The Inquirer
Monrovia, Liberia

Distributed by

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

Posted June 8, 2004

The wives of two slain former government officials, the late John Yormie and the late Isaac Vaye, are still demanding justice for their gruesome murder.

Messrs John Yormie and Isaac Vaye were arrested and taken away on 4th June, 2003 and reportedly murdered by security men believed to be loyalists of the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor who is now exiled in Calabar, Nigeria.

At the time of their death, John Yormie and Isaac Vaye were respectively serving as Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of National Security and Deputy Minister for Operations at the Ministry of Public Works. Both men who were close buddies, hailed from Nimba County.

Making remarks at the first Memorial Service for the two deceased at the Calvary Baptist Church in Sinkor, the Yormie and Vaye families along with other relatives and friends called on the Charles Gyude Bryant led transitional government to conduct a timely and speedy inquiry into the death of Yormie and Vaye; and requested that their remains be exhumed and identified for proper and decent burial by their families.

In their petition to the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL) and read by Ms. Margaret Vaye, cousin of the late Isaac Vaye, the two families said their request was against the background of what they called the “ true essence of justice” since indeed Liberia is a country of law and not man.

The families and friends of the Yormies and Vayes said they wholeheartedly subscribe to the principle of forgiveness during this period of reconciliation and forgiveness in Liberia, but argued that before one forgives, the perpetrator(s) of heinous crimes, as was in the case of John and Isaac, must be identified, confessed and know indeed that his or her action has injured someone before asking for forgiveness, noting that their petition will be delivered to Vice Chairman Wesley Momo Johnson for onward transmission to Chairman Gyude Bryant upon his arrival in the country from abroad.

Expressing condolences to the families of the deceased on behalf of the people of Nimba County, Superintendent Harrison Kanwea urged all Nimbaians to see the brutal murder of John and Isaac by evil hands to mark the end of killings by fellow kinsmen of sons and daughters of the county.

He also used the occasion to call on those responsible for the mysterious death of the two fine sons of Nimba County to come up and confess, adding “we will not rest until justice is done in this case and the remains of our brothers are found and exhume for decent burial. No matter what your threats may be we will not be deterred in our pursuit”

In his words of consolations to the bereaved families, the acting pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church, the Rev. G. Larque Vaye urged them to allow the Almighty God to fight back for them; not pay back evil for evil; and not to worry because their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has overcome evil and all those that believe in him are over-comers.