CIVIL LIBERTY UNDER ATTACK- THE RODNEY SIEH POLITICAL AND CORRUPTION BATTLE Phillip Saa Tali, Jr philipsaah@yahoo Cell: 0886-949-727 In the 2011 Liberian legislative and presidential elections, the concept, CIVIL LIBERTY, became a major electioneering issue. These rights came out as major issue because one of the Standard Bearers, Cllr. Winston Tubman of the leading opposition political party, Congress of Democratic Change (CDC), spoke on the need of prioritizing developments and job creation over civil liberty. This priority set up was not accepted by media houses and civic society organizations (CSO). Media houses like the INQUIRER, DAILY OBSERVER, FRONT PAGE AFRICA, THE NEWS, TRUTH FM etc built a network that fought CDC campaign promises. And due to the lack of communicative machinery of the CDC, the Unity Party and supporters like LINDA THOMAS GREENFEILD, (former U.S. Ambassador to Liberia turned propagandist for Ellen second term bid) capitalized on the blunder of Cllr. Tubman. Now two years after President Sirleaf second inauguration, the country is gradually being faced with the battle of civic liberty. Civil liberty is a political freedom that is enjoyed by members of a society. It can also be defined as civil rights and freedoms that provide individual specific rights. The history and fight for civil liberty dates thousands years back. Cyrus the Great, the first king of Persia is considered the father of civil liberty. In 539 BC he freed the slaves he captured from his victory against Babylon, established racial equality and declared that all people had the right to choose their own religion. The Magna Carta, or “Great Charter (1215), the most significant, vital and influential law on the planet led to the rule of constitutional law today. Within the Magna Carta is the right of the church to be free from governmental interference, the rights of all free citizens to own and inherit property and to be protected from excessive taxes. It established the right of widows who owned property to choose not to remarry, and established principles of due process and equality before the law. It also contained provisions forbidding bribery and official misconduct. The next recorded milestone as regard civil liberty in the development of human rights was the Petition of Right, produced in 1628 by the English Parliament. This petition of rights had four pillars: (1) No taxes may be levied without consent of Parliament, (2) No subject may be imprisoned without cause shown (reaffirmation of the right of habeas corpus), (3) No soldiers may be quartered upon the citizenry, and (4) Martial law may not be used in time of peace. The Bill of Rights of 1791 limited the powers of the government of the United States and protects the rights of all citizens, residents and visitors in American territories. The Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to keep and bear arms, the freedom of assembly and the freedom to petition. It also prohibits unreasonable search and seizure, cruel and unusual punishment and compelled self-incrimination. Among the legal protections it affords, the Bill of Rights prohibits Congress from making any law respecting establishment of religion and prohibits the federal government from depriving any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in France, (La Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen) (1789) The Declaration proclaims that all citizens are to be guaranteed the rights of “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) In its preamble and in Article 1, the Declaration unequivocally proclaims the inherent rights of all human beings: “Disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people...All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” All these civil liberties did not come on the silver platform; rather, they were due to the fight against bad governance and leaders that governed their subjects with IRON HAND. But the most important issue was when these laws were acted nations that propagated those laws maintained them. Liberia, one of the oldest countries of modern history (gained independence in 1847) has its civil liberty enshrined in its constitutions of 1847 and 1986. The constitution of Liberia in chapter 3 article 11-26 talks about the fundamental rights of all persons born, naturalized and resides in the country. Unfortunately, after such a bitter history of assimilation, encroachment, identity and the unequal distribution of the state wealth and resource, Liberia still finds herself with the civil liberty war. The history of Liberia civil liberty war started with the first constitution of 1847. In that constitution, no natives of Liberia were citizens of Liberia. And it was not until 1908 that all natives were admitted into country as Liberians. But even after becoming citizens, these natives were deprived of major fundamental rights like voting, participating in government and social benefits. It was not until1948 that voting rights was passed down to all. The next major factor that greatly hindered the rights of the people was the system of apathia. Unlike the South African political system called apathia where racial discrimination was practiced, Liberia’s system of apathia dealt with blacks’ natives against blacks former slave sons and daughter that had state power. And again, it was not until the coup of 1980 which assassinated President Tolbert and thirteen of his officials that reduced or destroyed this system. Under the Samuel Doe military regime, military decrees were frequently used. The most villainous among them was the DECREE 88A. This decree suspended the 1847 constitution, prohibited political parties formation, gathering; prevented protests and freedom of speech. And the worse draconic rule was speaking against the military junta. By 1986 Liberia had transformed into what is best known as MILICRACY (A governance system wherein a military regime assimilate into democracy). Although by 1985 Liberia had had its first democratic election since 1847, where Liberians from constitutional age of 18 years voted without intimidation or fear, authoritarian rule was clearly visible. From 1990 to 2003 the political history can be described as the WAR YEARS. This was when the highest abused of civil and human rights were implemented by all warring factions and interim governments. The election of a democratic government especially under the leadership of Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was perceived as a great strive and attainment for civil liberty. It is a known fact that President Sirleaf, Dr. Sawyer, Kenneth Best of Daily Observers (the Daily Observer and Foot Print Newspaper were more than twice burnt during the Samuel Doe regime), Albert Port, Cllr. Tuah Wreh, etc. were victims of human rights abuse under the junta regime of Samuel Doe. And because of those abuses, Madam Sirleaf politically and militarily battled the Doe government to its demise. And so with the president coming into power there were high anticipations and support for civil liberty. It is interesting to note that Governments the world over are very shrewd in pursuing their devilish ambitions, either politically or legally. Example was the United State quest to invade Iraq. Various forms of mendacity and schemes were used to achieve their goal. During the Apathia regime in South Africa the judicial system masterminded the guilty verdict of some ANC leaders and incarcerated these leaders for many years; the judicial system in the United States found an innocent man (Rodney King) guilty after he was flogged by state security. This can also be applied to Liberia but since the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf government is aware of human rights abuses by past governments, it will not tread on such steps. Rather the use of our fragile judicial system is now being used against citizens that are of descending minds. It is good to note that this bench owes its loyalty to the president and that is a real fact. Example of such a scenario was the case involving the elections of city mayors. We are all aware that Liberia over the years elected city mayors but because the Sirleaf led government was in favor of appointment of mayors, the Supreme Court voted in support of appointment. We may agree with some legal practitioners and commentators that Mr. Sieh should have defended himself by seeking an appeal to the Supreme Court, but it is also important to observe that justice is not just about running to the supreme court. Rodney Sieh has told the world over that he does not trust the legal and so called unprejudiced minds of the bench. This alone should have claimed the attention of the Supreme Court, government and the international community. The Front Page Africa (FPA), of which Sieh is the Editor, over the last years has published lots of critical and leading stories on the Supreme Court handling of judgments and administrative duties. And because of these publications and some of the Justices responses to FPA, he is of the view that justice will not be fair to him. I know there will be some descending opinion on the legal matter, but let’s focus on the political analysis. During the 2011 election presidential and legislative election, there was this high level of friendliness between the FPA and the UNITY PARTY led government. There were speculations around that the Unity Party of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has bought majority of the print and electronic media houses. These perceptions were manifested in their writings and outspokenness. But since the critical writings of Front Page Africa on the government and especially its reporting on the audit reports, the government has become very unease. One would have thought that the paper was working in line with government POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY and good governance principles. But contrarily, the government has viewed the Rodney Sieh and the FPA as ENEMIES OF THE STATE. Please note that these audit reports that were unearthed by the General Auditing Commission (GAC), were financed by state and international funding. This should have been seen as a plus to the government, but unfortunately, the government has gone against its own creature (GAC). The most disheartening is to see prominent democratic leaders like Dr, Amos Sawyer, Dr. H. B. Fahnbulleh, Dr. Tipoteh, Cumenny Wesseh etc, working in this government and having engaged past governments for the last four decades on civil liberty abuses are now very silent while the fundamental rights of Liberians are being abused. Is it because this is their government so all is perfect? Yes we may all agree that there is no political prisoners in Liberia and some rights are being enjoyed, yet it is important to note that civil rights is not all about freedom of expression but also the rights to social benefits and management of government resources. Few weeks ago, the government through the Minister of Justice, (Cllr. Christina Tarr) and Deputy Minister of Information, (Atty. Isaac Jackson), rubbished and condemned the GAC and its audit reports claiming that all the reports are unprofessional and lack defend in court. But again, one would see this policy statement from the government as preposterous and bias. Note that it was this same GAC reports that the government prosecuted the two BROPLEHS for corruption, the two Does and incarcerated CHARLES GUDYE BRYANT, the former interim president (2003-2006). If this government was democratic and sensitive to the cries and poverty of Liberians, while this case on Sieh was being prosecuted, it would have prosecuted Dr. Chris Toe on the GAC reports. But because this government is very corrupt, bias, undemocratic and intends to prosecute more free and critical thinkers through the judiciary and surrogates, it will never prosecute its officials. This is where authoritarian system is gradually replacing democracy in Liberia. This case regarding Dr. Chris Toe and Rodney Sieh should be a concern to the international community. One is becoming afraid of what may happen to CIVIL LIBERTY if UNMIL leaves Liberia. One is also becoming to have a second thought on those of us that think critically on every bad policy of government. It is time PRESIDENT OBAMA, ECOWAS, EU, AU, UN intervene. The failure of your intervention may likely and very soon find Liberia in another political crisis. Phillip Saa Tali, Jr is a Liberian and a political scientist and commentator. He has a Masters in International Relations and Diplomacy. He has also written substantially on elections, governance, Liberian politics and governments.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 22:16:07 +0000
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