A Patriot’s Diary
With Ekena Nyankun Juahgbe-Droh Wesley
Liberians continue to be sickened by the cluelessness of a government they elected in the name of change for hope. While the hope remains farfetched, a few are seemingly celebrating a change that never was. Such is the grotesque trimmings of our human complexity.
The last 72 hours have been characterized by sheer gangsterism instigated at the behest of Representative Acarous Gray of the ruling CDC. Gray’s ruling CDC is wielding power. Sure, power entrusted by the people to a few to steer their ship of affairs. Seemingly, the power is now being abused to suit the whims and caprices of vagabonds in power.
Tuesday’s session on Capitol Hill in the Upper House saw one senator after the other speak diversely amid an atmosphere of entrenched internalization to say the least. Hmm! Were the senators anything next to being serious? Did the madness in the public sphere just occur to them? Wow! It was simply a show of pretense to give the impression that they know that they are doing. Bunch of jokers! How long can they continue to fool the masses?
For the most part, senators condemned the lack of wisdom, hindsight, maturity and leadership on the part of Representative Acarous Gray. The District 8 Representative was unreservedly out of order in the views expressed by most senators as it were. The electorate empowered or perhaps emboldened Gray’s madness. Does Gray reckon he’s close to a semblance of craze? An invitation to mental health practitioners could assist the process. How did he get to become one of our Honorable men? Good question! It could be directed at the good people of District 8 to patch us through as it were.
Senator James Biney of Maryland thinks we cannot judge Members of the August Body on the one hand and students on the other by the same standards. But there are those who consider ‘stupidity’ as commonsense though. Surely, the same yardstick cannot apply across the broad spectrum. Representative Gray has not graduated from the mindset that his status has changed. He is still consumed by the foolery of ‘Muyan’ mentality. It continues to hunt him unashamedly though.
Montserrado Senator Abe Darius Dillon gave an allegory pursuant to embargo placed on him by SUP in 2021 but as in his words, ‘I retrained from honoring an invitation not for fear of my life but the greater good.” Senator Dillon reminisced about the test of his resolve at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Stadium, in an unprovoked abuse of authority. He spoke of the volatility of the looming crisis but chose reasoning over insanity. That was honorable! It is that greater good Representative Gray defiantly preferred to ignore this, THUS culminating in a disproportionate outcome.
Senators Jeremiah Koung of Nimba and Steve Zargo of Lofa anchored their perspectives along the fringes of preserving the peace. They noted that Gray had no business trying to prove any point to students at the university campus after all. Zargo averred that under such a situation we cannot expect the police that is underfunded and marred by logistical limitations to perform wonders. Only in Weah’s Liberia is that a reality.
Contrarily, senators Chea of Sinoe and Freeman of Grand Cape Mount blamed SUP militants and Representative Yekeh Kolubah as well for acting in an untoward fashion as it were. Chea and Freeman, who challenged colleagues to be objective, claimed it was within the fundamental right of Representative Gray to visit the UL main campus at any time, which they consider a part of his District to inspect renovation works ongoing. Both senators might have thought they were making sense but Biney narrowed their argument to their mere views in the wake of the grave security risk Gray’s unacceptable action caused.
While some Liberians would hail the Senate for devoting time to such critical issues of security concern, we think the August Body must be up and doing as too many things are plaguing the sanity and civility of the small West African nation. How does the senate’s deliberation influence the beginning and end of any recurrence after all? Mind you, Gray’s disgrace happened a heartbeat away from the Capitol. Who knows? The next time, the Chambers could become a boxing ring.
Whether we accept or ignore Acarous Gray’s unhealthy muscle-flexing, Liberia is a bubble waiting to explode. There is a national state of lawlessness, nonchalance towards mysterious and unsolved deaths lingering, daily reports of systemic violence against women and girls, the government’s inability to tackle joblessness, the ordination of rampant corruption that denies citizens the basic necessities and a total leadership vacuum that continue to eat into the fabric of the nation.
As we get closer to October polls, hopes tend to remain faint about the prospect of free, fair, and transparent elections in Liberia. It is worrying for most well-meaning Liberians. However, there are those who believe that in the midst of an aura of fear, a faceless reign of terror and intimidation; a coerced population will no doubt recline to timidity to allow the regime to preside over dubious and fraudulent elections.
But we ought to remind ourselves of the 1985 rigged general and presidential elections that culminated in a 14-year-old self-destructive conflict. Let the word go forth that any attempt to steal the October elections will attract unspecified consequences. Be Warned!
