicants are over-charged against the approved US$23.00 to process a passport.
Accordingly, those who briber by paying more than the approved fees passports are treated with urgency and received the same day while those who refused to bribe and only paid the approved fees are taken days or weeks to obtain their traveling book. The bureau is usually overcrowded with employees of the Ministry who are hunting for passport’s applicants to illegally over-charge them to process their passports.
Lack of Monthly Benefits
The Ministry is again experiencing difficult to give its work forces their needed monthly benefits such as allowances and gas slips as well as transportation to commute them to job and home. Since this year we are yet to get our January Allowances and gas slips while the buses are grounded due to lack of fuel and gasoline.
As a result, we are force to pay our way to work on a daily basic while other ministries received their needed benefits and allowance on time for the month. On an important note, the Deputy Minister for Administration has disappoints us and unable to run his office. The Ministry is unable to settle its debts therefore no vendors want to do busy with the administration.
Greed For Foreign Trips
Another issue of major concern is the attitudes of one Assistant Minister and Deputy Minister with offices on the Ground Floor and 3rd Floor and the Chief of Protocol to be the only ones to attend all foreign trips without surprising their subordinates to attend of the trips. It is so unacceptable that they have become unpopular in the eyes of their immediate deputies and some staff members, who usually gossip about them.
They are hardly seemed in their respective office for a month without traveling, just for allowances and other benefits. Both of them were at the recent AU Summit in Addis Ababa , and they about to travel again.
Conflict of Interest
The Chief of Protocol has engaged into serious conflict of interest by hijacking all government important delegation trips abroad and awarding the purchasing of flights tickets to his Airline office, run by his wife, contrary to government policy. The recent government delegation visit to the AU summit flight tickets were purchased from his airline office on Broad Street , while other airlines agencies which are paying taxes to government benefit no support from the government. His airlines office is usually over-charged government for
flights tickets.
Practice of Nepotism
The practice of nepotism, favoritism and tribalism are growing issues that need to be dealt with decisively by the new Foreign Minister, if his Administration is to be successful in bring the Ministry to its pre war status and regaining its lost image as the first Ministry in the country. Another issue which has taken a center stage for the past three months is the issue of corruption which shows that some employees with low rank are rewarded with high allowance and more gas slips more than others like directors and those with BSC and Masters’ Degrees in various disciplines of studies.
Even those who were sent abroad to undergo studies have returned with Master Degree but there has been no promotion and that their monthly allowance for the month of January is US$125.00, while they still receive civil servant salary while those assigned in Madam Angela Cassell Bush office without degree receive a monthly allowance of US$200.00 to US$350.00, while some staff members get between USD20 to 50.
For instance, all staff members at office of the Deputy Minister for Finance receive monthly gas slips and better allowance, while some secretaries favored also receive monthly allowance and gas slips, with nothing for other secretaries assigned in other bureaus and departments. This ugly act was exposed during the recent distributions of gas slips. We are calling for an audit into the distributions of gas slips and both US and Liberian dollars’ payrolls.
We will not rest in our advocacy until ills and ugly practices at the Ministry are removed. We called on the new Minister to be vigilant in combating societal ills at the Ministry and protect the interests of the general staff members.
We commend our new Minister for little improvement at the Ministry but we propose a regular monthly meeting to enable employees express their feeling of unwholesome activities at the Ministry. We believe that constant meeting will help resolve some of the ills eating up the Ministry and that the plights of majority of us will be address.
Signed Willie Flomo
Interim Chairman/ MOFA Concerned Workers Association
Friday, February 25, 2011
A SARAFINA EDITORIAL ON GHANAIAN BRUTALITY
This News Commentary, “Don’t Abandon Liberians Abroad to Torture and Death At the Expense of Diplomatic Cooperation,” represents the views of the SARAFINA VENTURES & COMMUNICATION Incorporation on the current Buduburam shooting saga that led to the killing of several Liberians
Report from Accra that Ghanaian police have gunned down some Liberians at the Buduburam Camp near Accra is disturbing. The news is especially disturbing because of the low level of attention it has been given by Liberian authorities – meanly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the time some five Liberians, resident in Ghana, were killed in cold blood with some 60 more arrested and bundled at the Cape Coast Prison.
Liberians were on Sunday, February 13, stunned when a radio broadcast of phone call from the Buduburam Camp stating the invasion of Liberian community at the Camp by well-armed Ghanaian police in the wake of leadership dispute between two Liberian contending factions. The caller further stated that the Ghanaian police had already killed five Liberians before her and that the pandemonium created by the police brutality had forced several of them indoors at a time an installation of a new Liberian welfare leadership was scheduled on the Camp.
This news was verified by Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs, Jerolinmek Piah, who put the number of deaths at only one. Piah further confirmed that the Ghanaian security entered the camp shooting at the unarmed civilians. Further confirmation unfolded when Ghanaian police spokesman, Kwesi Ofori, told the Cable News Network that the police were called in to quell what he referred to as “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. Ofori noted that the Ghanaian police entered the camp while one of the factions was trying to install its leadership and added that 30 persons were arrested. Ofori’s account did not mention the number of deaths.
For us, we are strongly convinced that shooting of unarmed Liberian civilians by the host country’s police to quell a mere leadership dispute is not only undiplomatic; it is also unprofessional and deserves condemnation. Besides, it appears to be a calculated plan to terrify the unarmed Liberian community to the extent of killing some of them for some ulterior reasons.
As a matter of fact, there is no amount of “disturbances” between two unarmed Liberian rival factions on the camp in a leadership dispute that should deserve the use of deadly police force, neither is there any amount of mere pelting at the police that should merit such melancholic cruelty, especially where there is no indication of the presence of weapons at the contentious installation.
This police brutality against Liberians is just a tactful reminder of past Ghanaian attacks on peaceful Liberians in that country. It brings to memory the Ghanaian authorities’ attacks, dispossession of properties and subsequent deportation of Liberians from Ghana during the regime of President William V. S. Tubman in the 1940s for no justifiable reasons. Those Liberians fishermen deported, mostly of the Kru tribe, left back their real estates and other personal properties they amassed over the years in that country. Noticing reciprocation of the Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians, Ghanaians in Liberia at the demonstrated against their government to avert reciprocal eventualities and the Liberian government under Tubman did nothing while most of the deportees died out of frustration.
The Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians repeated itself during the Samuel Doe regime in the 1980s when Liberians were massively bundled and deported from Ghana for no justifiable reason with the Liberian Government remaining silent on the matter. Similar attacks were carried out during the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Administration, the latest been at the command of the Ghanaian Minister of Interior Kwamenah Barteh in 2007/2008, which only left the refugees at the mercy of the UNHCR as the government’s action was again passive. Today, we are talking about Liberians killed by Ghanaian police with some arrested and bundled into the Cape Coast Prison where Ghanaian security officials are using them to solicit bribe from relatives under the pretext that they would free them once the bribe of US$250 or its equivalent in Ghana cedis was proffered.
There is no way this time that the Ghanaians should go with impunity for this graved offense against the people of Liberia in that country, especially when the Ghanaian-based Radio, FM Vibe, located a Ghanaian national, Code named 919 who made it clear the Ghanaian police had indeed killed Liberians and that he has a video tape he was willing to release to the FM station’s management.
All we are saying is that these things happened because our governments have been passive on Ghanaian authorities’ offenses against peaceful Liberians in that country. It is against this backdrop that we implore the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Government not to abandon Liberians abroad on the altar of good neighborliness, at the time that the neighbor cannot protect the Children of Mama Liberia under its jurisdictional territory.
This has been a news commentary titled: “Do Not Abandon Liberians Abroad To Torture and Death At The Expense Of Diplomatic Cooperation”, representing the views of the SARAFINA VENTURES & COMMUNICATIONS Incorporated produced and presented by Bill K. Jarkloh.
Report from Accra that Ghanaian police have gunned down some Liberians at the Buduburam Camp near Accra is disturbing. The news is especially disturbing because of the low level of attention it has been given by Liberian authorities – meanly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the time some five Liberians, resident in Ghana, were killed in cold blood with some 60 more arrested and bundled at the Cape Coast Prison.
Liberians were on Sunday, February 13, stunned when a radio broadcast of phone call from the Buduburam Camp stating the invasion of Liberian community at the Camp by well-armed Ghanaian police in the wake of leadership dispute between two Liberian contending factions. The caller further stated that the Ghanaian police had already killed five Liberians before her and that the pandemonium created by the police brutality had forced several of them indoors at a time an installation of a new Liberian welfare leadership was scheduled on the Camp.
This news was verified by Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs, Jerolinmek Piah, who put the number of deaths at only one. Piah further confirmed that the Ghanaian security entered the camp shooting at the unarmed civilians. Further confirmation unfolded when Ghanaian police spokesman, Kwesi Ofori, told the Cable News Network that the police were called in to quell what he referred to as “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. Ofori noted that the Ghanaian police entered the camp while one of the factions was trying to install its leadership and added that 30 persons were arrested. Ofori’s account did not mention the number of deaths.
For us, we are strongly convinced that shooting of unarmed Liberian civilians by the host country’s police to quell a mere leadership dispute is not only undiplomatic; it is also unprofessional and deserves condemnation. Besides, it appears to be a calculated plan to terrify the unarmed Liberian community to the extent of killing some of them for some ulterior reasons.
As a matter of fact, there is no amount of “disturbances” between two unarmed Liberian rival factions on the camp in a leadership dispute that should deserve the use of deadly police force, neither is there any amount of mere pelting at the police that should merit such melancholic cruelty, especially where there is no indication of the presence of weapons at the contentious installation.
This police brutality against Liberians is just a tactful reminder of past Ghanaian attacks on peaceful Liberians in that country. It brings to memory the Ghanaian authorities’ attacks, dispossession of properties and subsequent deportation of Liberians from Ghana during the regime of President William V. S. Tubman in the 1940s for no justifiable reasons. Those Liberians fishermen deported, mostly of the Kru tribe, left back their real estates and other personal properties they amassed over the years in that country. Noticing reciprocation of the Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians, Ghanaians in Liberia at the demonstrated against their government to avert reciprocal eventualities and the Liberian government under Tubman did nothing while most of the deportees died out of frustration.
The Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians repeated itself during the Samuel Doe regime in the 1980s when Liberians were massively bundled and deported from Ghana for no justifiable reason with the Liberian Government remaining silent on the matter. Similar attacks were carried out during the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Administration, the latest been at the command of the Ghanaian Minister of Interior Kwamenah Barteh in 2007/2008, which only left the refugees at the mercy of the UNHCR as the government’s action was again passive. Today, we are talking about Liberians killed by Ghanaian police with some arrested and bundled into the Cape Coast Prison where Ghanaian security officials are using them to solicit bribe from relatives under the pretext that they would free them once the bribe of US$250 or its equivalent in Ghana cedis was proffered.
There is no way this time that the Ghanaians should go with impunity for this graved offense against the people of Liberia in that country, especially when the Ghanaian-based Radio, FM Vibe, located a Ghanaian national, Code named 919 who made it clear the Ghanaian police had indeed killed Liberians and that he has a video tape he was willing to release to the FM station’s management.
All we are saying is that these things happened because our governments have been passive on Ghanaian authorities’ offenses against peaceful Liberians in that country. It is against this backdrop that we implore the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Government not to abandon Liberians abroad on the altar of good neighborliness, at the time that the neighbor cannot protect the Children of Mama Liberia under its jurisdictional territory.
This has been a news commentary titled: “Do Not Abandon Liberians Abroad To Torture and Death At The Expense Of Diplomatic Cooperation”, representing the views of the SARAFINA VENTURES & COMMUNICATIONS Incorporated produced and presented by Bill K. Jarkloh.
Oh Ghana! Why Liberia Again?
…A Plea with GOL to Speed Up It Account To the People
By: Bill K. Jarkloh
Oh Ghana! Why hurt Liberia Again? This my initial reaction inwardly when a phone call from one Decontee at the Buduburam Refugee camp in Ghana related the police brutality of Ghanaian officers against Liberia in the wake of a leadership crisis on the camp. This call instantly reminded me of the Liberian -Ghanaian relations that has always been reminiscent of an eye-service and usually characterize by deception punctuated by hostilities towards the people of Liberia.
Indeed, the Liberian-Ghanaian diplomacy has never continued on the path of genuine diplomacy; it has been instead marked deception on the part of the Ghanaian side to the disadvantage of Liberians resident in Ghana. This might be basically due to the ill-thoughts of some influential Ghanaians about Liberians, thoughts especially masterminded by overzealous Ghanaian bureaucrats whose selfish desire under the messy cover-up of so-called patriotism and nationalism has driven them to defying diplomatic tenets practiced around the world bilaterally or multilaterally.
Just last Sunday, February 13, while sitting by my receiver listening to gospel Liberian music, the phone call by the Liberian resident in Ghana was broadcast from Buduburam from indoor at which time the where the Caller who identified herself on the Truth FM of the Renaissance Communication Incorporated (RCI) as “Decontee Pannoh” [I stand to be corrected] alleged that officers of the Ghanaian Police Service were gunning down Liberians. She put the number of deaths at four Liberians in the wake of a leadership debacle, and said that the panic created by the despicable melancholy droved the Liberians indoor.
The news sent chills into the spines of most Liberians who were listening, for the Ghanaian authorities have always adopted hostile attitude towards Liberians, since the Tubmanic regime, when scores of Liberians were bundled up and deported back home. And so I started to think: What will the Government do this time around? I was certainly consumed in a thought pattern after the guess that: Will it be business as usual – one like the impunity and deprivation I suffer when I was never my severance benefit by the Embassy of Ghana here for whom I worked for more than four years? Will it be business as usual when even the Foreign Ministry which I ran to for protection shy away leaving my family and I economically vulnerable? Hmm!!??!!!!?????!!!!!!! Hurtful but no redress up to present
Latest police brutality
So I was glued to my radio receiver to follow the incident as Decontee, from the Liberian refugee camp, explained that the Liberians on the camp had elected one Joseph Sambullah to Head them. She said on that Sunday, April 13 was a scheduled date for the installation of the elected officials. But she noted that surprising, she discovered the massive movement of Ghanaian police on the Camp well-armed, shooting at the unarmed crowds of Liberians - killing four persons instantly. She did not disclose their identities; she however noted that the act of the police caused panic amongst the refugees who were forced indoors for fear of their dear lives. Latter calls established that the police went firing at the Buduburam Camp hosting more than 15,000 Liberians. According to her, several others were wounded while Decontee in one of her calls said she noticed the police were taking some of the wounded or dead to an unknown destination, apparently to conceal identities or temper with evidence.
While apprehensions were growing amongst Liberians at home as most people were glued to their radio receivers, Deputy Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah called from Ganta unofficially confirming the news. He said one Smith he called from Ghana confirmed that Ghanaian police have gone about shooting the Liberian refugees. The Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs who used his phone call to call for calm amongst the Liberian people explained that he was told the Ghanaian police went into the camp armed, and that it was his information that they went shooting at the Buduburam. Piah said he was told that one person was reported dead instead of the claim of four by Decontee, noting that the Government was making contact with the Liberian Embassy in Accra to give an official account. He said the Ghanaian Police entered the Camp amidst confusion over the leadership of a welfare oriented group which reports named as Jahred.
Police brutality: A condemnable act
In a CNN account, Ghanaian police spokesman Kwesi Ofori said the police were called in to quell what he referred to as “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. Ofori noted that the Ghanaian police entered the camp while one of the factions was trying to install its leadership and added that 30 persons were arrested. This account did not mention the number of deaths, while eyewitness account puts the number of Liberian arrested at 54.
Be what the situation may be, armed police were not supposed to enter the camp of unarmed civilians with excessive force to the extent of killing some of the civilians. The act by the Ghanaian police is certainly uncivilized and primitive and warrants or deserves condemnation to say the least. Just listen to Ofori saying they were called in “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. What was the extent of the “disturbances – installing leaders? What then warrant armed police shooting at unarmed civilians – for pelting at the police? What was pelted at the police – gun fire, stones, sand or water? There must be severe cause for police to shoot at unarmed civilians.
So what would the Ghanaian authorities do had they seen a gun or knife with someone at the contentious installation? Wouldn’t they unleash military delta force on the camp? Gush!!!!!!!!! My thoughts are pouring out and I can imagine the Ghanaian skinning everyone alive if there were any form of weapon play at the installation and they would justify even if they gunned everyone down amidst unimaginable proportion. Certainly, I can safely say our government would engage into for nothing diplomacy that would produce no reprimand for the offending authorities of Ghana. That is not the first time. But we will soon come to that.
In any case and giving the varying accounts related by the Deputy Mi9nister Piah, Decontee and even Ofori – the Ghanaian police spokesman on the CNN, it must be noted that the need for an official account is inevitable. It is inevitable because the explanations leave rooms for more questions than answers as to why the police used excessive and deadly force amongst the unarmed civilians. This is in fact why such is a detestable act of barbarity and primitivism that police brutality meted against the unarmed Liberians on account of ordinary leadership crisis of a refugee-based Jahred Welfare Group. The contestable installation for which they were called in does not deserve such intolerance exhibited by the Ghanaian police. The barbarity displayed by the Ghanaian against Liberians goes beyond normality of diplomacy and is against the reciprocity nature of diplomacy, for Liberians would not dare acceptable diplomatic norms to reciprocate such dreadful police brutality against Ghanaians in Liberia.
Past offense still afresh
But this is not the first time the Ghanaians have acted hostile and intolerable towards Liberian refugees. Minds are still afresh when the Ghanaian authorities ruthlessly dealt with refuges who were protesting for higher benefits to either go to a third country or return home, when the Ghanaians announced the end of the country’s official accommodation of the Liberian refugees in 2007/2008. At the time, the crime of the Liberians was to advocate for a US$1,000 package when they were being given US$500 to return home.
The Ghanaian refugee council insisted on their package, and a peaceful sit-in protest action was turned sour for the Liberian refugees who were given security attacks. The result was a diplomatic feud that involved intensive bureaucratic negotiations when Liberians at home were rising to reciprocate drastically the Ghanaian ruthlessness. These things are usually masterminded by some heartless Ghanaians, whose naivety and so-called patriotism yields nothing but diplomatic rivalry and conflict between the two countries peoples. I can safely say Ghanaians of such nature have even attempted to do or have done same in our own country. I remember a Ghanaian who told me, “How many Ghanaians your Liberian Embassy in my country employ; here you are heavily paid by us…” This statement I will never forget, and will always come to mind whenever I notice some self-centered Ghanaians misbehaved towards my countrymen, here at home or even abroad. This is because Ghanaians alone do not harbor the sense of nationality, we Liberians - irrespective of our civil conflict – cherished mother Liberia and her beautiful daughters and handsome sons.
But one thing that that is at stake is that our government – the Government of Liberia – is overly lenient on these matters. For each time Ghanaians behave cruelly towards a Liberians or group of Liberians, our authorities that should have given provided security reneged on its responsibility to the Liberian victim/s of abuses from some Ghanaians. Oh yes! Liberian officials are always bent on the back. I am a victim – a Liberian who worked selflessly for the Republic of Ghana here in Liberia for more than four years, whose services were terminated under a no-money cover-up and was never paid his benefits – some five thousands United States dollars while the Foreign Ministry of Liberia which was run to for redress remained idle, living my family and I in an economically vulnerable turbulence for about a year. Today the Ghana Embassy still has my money and my effort with Liberian Foreign Ministry for redress is to no avail as though there are no laws covering such matters.
Someone will say he is bitter against the Ghanaians because of his money! I will say yes. But my bitterness did not lead the despicable Ghanaian police to killing unarmed Liberians, leaving their dependents in destitute last Sunday. No! It was not my bitterness that witch-hunted Liberians in Ghana and bundled peaceful protesting refugees in Ghanaian police cells where they are treated like sub-humans. I say No! it was not my bitterness that killed a Liberian on the Budumbura Camp which moved Liberians protesting at some in few years ago.
Most Ghanaians do not understand the contemporary world of interdependence. They fail to understand the culture of intermarriages that have sociologically swept across the globe. They refused to acknowledge the fact that while there are Liberians in Ghana; Ghanaians too are in Liberia enjoying the warm hospitality of the Liberian counterparts. So what is the problem?
While I may be tempted to runn a series on the Liberian-Ghanaian relations, the Ghanaian’s stance against Liberians and the Government of Liberia’s posture in this Ghanaian mishap perpetrated against Liberians. But for now, I am calling on the Liberian Government not to sweep this latest Ghanaian police brutality under the carpet. This because Liberians should not always be at the disadvantage of this so-called relationship, for whatsoever good the Ghanaian deserve here, Liberians deserve it there; whatever favor or Ghanaians rendered Liberia, Liberia was the first to help Ghana out from colonialism. Bedsides we are all brothers and sister of grandma Africa mother Africa and should be able to treat each other as such.
By: Bill K. Jarkloh
Oh Ghana! Why hurt Liberia Again? This my initial reaction inwardly when a phone call from one Decontee at the Buduburam Refugee camp in Ghana related the police brutality of Ghanaian officers against Liberia in the wake of a leadership crisis on the camp. This call instantly reminded me of the Liberian -Ghanaian relations that has always been reminiscent of an eye-service and usually characterize by deception punctuated by hostilities towards the people of Liberia.
Indeed, the Liberian-Ghanaian diplomacy has never continued on the path of genuine diplomacy; it has been instead marked deception on the part of the Ghanaian side to the disadvantage of Liberians resident in Ghana. This might be basically due to the ill-thoughts of some influential Ghanaians about Liberians, thoughts especially masterminded by overzealous Ghanaian bureaucrats whose selfish desire under the messy cover-up of so-called patriotism and nationalism has driven them to defying diplomatic tenets practiced around the world bilaterally or multilaterally.
Just last Sunday, February 13, while sitting by my receiver listening to gospel Liberian music, the phone call by the Liberian resident in Ghana was broadcast from Buduburam from indoor at which time the where the Caller who identified herself on the Truth FM of the Renaissance Communication Incorporated (RCI) as “Decontee Pannoh” [I stand to be corrected] alleged that officers of the Ghanaian Police Service were gunning down Liberians. She put the number of deaths at four Liberians in the wake of a leadership debacle, and said that the panic created by the despicable melancholy droved the Liberians indoor.
The news sent chills into the spines of most Liberians who were listening, for the Ghanaian authorities have always adopted hostile attitude towards Liberians, since the Tubmanic regime, when scores of Liberians were bundled up and deported back home. And so I started to think: What will the Government do this time around? I was certainly consumed in a thought pattern after the guess that: Will it be business as usual – one like the impunity and deprivation I suffer when I was never my severance benefit by the Embassy of Ghana here for whom I worked for more than four years? Will it be business as usual when even the Foreign Ministry which I ran to for protection shy away leaving my family and I economically vulnerable? Hmm!!??!!!!?????!!!!!!! Hurtful but no redress up to present
Latest police brutality
So I was glued to my radio receiver to follow the incident as Decontee, from the Liberian refugee camp, explained that the Liberians on the camp had elected one Joseph Sambullah to Head them. She said on that Sunday, April 13 was a scheduled date for the installation of the elected officials. But she noted that surprising, she discovered the massive movement of Ghanaian police on the Camp well-armed, shooting at the unarmed crowds of Liberians - killing four persons instantly. She did not disclose their identities; she however noted that the act of the police caused panic amongst the refugees who were forced indoors for fear of their dear lives. Latter calls established that the police went firing at the Buduburam Camp hosting more than 15,000 Liberians. According to her, several others were wounded while Decontee in one of her calls said she noticed the police were taking some of the wounded or dead to an unknown destination, apparently to conceal identities or temper with evidence.
While apprehensions were growing amongst Liberians at home as most people were glued to their radio receivers, Deputy Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah called from Ganta unofficially confirming the news. He said one Smith he called from Ghana confirmed that Ghanaian police have gone about shooting the Liberian refugees. The Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs who used his phone call to call for calm amongst the Liberian people explained that he was told the Ghanaian police went into the camp armed, and that it was his information that they went shooting at the Buduburam. Piah said he was told that one person was reported dead instead of the claim of four by Decontee, noting that the Government was making contact with the Liberian Embassy in Accra to give an official account. He said the Ghanaian Police entered the Camp amidst confusion over the leadership of a welfare oriented group which reports named as Jahred.
Police brutality: A condemnable act
In a CNN account, Ghanaian police spokesman Kwesi Ofori said the police were called in to quell what he referred to as “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. Ofori noted that the Ghanaian police entered the camp while one of the factions was trying to install its leadership and added that 30 persons were arrested. This account did not mention the number of deaths, while eyewitness account puts the number of Liberian arrested at 54.
Be what the situation may be, armed police were not supposed to enter the camp of unarmed civilians with excessive force to the extent of killing some of the civilians. The act by the Ghanaian police is certainly uncivilized and primitive and warrants or deserves condemnation to say the least. Just listen to Ofori saying they were called in “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. What was the extent of the “disturbances – installing leaders? What then warrant armed police shooting at unarmed civilians – for pelting at the police? What was pelted at the police – gun fire, stones, sand or water? There must be severe cause for police to shoot at unarmed civilians.
So what would the Ghanaian authorities do had they seen a gun or knife with someone at the contentious installation? Wouldn’t they unleash military delta force on the camp? Gush!!!!!!!!! My thoughts are pouring out and I can imagine the Ghanaian skinning everyone alive if there were any form of weapon play at the installation and they would justify even if they gunned everyone down amidst unimaginable proportion. Certainly, I can safely say our government would engage into for nothing diplomacy that would produce no reprimand for the offending authorities of Ghana. That is not the first time. But we will soon come to that.
In any case and giving the varying accounts related by the Deputy Mi9nister Piah, Decontee and even Ofori – the Ghanaian police spokesman on the CNN, it must be noted that the need for an official account is inevitable. It is inevitable because the explanations leave rooms for more questions than answers as to why the police used excessive and deadly force amongst the unarmed civilians. This is in fact why such is a detestable act of barbarity and primitivism that police brutality meted against the unarmed Liberians on account of ordinary leadership crisis of a refugee-based Jahred Welfare Group. The contestable installation for which they were called in does not deserve such intolerance exhibited by the Ghanaian police. The barbarity displayed by the Ghanaian against Liberians goes beyond normality of diplomacy and is against the reciprocity nature of diplomacy, for Liberians would not dare acceptable diplomatic norms to reciprocate such dreadful police brutality against Ghanaians in Liberia.
Past offense still afresh
But this is not the first time the Ghanaians have acted hostile and intolerable towards Liberian refugees. Minds are still afresh when the Ghanaian authorities ruthlessly dealt with refuges who were protesting for higher benefits to either go to a third country or return home, when the Ghanaians announced the end of the country’s official accommodation of the Liberian refugees in 2007/2008. At the time, the crime of the Liberians was to advocate for a US$1,000 package when they were being given US$500 to return home.
The Ghanaian refugee council insisted on their package, and a peaceful sit-in protest action was turned sour for the Liberian refugees who were given security attacks. The result was a diplomatic feud that involved intensive bureaucratic negotiations when Liberians at home were rising to reciprocate drastically the Ghanaian ruthlessness. These things are usually masterminded by some heartless Ghanaians, whose naivety and so-called patriotism yields nothing but diplomatic rivalry and conflict between the two countries peoples. I can safely say Ghanaians of such nature have even attempted to do or have done same in our own country. I remember a Ghanaian who told me, “How many Ghanaians your Liberian Embassy in my country employ; here you are heavily paid by us…” This statement I will never forget, and will always come to mind whenever I notice some self-centered Ghanaians misbehaved towards my countrymen, here at home or even abroad. This is because Ghanaians alone do not harbor the sense of nationality, we Liberians - irrespective of our civil conflict – cherished mother Liberia and her beautiful daughters and handsome sons.
But one thing that that is at stake is that our government – the Government of Liberia – is overly lenient on these matters. For each time Ghanaians behave cruelly towards a Liberians or group of Liberians, our authorities that should have given provided security reneged on its responsibility to the Liberian victim/s of abuses from some Ghanaians. Oh yes! Liberian officials are always bent on the back. I am a victim – a Liberian who worked selflessly for the Republic of Ghana here in Liberia for more than four years, whose services were terminated under a no-money cover-up and was never paid his benefits – some five thousands United States dollars while the Foreign Ministry of Liberia which was run to for redress remained idle, living my family and I in an economically vulnerable turbulence for about a year. Today the Ghana Embassy still has my money and my effort with Liberian Foreign Ministry for redress is to no avail as though there are no laws covering such matters.
Someone will say he is bitter against the Ghanaians because of his money! I will say yes. But my bitterness did not lead the despicable Ghanaian police to killing unarmed Liberians, leaving their dependents in destitute last Sunday. No! It was not my bitterness that witch-hunted Liberians in Ghana and bundled peaceful protesting refugees in Ghanaian police cells where they are treated like sub-humans. I say No! it was not my bitterness that killed a Liberian on the Budumbura Camp which moved Liberians protesting at some in few years ago.
Most Ghanaians do not understand the contemporary world of interdependence. They fail to understand the culture of intermarriages that have sociologically swept across the globe. They refused to acknowledge the fact that while there are Liberians in Ghana; Ghanaians too are in Liberia enjoying the warm hospitality of the Liberian counterparts. So what is the problem?
While I may be tempted to runn a series on the Liberian-Ghanaian relations, the Ghanaian’s stance against Liberians and the Government of Liberia’s posture in this Ghanaian mishap perpetrated against Liberians. But for now, I am calling on the Liberian Government not to sweep this latest Ghanaian police brutality under the carpet. This because Liberians should not always be at the disadvantage of this so-called relationship, for whatsoever good the Ghanaian deserve here, Liberians deserve it there; whatever favor or Ghanaians rendered Liberia, Liberia was the first to help Ghana out from colonialism. Bedsides we are all brothers and sister of grandma Africa mother Africa and should be able to treat each other as such.
“Act or We React To Buduburam Cruelty”
...Liberians Tell Their Govt;
...As Eyewitnesses Say Mass Murder “Was Planned & Executed”
By: Bill K. Jarkloh
Although reports from the Liberian Embassy officials in Ghana has lied that only one Ghanaian lady was gunned down when Ghanaian police raided the Liberian refugee camp on Sunday February 13, reports emanating from Accra says the Ghanaian police had systematically planned and executed the raid according to the plan.
The Ghanaian police raid that has resulted to mass murder on the Buduburam Camp led to what was reported as the willful killing of five unarmed Liberians and a Ghanaian lady mistaken to be a Liberian on the camp.
However, Liberian citizens have blamed their government for always leaving Liberians unprotected in the cruel hands of Ghanaians, saying that this latest might trigger a citizen reciprocal action against Ghanaian residents and authorities in Liberia.
Some Liberians that have spoken to this paper in West Point, New Krutown and Gardnersville noted that for each time Ghanaians attack peaceful Liberians in that country, the Government has always treated the situation with passivity, leaving Liberians in Ghana always vulnerable to the cruelty of Ghanaian authorities.
“This time around, Liberians need to reciprocate this Ghanaian attacks on peaceful Liberians; after all there are Ghanaians in Liberia amassing properties just as Liberians in Ghana are also amassing properties. What is good for Peter is equally good for John,” says Tonia Blama, who spoke to the Liberian Journal on the Bushrod Island.
Mary Wesseh in Gardnersville, apparently concurring with this traced the history of Ghanaian attacks on Liberians, saying, “my sister was a victim of the attacks on peaceful refugee protestors, who were on a sit-in action but were ordered attacked by Ghanaian Minister of Interior.”
Mary said unless the Liberian Government reacts decisively to these kind of constant Ghanaian brutalities masterminded usually by Ghanaian officials, citizens’ actions against Ghanaians here will be necessary as a way of protesting such cruelty.
Another Barsee Johnson, in his own reaction, was blunt: Unless the Government reacts to such unlike of past instances of such acts of barbarity by Ghanaian authorities against Liberians, we are capable of mobilizing decisive reciprocal action that would signal the disapproval of Ghanaian cruelty against Liberians by the sovereign people of this country.
Other others reacted in like manner, calling on the Government to act quickly so as to appease the dependents of the Liberians that were murdered by unidentified Ghanaian police in that country at the Buduburam Camp.
Mr. John Matthias, for his part described the report emanating from the Liberian Embassy in Accra that only one Ghanaian lady was killed as a betrayal of the country and its people in that foreign land, saying that this should show to the Liberian people that the Government’s international sympathy of this Government is aimed at sacrificing the interest of Liberians internationally.
“If nothing is done about this, we will use it as a campaign tool against the Ellen Johnson Government to vote it out because international assistance should not jeopardize the interest and welfare of Liberians at home and at broad,” Mr. John Matthias added.
Accordingly, University of Liberia Students through the institutions’ student government staged a street demonstration that took them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where the presented a protest statement to the President threatening that Ghanaians in Liberian risked suffering similar fate in the hands of the citizens if the government did nothing to forestall recurrence of the Ghanaian police brutality.
Chronicle of the police brutality
From Buduburam, eyewitnesses on the Camp indicated that the Ghanaian police raid was reportedly executed by unidentified police who removed their identity tags from their uniforms during the raid, noting further that the police entered the camp with shooting at the unarmed Liberians.
Other accounts said some corpses were nicodemusly taken away to unknown destinations apparent to erase evidence, noting that those bodies that were visible to the public and accounted for were all shot from their backs, an indication that they were shot deliberately by the Ghanaian police while escaping police brutality. A phone call by the Liberian resident on the Buduburam Camp, Decontee Pannoh, who called on a local Liberian radio from Ghana, alleged that officers of the Ghanaian Police Service were gunning down Liberians. She put the number of instant deaths at four Liberians in the wake of a leadership debacle between two Liberians groups over control of a welfare council, and said that the panic created by the despicable melancholy droved the Liberians indoor. Decontee noted that she was making the call from indoor at Buduburam.
The news that sent chills into the spines of most Liberians brought to memory past Ghanaian misbehavior towards Liberians in that country without reciprocation since the Tubmanic regime, when scores of Liberians were bundled up and deported back home leaving back their possessions they amass in their life to Ghanaians that had coveted and took over them.
Decontee, from the Liberian refugee camp, further explained that the Liberians on the camp had elected one Joseph Sambullah to Head them. She said on that Sunday, April 13 was a scheduled date for the installation of the elected officials.
But she noted that surprising, she discovered the massive movement of Ghanaian police on the Camp well-armed, shooting at the unarmed crowds of Liberians - killing four persons instantly.
She did not disclose their identities; she however noted that the act of the police caused panic amongst the refugees who were forced indoors for fear of their dear lives. Latter calls established that the police went firing at the Buduburam Camp hosting more than 15,000 Liberians. According to her, several others were wounded while Decontee in one of her calls said she noticed the police were taking some of the wounded or dead to an unknown destination, apparently to conceal identities or temper with evidence.
While apprehensions were growing amongst Liberians at home as most people were glued to their radio receivers, Deputy Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah called from Ganta unofficially confirming the news. He said one Smith he called from Ghana confirmed that Ghanaian police have gone about shooting the Liberian refugees.
The Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs who used his phone call to call for calm amongst the Liberian people explained that he was told the Ghanaian police went into the camp armed, and that it was his information that they went shooting at the Buduburam.
Piah said he was told that one person was reported dead instead of the claim of four by Decontee, noting that the Government was making contact with the Liberian Embassy in Accra to give an official account. He said the Ghanaian Police entered the Camp amidst confusion over the leadership of a welfare oriented group which reports named as Jahred.
Police brutality: A condemnable act
In a CNN account, Ghanaian police spokesman Kwesi Ofori said the police were called in to quell what he referred to as “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. Ofori noted that the Ghanaian police entered the camp while one of the factions was trying to install its leadership and added that 30 persons were arrested. This account did not mention the number of deaths, while eyewitness account puts the number of Liberian arrested at 60
The Liberians arrested were bundled into the Cape Coast Prison where Ghanaian security officials are using them to solicit bribe from relatives under the pretext that they would free them once the bribe of US$250 equivalent in Ghana cedi was proffered.
The matter was already taken to court where the Liberians at the Cape Coast Prison were paraded before a Court in that country, but the matter was reportedly adjoined for the March term of Court.
But a broadcast on Vibe FM near Accra in Ghana located a Ghanaian national, Code named 919 made it clear the Ghanaian police had indeed killed Liberians and that he has a video tape he was willing to release to the FM station’s management.
The Buduburam Refugee Camp
The Buduburam Camp was used to harbor Liberian refugees who fled the country at the height of the Liberian civil war. The area was said to be a forbidden forest given to the Liberians refugees, and reports indicated that the refugees have development the camp to a modern urban community booming with life and interest to the envy of insolent Ghanaians who thought the areas could not be the way it was being developed by the Liberians.
Buduburam has therefore become a modern Liberian refugee community until when the Ghanaian Refugees Council announced the end of Liberian refugee status in that country in 2007, forcing the Liberians to controversially return home amidst security brutality ordered by Ghanaian Interior Minister then, Mr. Kwamenah Barteh, who claimed that women that were protesting for their just repatriation packages demonstrated naked thereby warranting the security brutality meted to the Liberians before their deportation.
The Women were then protesting against US$500 package provided each of them instead of US$1,000 the refugees said they should have been given to either return home of travel to third country for refuge.
Since then, they remaining more than 15,000 Liberians that built modern structures at the camp sought integration into the Ghanaian Society, and have further been developing the camp for their convenient habitation, reports from Ghana noted.
Since then, the Liberians have been living in peace until Sunday, February 13, when the Ghana Police raided the camp.
History of Ghanaian attacks
It can be recalled that Ghanaian authorities, during the regime of President William V. S. Tubman in the 1940s, unjustifiably bundled Liberians fishermen, mostly of the Kru tribe, like cargo and deported them – leaving back their real estates and other personal properties they amassed over the years in that country.
Noticing reciprocation of the Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians, Ghanaian in Liberian demonstrated against their government to avert reciprocal eventualities.
Although the Li9berian government under Tubman did nothing about that, most of the deportees died at home out of frustration.
The Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians repeated itself during the Samuel Doe regime in the 1980s when Liberians were massively bundled and deported from Ghana for no justifiable reason with the Liberian Government remaining silent on the matter.
Similar attacks were carried out during the Ellen Johnson Administration, the latest been at the command of the Ghanaian Minister of Interior Kwamenah Barteh in 2007/2008, which only left the refugees at the mercy of the UNHCR as the government’s action was again passive.
...As Eyewitnesses Say Mass Murder “Was Planned & Executed”
By: Bill K. Jarkloh
Although reports from the Liberian Embassy officials in Ghana has lied that only one Ghanaian lady was gunned down when Ghanaian police raided the Liberian refugee camp on Sunday February 13, reports emanating from Accra says the Ghanaian police had systematically planned and executed the raid according to the plan.
The Ghanaian police raid that has resulted to mass murder on the Buduburam Camp led to what was reported as the willful killing of five unarmed Liberians and a Ghanaian lady mistaken to be a Liberian on the camp.
However, Liberian citizens have blamed their government for always leaving Liberians unprotected in the cruel hands of Ghanaians, saying that this latest might trigger a citizen reciprocal action against Ghanaian residents and authorities in Liberia.
Some Liberians that have spoken to this paper in West Point, New Krutown and Gardnersville noted that for each time Ghanaians attack peaceful Liberians in that country, the Government has always treated the situation with passivity, leaving Liberians in Ghana always vulnerable to the cruelty of Ghanaian authorities.
“This time around, Liberians need to reciprocate this Ghanaian attacks on peaceful Liberians; after all there are Ghanaians in Liberia amassing properties just as Liberians in Ghana are also amassing properties. What is good for Peter is equally good for John,” says Tonia Blama, who spoke to the Liberian Journal on the Bushrod Island.
Mary Wesseh in Gardnersville, apparently concurring with this traced the history of Ghanaian attacks on Liberians, saying, “my sister was a victim of the attacks on peaceful refugee protestors, who were on a sit-in action but were ordered attacked by Ghanaian Minister of Interior.”
Mary said unless the Liberian Government reacts decisively to these kind of constant Ghanaian brutalities masterminded usually by Ghanaian officials, citizens’ actions against Ghanaians here will be necessary as a way of protesting such cruelty.
Another Barsee Johnson, in his own reaction, was blunt: Unless the Government reacts to such unlike of past instances of such acts of barbarity by Ghanaian authorities against Liberians, we are capable of mobilizing decisive reciprocal action that would signal the disapproval of Ghanaian cruelty against Liberians by the sovereign people of this country.
Other others reacted in like manner, calling on the Government to act quickly so as to appease the dependents of the Liberians that were murdered by unidentified Ghanaian police in that country at the Buduburam Camp.
Mr. John Matthias, for his part described the report emanating from the Liberian Embassy in Accra that only one Ghanaian lady was killed as a betrayal of the country and its people in that foreign land, saying that this should show to the Liberian people that the Government’s international sympathy of this Government is aimed at sacrificing the interest of Liberians internationally.
“If nothing is done about this, we will use it as a campaign tool against the Ellen Johnson Government to vote it out because international assistance should not jeopardize the interest and welfare of Liberians at home and at broad,” Mr. John Matthias added.
Accordingly, University of Liberia Students through the institutions’ student government staged a street demonstration that took them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where the presented a protest statement to the President threatening that Ghanaians in Liberian risked suffering similar fate in the hands of the citizens if the government did nothing to forestall recurrence of the Ghanaian police brutality.
Chronicle of the police brutality
From Buduburam, eyewitnesses on the Camp indicated that the Ghanaian police raid was reportedly executed by unidentified police who removed their identity tags from their uniforms during the raid, noting further that the police entered the camp with shooting at the unarmed Liberians.
Other accounts said some corpses were nicodemusly taken away to unknown destinations apparent to erase evidence, noting that those bodies that were visible to the public and accounted for were all shot from their backs, an indication that they were shot deliberately by the Ghanaian police while escaping police brutality. A phone call by the Liberian resident on the Buduburam Camp, Decontee Pannoh, who called on a local Liberian radio from Ghana, alleged that officers of the Ghanaian Police Service were gunning down Liberians. She put the number of instant deaths at four Liberians in the wake of a leadership debacle between two Liberians groups over control of a welfare council, and said that the panic created by the despicable melancholy droved the Liberians indoor. Decontee noted that she was making the call from indoor at Buduburam.
The news that sent chills into the spines of most Liberians brought to memory past Ghanaian misbehavior towards Liberians in that country without reciprocation since the Tubmanic regime, when scores of Liberians were bundled up and deported back home leaving back their possessions they amass in their life to Ghanaians that had coveted and took over them.
Decontee, from the Liberian refugee camp, further explained that the Liberians on the camp had elected one Joseph Sambullah to Head them. She said on that Sunday, April 13 was a scheduled date for the installation of the elected officials.
But she noted that surprising, she discovered the massive movement of Ghanaian police on the Camp well-armed, shooting at the unarmed crowds of Liberians - killing four persons instantly.
She did not disclose their identities; she however noted that the act of the police caused panic amongst the refugees who were forced indoors for fear of their dear lives. Latter calls established that the police went firing at the Buduburam Camp hosting more than 15,000 Liberians. According to her, several others were wounded while Decontee in one of her calls said she noticed the police were taking some of the wounded or dead to an unknown destination, apparently to conceal identities or temper with evidence.
While apprehensions were growing amongst Liberians at home as most people were glued to their radio receivers, Deputy Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah called from Ganta unofficially confirming the news. He said one Smith he called from Ghana confirmed that Ghanaian police have gone about shooting the Liberian refugees.
The Deputy Information Minister for Public Affairs who used his phone call to call for calm amongst the Liberian people explained that he was told the Ghanaian police went into the camp armed, and that it was his information that they went shooting at the Buduburam.
Piah said he was told that one person was reported dead instead of the claim of four by Decontee, noting that the Government was making contact with the Liberian Embassy in Accra to give an official account. He said the Ghanaian Police entered the Camp amidst confusion over the leadership of a welfare oriented group which reports named as Jahred.
Police brutality: A condemnable act
In a CNN account, Ghanaian police spokesman Kwesi Ofori said the police were called in to quell what he referred to as “disturbances” between two rival factions on the camp, both of whom were claiming legitimacy to the camp’s leadership. Ofori noted that the Ghanaian police entered the camp while one of the factions was trying to install its leadership and added that 30 persons were arrested. This account did not mention the number of deaths, while eyewitness account puts the number of Liberian arrested at 60
The Liberians arrested were bundled into the Cape Coast Prison where Ghanaian security officials are using them to solicit bribe from relatives under the pretext that they would free them once the bribe of US$250 equivalent in Ghana cedi was proffered.
The matter was already taken to court where the Liberians at the Cape Coast Prison were paraded before a Court in that country, but the matter was reportedly adjoined for the March term of Court.
But a broadcast on Vibe FM near Accra in Ghana located a Ghanaian national, Code named 919 made it clear the Ghanaian police had indeed killed Liberians and that he has a video tape he was willing to release to the FM station’s management.
The Buduburam Refugee Camp
The Buduburam Camp was used to harbor Liberian refugees who fled the country at the height of the Liberian civil war. The area was said to be a forbidden forest given to the Liberians refugees, and reports indicated that the refugees have development the camp to a modern urban community booming with life and interest to the envy of insolent Ghanaians who thought the areas could not be the way it was being developed by the Liberians.
Buduburam has therefore become a modern Liberian refugee community until when the Ghanaian Refugees Council announced the end of Liberian refugee status in that country in 2007, forcing the Liberians to controversially return home amidst security brutality ordered by Ghanaian Interior Minister then, Mr. Kwamenah Barteh, who claimed that women that were protesting for their just repatriation packages demonstrated naked thereby warranting the security brutality meted to the Liberians before their deportation.
The Women were then protesting against US$500 package provided each of them instead of US$1,000 the refugees said they should have been given to either return home of travel to third country for refuge.
Since then, they remaining more than 15,000 Liberians that built modern structures at the camp sought integration into the Ghanaian Society, and have further been developing the camp for their convenient habitation, reports from Ghana noted.
Since then, the Liberians have been living in peace until Sunday, February 13, when the Ghana Police raided the camp.
History of Ghanaian attacks
It can be recalled that Ghanaian authorities, during the regime of President William V. S. Tubman in the 1940s, unjustifiably bundled Liberians fishermen, mostly of the Kru tribe, like cargo and deported them – leaving back their real estates and other personal properties they amassed over the years in that country.
Noticing reciprocation of the Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians, Ghanaian in Liberian demonstrated against their government to avert reciprocal eventualities.
Although the Li9berian government under Tubman did nothing about that, most of the deportees died at home out of frustration.
The Ghanaian cruelty towards Liberians repeated itself during the Samuel Doe regime in the 1980s when Liberians were massively bundled and deported from Ghana for no justifiable reason with the Liberian Government remaining silent on the matter.
Similar attacks were carried out during the Ellen Johnson Administration, the latest been at the command of the Ghanaian Minister of Interior Kwamenah Barteh in 2007/2008, which only left the refugees at the mercy of the UNHCR as the government’s action was again passive.
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