On This Score, Madame President, I Beg to Differ

By: Momoh Sekou Dudu

“You know, our country [has] been going through civil war and there were abuses. The crime rate at this time has increased. It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it. I am going there now to try and bring back law and order.”—Beatrice Munah Sieh (March 2006)

The above quote contains the immortal words of Beatrice Munah Sieh, the embattled Director of Police of the Republic of Liberia to ABC Action News in Trenton New Jersey upon her preferment by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Those pronouncements were met with profound happiness by Liberians everywhere. At long last, we hoped, our national police force was about to be headed by a principled and very well prepared leader. Ever since Colonel Sieh assumed the helm of leadership at the LNP, however, it seems she has gone completely astray of those monumental promises she made to us and the world.

Instead of “bringing back law and order”, she is orchestrating chaos after chaos. It appears the once vaunted Director of Police has a penchant for missteps. I am beginning to wonder as to whether power has had an intoxicating effect on her. From her infamous threatening of Moslem women against wearing their religious veils which she malignly associated with terrorism, to her recent ambushing of the Seaport Police, Colonel Sieh appears determined to introduce a police state in Liberia. As our nation gradually returns to normalcy, we do not have the luxury to accommodate discordant, inept, and reckless government officials. We have way too much at stake.

To say I am disappointed in the Police Director would be an understatement. I am far past that juncture. What I am right now is scared. I fear for Liberia. I fear not because I think Colonel Sieh is single-handedly capable of derailing our march to normalcy, but because of the practice of cronyism seeping back into the governmental fabric. When the President starts to renege on her pre-election pledge to dispense her authority in the best interest of the country by paying scant attention to misconduct of certain officials, when we start to see investigative commissions set up merely for the sake of calming tensions and nothing more, we begin to fret for our fledging democracy.

With all due respect, President Sirleaf’s refusal to honor her promise to implement recommendations from the Boima Fahnbulleh Commission to the letter is counterproductive at best, and downright regressive, at worst. This, I am afraid, signals the beginning of a troubling pattern of impunity reminiscent of past regimes. It brings us bitter reminders of the days in Liberia when the president’s circle of men and women were practically beyond reproach. In our quest for responsible governance which we still hope President Sirleaf can spearhead, we cannot afford to stumble so early.

After putting her foot in her mouth by making insensitive statements against Liberian Moslems, after ambushing the seaport police and civilian bystanders, after coordinating aggravating utterances from the police department that diametrically contradicted the Executive Mansion’s pronouncements on the issue of ammunitions discovered in Gbarnga, all the Director gets is a slap on the wrist?  For God sake, Madame President, how many strikes does she need to be out?   She just flat out does not have the training and capacity to do the job effectively. Requiring her to train on the job, as the President has instructed, does not mitigate the damage she has caused and will continue to cause to the fragile peace we are now enjoying.

My question is: when did our government positions become internships? When we sent the butcher Charles McArthur Taylor to his life of solitude, we thought the days of putting people in positions for which they are not qualify were behind us. Nothing personal against Munah Sieh, from what I hear she was an excellent police motorbike rider during the O.A.U. summit in 1979, I also hear that she was a decent Special Education teacher in New Jersey. Those jobs, however, did not prepare her in the least for her current preferment. She is truly way in above her head. She knows not what she is doing. And that, Madame President, is a dangerous thing.

My attention has been drawn, also, to the appeal made by Lofa County Representative, Miriam K. Jalabah to the President beseeching her to spare Director Sieh the axe. What an instructive lesson in contradiction! The honorable lawmaker was elected to carve the laws and ensure that citizens regardless of their positions in society abide by them. When an official charged with enforcing the very laws begins to short-circuit them, the least we expect from Representative Jalabah is an effort to hold such official accountable. Her call for a reprieve brings into question her understanding of her role in the governmental structure. The honorable representative argues, “We all have made mistakes one way or the other but for the sake of peace, we must also be prepared to forgive others”. Honorable Jalabah, please let me counter that ‘it is precisely for the sake of maintaining our fragile peace that a divisive and ill-prepared official like Director Sieh must be let go’.

Dr. Henry Boima Fahnbulleh, the National Security Advisor and his Commission, after investigating the Freeport mêlée, saw exactly what I’m seeing. They found Director Sieh as being the most responsible for what transpired Based on her level of culpability they recommended that she be relieved of her post. President Sirleaf decided to give her a reprieve instead. I think that was an error in the use of discretionary power. On that score, Madame President, I beg to respectfully differ with your line of reasoning.

About the Author: Momoh Sekou Dudu is an Assistant Professor of Economics & Accounting at Brown College, Mendota Heights, Minnesota. He enjoys writing commentaries on issues that are shaping the social, political, and economic destiny of Liberia. He can be reached at mdsekou@yahoo.com or momohd@staff.browncollege.edu.