Liberian journalist warns against past mistakes

Sainworla says there are sufficient indications that the present government headed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is repeating some activities of the ugly past that resulted in the fifteen year blood bath in Liberia. He said some of the officials in the current government who are wrongly advising the hierarchy today were the same people who served as major political players during the past twenty five years of civil conflict.

“Now these were the issues then and these are the issues now: rampant corruption, abuse of power, injustices, disrespect for the rule of law, tribalism, sycophancy, over zealousness of security forces, lack of patriotism, nepotism,” said Mr. Sainworla.

He expressed fear and disappointment that if Liberians can not learn from their bitter past, failures are certain to excel. “We kill up one another; we had another election which I personally feel was a fair election. But there are still people who feel that those elections were not good and they may want to cause trouble. I think all Liberians including some of us who are journalist, must be prepared to oppose those kinds of people,” he asserted.

Speaking at the occasion marking the installation of officers of the student government of the Mother Tegesta Steward High School in Brewerville, Mr. Sainworla said if Liberians are not careful, similar hostilities and violence stand to be the order of the day. "We must not go into the sane dirty mud over and over,” Mr. Sainworla maintained.

Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recently spoke of corruption in her government and expressed determination to fight this age-old virus that many officials of government consider a tradition.

The Foundation for Human Rights and Democracy executive director, Aloysius Toe, lashed out at the government's blatant violation of the rule of law. He said if in-depth analysis was obtained, the Unity Party-led government activities would be deemed a failure. Another Human Rights defender, Counselor Dempster Brown said speech delivered by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the Unity Conference Center after the Supreme Court declared that venue illegal undermines the rule of law.

This article has been published by courtesy of The Liberian Times.