If you were a snow, and you are dreaming your promise land – the Liberian presidency, but you are told you can only achieve your dream if and only if you can undergo a baptism of fire, what would you do? Impossible, foolhardy, terribly risky, forget it – would be some of the most common answers. But if you lived in Liberia prior to and during the prolonged civil war, you wouldn’t think it’s impossible though, after all, during the those periods Liberians clapped for the ridiculous and shouted death to common sense. Those were the days when the con artists, the hustlers, and the opportunists called the shots. Yes, those were the days - the revolutionary days - when loyalists of the status quo were “donated” to plush government post to reap their “just” reward. Some took full advantage of the opportunity and made it big time, I mean real big time.

One of those making it big time was Mr. Snowe, Edwin Snowe – the Honorable Edwin Melvin Snowe. This Snowe has made it so much so that he can , under these very desperate economic conditions, afford to waste no less than US$50,000 on monuments bearing his name. Oh never mind, he calls them bus stops for the “people”. How many thousands of USD was spent on his charity exuberance called political campaigns, only the angels in Heaven can tell. In the end, he got his wish – a seat at the Capitol. In the typical Liberian parlance, “a na bah, a least the man can share”. Whatever it is that he’s sharing isn’t of much importance! For the Snowe, he had successfully crossed base 1 on his three phase track to the Liberian presidency.

Even those who don’t like the Snowe, admit the kid is smart – real street smart. He times his moves with precision. Snowe has now embarked on phase 2 of 3 – the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and constitutionally that makes him two shots away from the Liberian presidency. I swear between the “Snow” and the “Unifier”, I cant tell whose eyeball is bigger. But on this Speaker issue, this is where the Snow has to go through the baptism of fire. The first complication is that neither the President-elect nor the Veep-elect have any daughter. Snowe would definitely have preferred it the other way around. That effectively narrows Snowe’s options. Then the red card shown the “Unifier” sent shivers down the spine of Mr. Snowe. After all, didn’t Chinua Achebe say old ladies are always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned. Of course, Snowe has to be uneasy, as the red card shown the “Unifier” was chiefly on account of his lack of academic credentials. And Snowe’s academic credentials have more missing links than Charles Darwin Evolution Theory. Prior to the civil war, it was said he was a junior student at the St. Augustine High School in Kakata. Records of his graduation remains a mystery. Then all of a sudden, one Edwin Snowe name propped up on University of Liberia entrance results under the Continuing Education division. To date, there is no ID # nor any record for any student named Edwin Snowe at the UL. Any way maybe that was due to the UN sanction or more preferably the war. But later, Snowe got dead serious about his education and left to go abroad to study sports administration on a football scholarship. But his appointment to the Government of Liberia cash cow – LPRC – automatically ended Snowe academic sojourn, for good? Who knows! Like I said earlier the “lil” boy knows how to share, so even though he had long dumped the Papay’s daughter, the Papay insisted that the kid becomes the milker-in-chief of the cash cow, at least for the knock out phase of the Liberian civil war. But Snowe ongoing ties to the refugee boy in Calabar is enough basis for a travel ban, so says the UN SECURITY COUNCIL. My Sympathies Bro. I really feel you deserve your freedom, but there is an old Liberian proverb if you lie with the dogs, you can expect to wake up with the fleas. Despite all of this, the Snow sees no problem. And why should he be, wasn’t it the book people who spoiled the country?

Yet in the wake of the George Weah/CDC fiasco, the baptism of fire for the Snow gets even more real. Edwin Melvin Snowe must come clean on his academic credentials. Come on bro, tell us is it “PARKWOOD” or “COLUMBIA” or perhaps it was the SCHOOL OF HARK KNOCKS! For your information, Mr. Snowe the Speaker post will not come on silver platter. I’ve already told you the President-elect has no daughter, so tell this nation what expertise you take to the Capitol for which you are so hot to be Speaker. Coal pot seat “self” tell lie. Maybe you need some examples of what I really mean. At the Senate, for example, Frederick Cherue brings to that body a rock solid legal knowledge; Sumo Kupee is an economist of the first order; Blamo Nelson is a nationally acclaimed administrator, while Cletus Wortorson is one of the very few geophysicist, if not the only one Liberia can boast of. Given these backgrounds, we can be sure, ceteris paribus, laws will be made based on expert opinions. Now Mr. Snowe, what expertise do you take to the House? Selling Gas? Giving Lifts? Building Bus Stops? Hard Hustle? Flirting with President’s daughters? What? What?? What??? Boy you’re joking!

Besides your clear-cut lack of expertise, do you think Liberia wants for SPEAKER, a school dropout whose name is always in the press on allegation of corruption and mismanagement. Your management of the LPRC is now a classic case of how financial mismanagement is hurting this nation. You should thank God this is Liberia where anything goes. If you had been in America or Europe, you would have been before a judge instead of heading for the Capitol; don’t even know if you’ve ever heard of MICHAEL MILKEN, ENRON , WORLDCOM or ARTHUR ANDERSON. Take my advice and Stop the joke! Mr. Snowe, you are not even a material for the House, much less to talk about being the Speaker of that honorable body. This is where we will see whether a Snow can go through a baptism of fire and survive. You better do yourself a great favor by learning from the experience of the “Unifier” – the George Weah/CDC fiasco. If you continue this ridiculous ambition to be Speaker, you will end up licking your wounds like the “Unifier.” Now he knows that there are things that money cannot buy. Maybe you want to learn the hard way.

Listen to what the English orator and wit, Phillip D.S. Chesterfield has to say to people like you: There are three classes of people in the world:

· the first learn from their own experience, these are the WISE

· the second learn from the experience of others, these are the HAPPY

· the third learn neither from their own experience nor the experience of others, these are the FOOLS.

I do certainly hope you will choose to be WISE and/or HAPPY. Best Wishes, comrade Snowe.

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