Few days ago, we were awakened by the news that Muslims
brothers in Monrovia, Liberia had been attacked by the
ruthless city Mayor of Monrovia Mary Broh and her
gangster supporters. Twenty four hours later, we
received report that the president has dissolved the
so-called task force headed by Ms. Broh in an attempt to
cover her outrageous behavior.
After increased pressure from the Muslim community, the
President along with Ms. Broh made an appearance to the
community mosque to extend an apology. While this is the
right step, we believe this is the beginning and not the
end.
Unfortunately, due to the Presidents’ personal
relationship with Ms. Broh, President Johnson Sirleaf
has taken every measure to protect the ruthless behavior
of her personal political soul-mate. But what the
president must understand is that the rule of law must
prevail as she so preaches.
The attack by Ms. Broh humiliated and violently resulted
in the assault and maltreatment of several of our Muslim
brothers. This behavior warrants a thorough
investigation and the full intervention of the law. This
apology may also be perceived as a “slap in the face” by
the individuals involved.
However, this is not to suggest that the presidents’
apology should be ignored. If Liberia must succeed in
building viable institutions, the rule of law must be
embedded into the basic fabric that guides these
institutions. While the president’s apology is the right
step in the right direction, her apology does not negate
the rule of law nor should it nullify the right of the
people to pursue a legal course of action.
According to the Analysis News paper, during the
president’s recent visit to the Benson St Mosque,
she acknowledged to the
Muslim Community that Liberia belongs to
everyone. “There is no one person, group, religion or
party that is better than the other”. It is clear that
the president’s statement to the Muslims community is
very encouraging, but does not necessarily change the
status-quo.
Ms. Broh’s behavior is not an isolated case against
Muslims way of life. Time upon time, we have witnessed
physical violence and philosophical disdained for
Muslims way of life, which has also manifested in
several public policy.
These mal-policies have been infused into both private
and public entity. After the Benson St fiasco, The New
Democrat news paper referred to the Muslims brothers as
“Muslim ganisters.” Two days later, they carried the
headline “Mary Broh expected to apologize to the Muslim
Community.”
These contradiction by the New Democrat undermines the
ABC (Accurate + Balance = Credibility) theory of
Journalism. Instead of objective reporting, they engaged
into subjective reporting. The behaviors displayed have
not helped our nation; will not help our nation, instead
It leads to both social and political mal-feces.
In the 1980s, we witnessed similar behavior towards
Muslims by then National Police Officers of the
repressive Samuel Doe regime. In the late 90s and into
the 21st century, we witness a resurgence of
similar trend in attitude towards the Muslim business
community by the Monrovia City Cooperation and deceased
police Director Joe Tate. Despite these unimaginable war
time experiences, there has been no change in the
status-quo. These misguided and unconstitutional city
ordinances remain viable on the book. Over time, our
people (The Muslims community) failure to take a legal
course of action has lead to the development of social
and political immunity to these misguided public
policies.
The President’s apology should not mislead us into
thinking that history will not be repeated. As a matter
of fact, these policies are executed throughout the
nation against our people on a daily basis. Mary Broh
just happened to be in the wrong place, at, the wrong
time, and with the wrong group.
If you were to ask a Muslim business woman who travels
from Northern Liberia to Southern Liberia, you will most
likely be told about the dehumanizing inspection and
agony they endure from “checkpoints guards” masquerading
themselves as professional officers.
To offset these issues, The President needs to institute
a sound and viable public policy that prevents the
misuse of power by elements of government to intimidate
the Liberian people. These are national security
concerns that must be addressed now by this
administration to avoid future political pandemonium.
Our society can no longer endure these ill-crafted
policies that have failed our country.
In a related story, the Analyst News Paper reported that
the president stated that there may be incidence
sometimes that may be unfortunate and lead to tension,
“but as leaders, we must find a way to subdue it and go
beyond the event in the interest of unity and peace in
Liberia.” We must agree with the President on this,
because no conscious Liberian will want to engage into
warfare after experiencing extreme predicaments.
The truth is, we (Liberian) cannot succeed in sustaining
peace and unity in the absence of justice. The basis of
our quest for peace and unity must be directed by the
rule of law. No person(s) should be immune to the law as
already stipulated in our constitution.
The President as the chief enforcer of our law should
not engage into manipulating the rules to benefit her
friend Ms Mary Broh. Like any Liberian, Ms. Broh must be
brought to justice to let the law prevail, which will
exemplifies the lawfulness of our nation.
To prevent future re-occurrence of such an unlawful act,
the President needs to establish a task force to
investigate the full of the incident; these findings
should then be used to bring about civil consciousness
to our nation. As a Liberian and a community activist,
we are calling for the immediate resignation of Ms. Mary
Broh to prevent the obstruction of justice.
