Dr. Byron Tarr, The Perspective & Its Managing Editor May Be Heading To Court




The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

September 22, 2004

 


Mr. George H. Nubo
The Editor
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

Dear Sir:

This letter was necessitated by the postscript to "The end of Liberia’s Cellular Phone Problem is in Sight", dated September 4, 2004. In the name of fairness, I request that the wrong information implied by the author who failed to search for the truth be corrected by the publication of this letter.

I, or no one I am associated with, has never pursued or discussed a cellular phone project with Mr. Joe T. Gbalah, Managing Director of the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation. Furthermore, I have never discussed any telephone or telecommunications project in which Mr. Gbalah as an individual would be my partner or a participant. Your rhetorical question, "Why can’t Dr. Tarr see the obvious conflict of interest? Why should the Managing Director of Telecom serve as a competitor to telecom?" is therefore malicious, false and intended to defame me. I therefore demand that you withdraw the false statements, also by publishing that your informant was wrong and that the implications of your rhetorical questions are libelous.

In the event of failure to withdraw the innuendos and apologize to us, we reserve the rights to legal action against the author personally as well as the Perspective. For the information of your readers, I provide the information that any diligent search would have revealed.

Representing a client, we proposed a VOIP project between the client and the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation, represented by Mr. Joe T. Gbalah, its Managing Director. The LTC’s Board of Directors is aware and approved the project.

A VOIP project basically re-files or terminates calls originating outside one country through another country’s facilities. When a Liberian in the US calls +377 47 then a local Lone Star number in Liberia, that call was refilled through Monaco’s facilities. While there have been questions about the legality of VOIP/call refilling, anyone knowledgeable about IT developments in Africa would know that cost and related considerations have relaxed the rule. Mauritius has now declared the process legal and most African countries have signaled their acceptance of the practice.

In view of the facts given in this letter that you may confirm, I request that you (a) publish this letter and (b) withdraw your Postscript as lacking a factual basis and (c) inform me personally of the actions. In the event of your failure to do as requested within a week of the date of this message, I shall have no alternative but to request my US lawyers to take the appropriate legal action against you and The Perspective.

Sincerely,

Byron Tarr

Editor's Note: The Perspective stands by the story. We are convinced of the authenticity of the information published. We checked and double-checked our sources for verification. In writing about a business venture involving Dr. Tarr and other public figures, we had no intention to libel, defame or malign their characters. Certainly, there was no malice aforethought as implied by Dr. Tarr’s response to us. We will, however, promptly apologize and discuss the matter further should any evidence prove us wrong.

We will be happy to further discuss this matter in the pages of The Perspective, the most credible and reliable source of information on Liberia on the World Wide Web.

In the meantime, an article linked below will enlighten our readers about the practice of "re-filing", a term mentioned in Dr. Tarr’s response to us:

Exposed: How Telkom loses millions in income