We have never said that Mr. Weeks or anyone receive funds on behalf of the coalition. We were present when stakeholders and few international partners declared their supports to the works of the coalition, and for that reason, it`s beyond all doubts that support is no longer the issue. We highly appreciate Mr. Weeks for using his influence to lobby on behalf of the Coalition, but what we are saying is that the entire running of the coalition has been monopolized by Mr. Weeks, and no one else. I feel sad when I hear someone from the 4 persons that were selected by Mr. Weeks to facilitate the Coalition activities complaining to us about the monopolization of the affairs of the coalition, and yet, telling Mr. Weeks is a problem for him. When Mr. Weeks came up with the vision to formed a coalition, I was one of those who applaud him for the idea, but to hear from Mr. Weeks now that the role of Youth Action International is to provide the logistical support for organizations who are in the field, but do not even have the basic logistics to make their work more effective and impactful bring tears to my eyes. When we had the first meeting at Mr. Weeks`s office, he told us that the initiative is not only YAI thing, therefore, he will leave us to decide the name, functions etc of the coalition. After going through those formalities, we also divided ourselves into committees just for the smooth and inclusive operation of the coalition; where are those committees today? I remembered that one committee among the four committees that were formed was responsible for writing letters asking for support on behalf of the coalition; why formed such a committee when YAI will be responsible to provide logistical support to our organizations, instead of us functioning as a coalition? Mr. Weeks is a very influential person, and I must admit that it was because of his influence that the president and other stakeholders attended the so called Coalition launching program, but does that in any way mean that he is the one providing those logistical supports? Absolutely NO!! Had it been that YAI already had the resources to equip the organizations that started this process, then YAI had all rights to say that they are the one providing the logistical supports to us. On the other hand, Mr. Weeks through YAI depends on the coalition and it leaders to get logistical and financial supports to make things work; during the launching program of the so called Coalition, our presence did not only make the program auspicious, it even made it more marketable to any stakeholder or diplomat. We stood up one after the other, and introduced ourselves as youth leaders from reputable youth organizations in Montserrado County, and that in it proved beyond all doubt that we are operating as a coalition, and nothing else. We highly appreciate the provision of YAI office for the coalition meetings, the provision of Mamba Point Hotel as the venue of the workshop, and the so called Coalition launching program, and all other expenses done by YAI. I expect nothing less from a patriotic Vision Bearer, a Humanitarian like Mr. Weeks, and above all, a person who pledged to remain in Liberia until Ebola is totally eradicated; but his reaction to those gestures also make me to wonder if they are done on the basis of sincerity, or profit; say another way, your refusal to reveal to us the amount of donors that will commit resources, and the monopolization of the coalition will only leave us with mistrust, and skepticism about the entire Coalition affairs; say another way, if we all went to the launching program to showcase to stakeholders and diplomats that this is a youth organizations agglomeration to fight Ebola, should we not know the outcome of the launching program, or we will just be called next week to be given resources, and we don’t know where they are from, or who give them? No matter what Mr. Weeks, there will always be mistrust and skepticism in this particular process until you understand that a secretariat with well defined mandates as indicated in my first post needs to be formed just for the sake of achieving our goals with youth leaders who are committed, and trust worthy in the fight against Ebola. I don’t have to tell you Mr. Weeks, look around you and imagine how members of the coalition who started this process feel. From the facilitators to the organizational heads, we all have our reservations about the way things are going on, and we can not achieve credible and doubt free success in this kind of working environment. I am bold enough to let you know how I feel because it pains me to hide my feelings from someone, but the others may feel comfortable with holding fast to their feelings; that does not in anyway mean they do not feel disenchanted or have their own reservations. In respond to your below comment: “Nothing will fall apart. There are lots of groups and individuals who appreciated the training over the last several days...AND YES, THEY WERE ACCOMPLISHED USING ONLY YAIs CORE funds since $0 dollars was received for this initiative. And i am very certain there are many groups who will appreciate the buckets, barrels, megaphones, chlorine and gloves, thermometers, which hey will receive to help with the implementation of their ongoing awareness initiatives”. I almost cry when I saw the above comment, some may see it as funny, but I really mean it. Almost all of the organizations that started this coalition thing have serious reservations as to the single handling of the affairs of the coalition. By making known the above awareness materials don’t mean that I will not express my feelings though it didn`t imply that. Your strong phrase: Nothing will fall apart, only implies to me that the disenchanted members of the so called Youth Action International coalition can leave; you have already called new organizations to the coalition via Truth FM yesterday, and that will not affect the way you are running things. You called the formation of the Coalition secretariat a bureaucracy; then, bureaucracy with accountability, and bureaucracy with no accountability, which one do we prefer as members of the coalition? Which one do you prefer Mr. Weeks? Finally, the way things are going on is not close to the running of a coalition. For the record, below is the definition of a coalition: According to Wikipedia, (last modified on July 15, 2014, at 00:45) a coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self interest, joining forces together for a common cause. All I ask Mr. Weeks is to please dissolve the coalition if we can not function as stipulated above, then at least, we will decide whether or not we should form part of YAI so called logistics donations to Youth organizations. Please do not misconstrue my post/comment as my lack of interest in the present tense battle against Ebola in our Mama Liberia, but see it as a better way that youth leaders will see the coalition as their coalition, and will go the extra miles to see the coalition succeeds in its Ebola awareness. We will rather use our personal money and minuet resources to continue to do our sincere and patriotic ebola awareness, than be part of something that we have little knowledge of, yet we are the founders of such a process. We have control over the decisions we make, but not the consequences of those decisions. I am still a member of the so called coalition, and I hope that Mr. Weeks will listen to his little brother suggestions just for the sake of eradicating Ebola in the soonest possible time.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 04:13:00 +0000
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