Editor's Note: This article, which was originally published by the New Democrat, has been sent to The Perspective for publication. The issues discussed in the article highlight the rigor of our plight, and as such we have decided to publish it.
 |
|
Former warlord Alhaji Kromah
|
I contended that this Taylor-Kromah collaboration resulted in the killing of many civilians in Monrovia in 1996 when he teamed up with NPFL warlord Taylor in a brutal armed uprising that killed hundreds of innocent people. I also reminded readers about ULIMO-K's cruel murders of innocent civilians in Lofa County. ULIMO’s cruelties also led to the brutal killings, and looting of personal belongings of non-Mandingos and non-Muslims. Their towns, villages, churches, clinics and schools were burnt down upon the orders of, and under Mr. Kromah's command. This was part of his concocted plan and hidden agenda to ethnically cleanse Lofa County in order to create a predominant Mandingo and Muslim County.
But it is unfortunate that Mr. Kromah could deny well-documented facts regarding his role in Lofa as a warlord. Instead of accepting the facts, he opted to adopt his strategy of denials and blame-shifting. Mr. Kromah then proceeded to levy false accusations against me, claiming that I am anti Mandingo and anti Muslim. He also inferred that I am a wicked and even murderous person. He further claimed that I burnt down a rice farm of Dr. Samuel Guluma, and that I disliked the late Dr. Edward Kesselly because, he claimed, I did not want for President Tolbert to carry him as his running mate.
He connected these claims to my tenure as Superintendent of Lofa County. I take these allegations and innuendos seriously because they ping on my character, something I have worked over the years to develop and uphold.
Let me say from the onset that I honestly harbor no ethnic or religious hatred against Mandingos nor any other tribe. I consider many Mandingos, amongst whom I have many friends, decent people. Tribes to me are not important when interacting with fellow men because all Liberians are equal in my eyes. I wish to sincerely declare that there is not an iota of tribal, ethnic, religious or racial hatred in my heart against anyone safe to say for the decent people of the Mandingo Tribe and/of the Muslim faith a numerous number of whom were and are my personal friends. As a matter of fact, I don't think about tribe and ethnicity when I am dealing with my fellowmen because I take everyone as Liberians only.
Regarding Mr. Kromah's malicious allegation that I am somewhat a supporter of President Charles Taylor because I defended his wife against criticism published by this paper, I will not dignify his allegation, and will not repeat my position on the issues and the polices of the Taylor administration.
Mr. Kromah accused me of being a wicked and even a murderous Superintendent of Lofa County. He gave as an example an allegation that I burnt down Dr. Samuel Guluma's rice farm. I appreciate the fact that he confessed that he did not believe that I burnt Dr. Guluma's rice farm. This fortunately represents the truth. I did not, and do not indulge in criminal practices. The facts state that the late President William Tolbert thoroughly investigated the allegation and found me to be absolutely innocent. Mr. Saama Smith, a cousin of Dr. Guluma and former Chief of Police of Lofa County who resides in Hyattsville, Maryland and former County Commissioner of Zorzor District, Lofa County, Honorable Peter W. Howard respectively can bear me out. As a matter of fact, the malicious allegation was made against me in 1972 during the second year of my administration as Superintendent of Lofa County and my services as Superintendent did not end before July 1975. Anyone knowing President Tolbert's policy knows very well that he was a man who left no stones unturned in investigating any complaint before him and that if one was found guilty, regardless of your relationship to him, he would fire you forthwith. On his allegation that I was even murderous, I categorically deny that I have ever shed any human blood in my life and do not believe that I will ever take another person's precious life for any reason. I am not the blood thirsty Alhaji Kromah who believes that everybody is a part of his murderous profession, which is very much enshrined in him.
With reference to his accusation that I heard about the massacre of the people in Barkedu Town in Lofa County and did not show any sympathy because they were Mandingoes and Muslims, that is, again, false and unfounded, in that when I heard the news while over here in the US that nearly all of the people in that town were killed by NPFL fighters, I was sad and angry as I did when some of his fighters brutally killed my first cousin, Arthur Jones, in my hometown, Kiliwu, in cold blood before his wife and children. Arthur was the schoolteacher in the town appointed by the Ministry of Education where he had sacrificially served for seven years after graduating from ZRTTI. My cousin was an innocent civilian and unarmed. I was even told that Kromah sent some of his fighters to Kiliwu solely for the purpose of killing me as he thought that I was there and his disappointment led them to kill my cousin and burnt down the town including my beautiful home. I was fond of the people of Barkedu and I paid two official visits to that beautiful and prosperous town upon invitation from the elders of the Town accompanied in both instances by Honorable Mama Dukuly and one time by Dr. Edward B. Kesselly when I was Superintendent of the County. I must admit that I was helpless to do anything about both the murder of my cousin and the massacre of the predominately Mandingo/ Muslim people of Barkedu, particularly while I was over here in the US. In the meantime, I do not believe that any other tribes from Lofa County were involved in the murder of those people as the people of that town and the other tribes had lived peacefully together for years without any conflict.
Mr. Kromah also alleged that he was told that I did not like the late Dr. Edward B. Kesselly because he was an ethnic Mandingo and also because President Tolbert had decided to carry him as his running-mate. First of all, that is my first time learning that President Tolbert had intended to carry Dr. Kesselly as his running mate instead of the late former Senator Jackson F. Doe. In any case, I am not fond of defending myself against anyone who has passed away especially a very loyal citizen of Lofa County like Dr. Kesselly. I would therefore ask Mr. Kromah to please let Dr. Kesselly's soul rest in peace. If by Mr. Kromah bringing such false information up implies that he was fond of Dr. Kesselly, this is far from the truth. I do not believe it in that Mr. Kromah publicly denounced Dr. Kesselly's trip to Banjul, The Gambia, for the formation of the Interim Government in which Dr. Kesselly played a major role.
No doubt, Mr. Kromah was the one who disliked Dr. Kesselly, because of jealousy. If he ever liked Dr. Kesselly so much, why did he not memorialize him by joining the Party Dr. Kesselly established known as Unity Party (UP)? I want Kromah to understand that I am not an ingrate. Dr. Kesselly's father, the late former and renowned General Beyan Kesselly and former Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia caused a grand Party to be held in my honor in celebration of my appointment as Superintendent by President Tolbert in September, 1971. The party was hosted by the people of Lofa County residing in Monrovia. Is it General Kesselly's son I would hate because of his tribe or any other reason? The Party which was held in Lorma Community was well attended and lasted throughout the night, colored by the presentation of many gifts to show solidarity. For his information, Dr. Kesselly and I were on cordial terms. I joined the March he called here in Washington D. C. in 1990 on behalf of the Interim Government against the NPFL warring faction of Charles Taylor and that was the last time I saw this remarkable man.
Mr. Kromah is so full of ethnic bigotry to the extent that he, out of character, failed to note my numerous contributions in Lofa County, the County he claims to be a citizen of, although he murdered its innocent civilians with vengeance under the pretext of running a resistance force to liberate the people of the County. Anything that he knows that I did good for the development of the County and in the interest of the people, as numerous and visible as they are, he conspicuously failed to mention it. My administration was focused on implementing President Tubman's Unification and Integration Policy at all costs, along with undertaking massive development projects and vigorous pursuit of agriculture with the support of the hardworking people of the County. For an example, he stated that his uncle, the late Mohammed Kromah was one time Acting County Attorney and Acting Superintendent of Lofa County but intentionally failed to state during whose administration of the County his uncle served in those acting capacities simply because it was during my administration as Superintendent.
Some facts are needed here for readers. In September 1971, when I was appointed by President Tolbert as Superintendent of Lofa County while still serving as Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, I left the County for Monrovia to turn over to the new Commissioner. I then left Attorney Mohammed Kromah, who was then the County Attorney, as Acting Superintendent. While I was in Monrovia, I received a report that the then Minister of Justice, Honorable Clarence L. Simpson Jr., who happens to be Mr. Kromah's father-in-law, had sent a special plane with a writ of arrest for Attorney Mohammed Kromah, my Acting Superintendent. Mr. Simpson's directive was that Mr. Kromah be handcuffed and taken down to Monrovia. This was despite the fact that the Lofa Circuit Court was scheduled to open the following Monday, which could not be possible without a County Attorney. Although Lofa County had a Court of competent jurisdiction where Mr. Kromah could have been given the opportunity to attend a preliminary examination to ascertain if there was a magnitude in the charge against him, he would have had to be suspended by the President before being arrested, since he was a commissioned Officer. Unfortunately, that legal process was not pursued, and Mr. Kromah was summarily arrested, hand-cuffed and whisked off to Monrovia by a special plane with no reference to me whatsoever. I was extremely angry about the situation, to the extent that I filed an exception with the Minister of Justice, the President and the Minister of Local Government, Honorable Everett Goodridge. I considered the deprivation of Attorney Kromah's legal rights prior to his being arrested and my being overlooked unjustified and illegal. Unfortunately for me, the only reaction I received was an order from the President through the Minister of Local Government that I recommended someone to be appointed as County Attorney in place of Mr. Kromah to coincide with the opening of the Court. I had no alternative but to carry out the order by nominating the late Benedict Kennedy who, Mr. Alhaji Kromah has admitted, one of his fighters brutally murdered in Voinjama during his military control of Lofa County.
During my administration as Superintendent of Lofa County, I did everything humanly possible to involve all Lofa County citizens in the affairs of the County by radio and television announcements, at times even in delivering Independence Day addresses, attending meetings called by the President for our citizens, etc. We convened meetings in the County for its development and the welfare of the people. Honorables Elijah Taylor, Rudolph Johnson and Isaac Randolph, to name a few, are all over here in the US, and are witness to this.
Throughout those years, 1971-1975, never did I see Mr. Alhaji Kromah attending any of those meetings or involving himself in the affairs of the County safe to say, for him to identify himself with the County as a patriotic citizen of same. I believe that Mr. Kromah, who was born in Monrovia, did not take himself to be from the "country" but a "Monrovia boy" and was ashamed of the name of the County he now claims to be a citizen of. Even throughout President Samuel K. Doe's administration when he and I served in that Government, never did I see Mr. Kromah actively involved in the County's affairs. I can vividly recall that on several occasions, President Doe granted us audiences to discuss matters affecting the County at the Executive Mansion, Mr. Kromah was nowhere to be found. Where was he and where did he stand then? I am referring to the Alhaji Kromah who has stated, in his Rejoinder to my letter and a long e-mail that he sent me, that he was born in Monrovia, lived in Kolahun District and that his home in Lofa County is Bopolu District where I never heard anybody to mention his name, safe to say, his having any kinship relation to the late King Sao Boso, the Mandingo warrior said to have been responsible for the settlers retaining their land purchased when the indigenous people ordered them to abandon the land they had purchased from them.
The Sao Boso claim requires further comment because in 1971, President Tolbert, asked me to search for and carry the descendants of King Sao Boso and I did carry them led by one Barbu Zinnah the great grand daughter of the king and the daughter of the late Paramount chief Zinnah who was the first member of the House of Representatives for the Bopolu Chiefdom and the name of Alhaji Kromah was never mentioned by them, the descendants of the King, as being any relative of the King or the Zinnah family. They showed the helmet and a sword that the King wore and used to the President who borrowed them to temporarily place in the Government Museum. Not one member of the family indicated knowing Alhaji Kromah. I don't know what Mr. Kromah is restless about claiming kinship with noble families and tribes. Mr. Kromah must be suffering from inferiority complex, by indulging in such practices.
Regarding his assertion that I have been politically inactive, just coming out of the closet and my getting on a bandwagon, because of his sheer ignorance exhibited in making such irresponsible statements, I will not waste my precious time in dignifying his allegation with an answer as I do not see any relevance in the premises to the issue at bar. The verbal and written pieces of evidence of my total involvement in the political affairs of Liberia, especially in helping to find a lasting solution to the national crises existing in Liberia since I have been in these United States as a refugee, speak for themselves. It was only last year that I got to know that Mr. Kromah was in the US after his wife met me at a funeral and informed me that her husband had asked her to give me his phone number for me to call him. Out of courtesy to her, I accepted his phone number and began wondering whether Kromah was crazy enough to ever think that I would call him after murdering our people, looting our properties, burning down our cities, towns, villages, places of worship, our schools and medical clinics clearly out of ethnic and religious bigotry. Furthermore, he and I were not friends at all in Liberia and never visited nor called each other before. Why was it necessary for me to call him now? This is the guy who claims that he is friendly with some of my daughters. If that is true, and that he is friendly with them since after he devastated our county in his ethnic and religious cleansing campaigns, I would appreciate his mentioning their names and the manner of friendship between him and them for my information.
For his information, I am one of the founders and the leader of the National Integration Party (NIP) a proposed political Party that participated in the political campaigns against the National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) of Dr. Samuel K. Doe. I am not a member of any current political party of Liberia other than our Party. I have joined no bandwagon of any other party except he is referring to the Liberia Leadership Conference, which I attended in Bethesda last month, to uncomfortably sit at the same table with him and hear him loud mouthing and castigating others for the same murderous and illegal things he did similarly to others.
It was reported during the Civil War that when Alhaji Kromah, as leader of ULIMO-K entered Grand Cape Mount County with his fighters, after dislodging NPFL fighters, he personally ordered that one arm of each of the more than 20 prisoners of war be cut-off, and that cruelty was done in his physical presence, after which he happily stated that the amputated men released would be easily identifiable with one arm wherever they would be found. It is believed that it is from Kromah that the rebels of Sierra Leone learned the practice of cutting off the limbs of men, women and children they caught during the war in that country. With that kind of wicked record, is Kromah morally competent to sit among clean people and attack others of his likes when his hands are not cleaned? Mr. Kromah is like the "Emperor in his new clothes". The fellow is butt-naked and seems not to be aware of it. He is under the false impression of being a man of prominence. So he has tried to ridicule me for my alleged loss of prominence, as if I am one who seeks such a status like him. For his egotistical information, I consider myself as an ordinary man who does not solicit status, honors and titles like him. Privileges come to me unsolicited, which I accept with humility without boasting and bragging about them as he has done in his Rejoinder by even giving himself credit for a leadership position he claimed he were elected to when, in fact, it was given to him by Laveli Supuwood who declined it. As a result of the wicked and bloody deeds that Mr. Kromah has committed, he is the one who has, forever, lost his credibility in the Liberian society and is fruitlessly trying to regain it in vain.
Mr. Kromah boasts of his military victory when, in fact, he drafted poor people's children whom he drugged and used as child soldiers to carry out his dirty deeds without their sound presence of mind. Now, he has eloped from them and left them holding the bag and managed by some hooks or crooks to join us over here as a bonafide refugee. And instead of maintaining a low profile by shutting up his mouth, considering his terrible human rights record in Liberia during the Civil War, he is found preoccupied with attacking everybody, including many of his victims who remind him and also take him to task for violation of their human rights. He even boasts about writing a book full of fruitless denials, contents of which we already have a pretty good idea of from the numerous and boring articles he writes and publishes on the Internet.
I wonder Alhaji Kromah thinks he is with any authority to rate my open performance as Superintendent of Lofa County by comparing my administration with a former Superintendent of Lofa County and former Superintendents of other counties in his malicious desire to unreasonably discredit the excellent performance of my administration? When I accepted the position of Superintendent of Lofa County upon preferment by President Tolbert to my absolute surprise, I did not do so with the sole purpose of competing with former superintendents, but with the sincere desire to motivate the people of the county to work with me cooperatively so that we, together, could move the County progressively from where we took off in the best interest of the people of the county and consistent with the policies of President Tolbert's administration. The fellow was so carried away with eliminating our people in his war of invasion of our county to the point that he became totally blind to the massive development projects that our administration undertook and implemented which hard sweat of mine he lived on during his ethnic and ruthless control of our county where he left nothing but destruction of what we left there and nothing constructive at all.
During my administration, I traveled all over the county by foot, car and air, motivating and encouraging the people to join the Agricultural Cooperatives and plant as much tree crops as they could plant and produce as much rice as they could produce, so that they could become self sufficient in feeding themselves, while exporting the surplus to other parts of other country. The people cooperated with me to the fullest extent and we together achieved our objectives beyond our expectation to the admiration of the President.
In 1973 Mr. Robert McNamara, then President of the World Bank here in Washington, D. C., visited Lofa County as my official guest. He was accompanied by the late Hon. Stephen A. Tolbert, Minister of Finance of Liberia, for the purpose of investigating if Lofa County would be suitable for a pilot project for the launching of an Agricultural Development program in Liberia. Starting from the Zorzor Teacher Training Institute in Fissibu, Zorzor District, the three of us jointly flew all over the county and finally returned to the Zorzor Training Institute where I bid them goodbye. It was as a result of that trip and the fertile soil of Lofa County that the county was chosen as the pilot project and Voinjama City became chosen as the headquarters of the Lofa County Agricultural Development Project of the World Bank. The Project substantially contributed to the massive success of our farmers in obtaining appropriate training, which substantially enabled them to become more productive.
In 1973, President Tolbert authorized all Superintendents of the counties of Liberia to enter into a Rice Contest and offered a cash prize of US $5,000.00 per year to any county that would produce the largest quantity of rice. The winning county would also be given a coveted Rice Contest Cup. Lofa County won the contest on two consecutive occasions and was given the $10,000.00 prize, which we set aside as an initial scholarship fund for Lofa County students pursuing Agriculture at the University of Liberia and Cuttington University College respectively. The amount was deposited in a savings account at the Agricultural Development Bank in Monrovia and the deposit book was turned over to the late Honorable Alfred Fromayan then Assistant Superintendent of Lofa County as Treasurer of the fund. No county succeeded in capturing the Cup from us up to the year I was relieved of my post as Superintendent in 1975.
Mr. Kromah again alleged that I was so unpopular with the students of Lofa County attending certain schools in Liberia to the extent that when he nominated me to be their installing officer, the students refused to approve of my name. This is another foolish and unnecessary allegation he has brought up which absolutely has no bearing on the issue. All he is bent on doing is to discredit me with any lies he can cook up which is certainly fruitless. I don't even know what this miscreant is talking about. I therefore will not give credence to his allegation by dignifying it with an answer. For his ignorant information about me, I have addressed the student bodies of the University of Liberia, my alma mater on more than two occasions upon invitations and I have delivered a Commencement Address at the Lutheran Training Institute (LTI) on one occasion also upon an invitation unsolicited. I also once addressed the Lofa County students Association of Cuttington College and Divinity School upon invitation.
Now, coming to the formation of ULIMO in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as one unit undivided. I am asking Mr. Alhaji Kromah to let the reading public know what ever happened to General Albert Karpeh the true and original leader of ULIMO in Sierra Leone. I have asked this question because I have not heard of any of his accounts about the death of General Karpeh his former boss.
According to news reports received during the Civil War, Mr. Alhaji Kromah, as the then leader of ULIMO, appealed to Dr. Amos Sawyer of the Interim Government to ask ECOMOG to arm his men and cooperate with him to enable ULIMO, under his control, to enter Liberia through Grand Cape Mount County for the purpose of attacking NPFL then occupying the area. This was meant for him to proceed to other parts of Liberia under NPFL's control, positioning ULIMO as an arm of the Interim Government and not a warring faction, all with the intent of forcing NPFL leader, Charles Taylor, to attend the peace conferences convened by Dr. Sawyer since each time Taylor agreed to attend, he backed out of the promises made. We were made to understand that Dr. Sawyer granted Mr. Kromah's request in keeping with his commitment made to serve as an arm of the Interim Government and not to become a warring faction in harmony with the Interim Government. We further heard that Mr. Kromah had a hidden agenda behind his request granted which was that upon reaching to Lofa County by then with ULIMO-K instead of ULIMO, he would comfortably settle there and embark upon ethnic and religious cleansing of the county with the sole intention of installing a predominantly Mandingo and Islamic County by eliminating the non Mandingo and non Muslim people of the county and would no longer take orders from the Interim Government. When he succeeded in capturing Lofa County, he immediately gave orders to his drugged fighters to wage a war of vengeance on all other tribal and religious people who were not Mandingoes or Muslims to be annihilated with their cities, towns, villages, schools, clinics and churches burnt down and all of the places looted. In the process, only the people of Kolahun District were saved along with their homes and personal properties while those Gbendi tribal people who were not Muslims were used practically as beasts of burden. But Mr. Kromah now lies by putting the blame of the murders, arsons and lootings on other tribal people under his command. Kromah's arrival in Lofa County with his ULIMO-K was a war of invasion and not a war of liberation of all of the people of Lofa County but only members of his tribe and religious faith.
For Mr. Kromah, as former leader of ULIMO-K, to refuse to take responsibility for his wrongdoing against our people during the war, while boasting that he is proud of his record in Lofa County during the war, and that he has no apology to make to anyone, he has created a huge wedge between the once united people of Lofa County and those who share his views and will find it very difficult to be forgiven for his arrogance. One important and relieving thing in the premises is that he does not represent the overwhelming majority of the Liberian ethnic Mandingos and the Liberian Muslims who do not recognize him as their leader. To those decent and wise Mandingos and Muslims all of us other tribal and religious people of Lofa County have no problem or qualms with you and we consider you as our brothers and sisters. I hope you peace-loving people would publicly disassociate yourselves from him because he continues to carry the impression that he represents your image as your chosen spokesman. I will be the first to admit that I am not the spokesman for all of the other tribal groups of Lofa County affected by Mr. Kromah's ethnic and religious bigotry, but I am a sincere concerned citizen and a proud son of Lofa County who struggled so hard along with all of my fellow citizens of Lofa County to develop the county as it was prior to the Civil War and as united and integrated as we were prior to the war and the Kromah invasion.
Mr. Kromah proclaims himself to be a popular citizen of Liberia from his activities during the war and even, without a remorse of conscience, and with a gross insult to the intelligence of the Liberian people, believes that the overwhelming majority of Liberians want him to be elected President of Liberia. How absurd! Mr. Kromah will not succeed to be democratically elected as President of Liberia not because he is a Mandingo or a Muslim, but because of his extreme tribal and religious bigotry exhibited during the Civil War.
Mr. Kromah shamelessly did everything to undermine and discredit my very progressive and patriotic services rendered to my country, Government, county and people clearly out of tribal and religious bigotry or out of sheer ignorance of the facts. Mr. Kromah was present in Liberia when just after six months I was released from a maximum political prison in Belle Yalla. Right after this, the Head of State and Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Council left me in charge of the Military Government for three days when he went on an official visit to Bamako, Mali in 1981. I served effectively and won the admiration of the Head of State as stated by him during the Reception at the Parlors of the Executive Mansion upon his return home. Mr. Kromah also pretends to be unaware of the fact that I was elected unopposed as Senator for Lofa County in 1978 by the people of Lofa County. My election ensued four years after I was dismissed by President Tolbert as their Superintendent. Remember that the President was also the Standard Bearer in a one-party political system. He boldly opposed my candidacy. If, as he alleged, that I were a wicked and even a murderous Superintendent and disliked by my people, I wonder why did the same people unanimously elect me as their Senator when I was no longer their Superintendent, and was not a military leader like him to induce fear in them.
Mr. Kromah is certainly a dishonest and a deceitful man, and this is clear from his own boastful statement. He is quoted in his Rejoinder as advising Head of State Doe not to run for the presidency prior to the election because Doe was a military leader who ascended to power by force and yet, he also stated that he ran to be elected President of Liberia in 1997 while he was the leader of the warring faction ULIMO-K. As a matter of fact, why did he want for us to know about his advice to Doe when same is irrelevant to the issues that I have taken him to task for? We were aware of the fact that Mr. Kromah was a member of the famous Triumvirate a special confidant group to President Doe who trusted him and now he has no obligatory gratitude to the late President who caused him to be known today but to begin to disclose private conversations that he had with the man now that he is dead by betraying his confidence. What manner of character is this man?
As a further indication that I am not against people of the Muslim faith, I was the Superintendent who persuaded President Tolbert to visit the ostracized and remote, predominantly Muslim people of Vahun, Lofa County. The visit led the President to create Vahun as a County District on the same level of other districts like Kolahun under which Vahun originally fell. President Tolbert did not only make Vahun a District, but also develop it with electricity, decent road and renovation of the airfield there. That was the result of my having walked there on foot through Sierra Leone as the District was not then connected by a motor road with the rest of the District which led the people there to trade only with Sierra Leone using only their medium of exchange, the Leone, instead of the US dollar that we were using then.
I also invited President Tolbert to Weasua, the famous diamond-mining town of Gbarma District, Lofa County, in order for him to see for himself the need for a motor road to be built to connect the town with the Headquarters of the District, principally to reduce or erase the high cost of getting to Weasua only by Zorzor flights. The President did honor my invitation and a road was subsequently built which has considerably reduced the cost of travel to Weasua. This road, I understand, was also of great benefit to Mr. Kromah, who we learned was one of the diamond miners there during the war, if not even after the war. The fellow lived at my expense in those places developed by me and yet is bent on discrediting my progressive achievements which he happily enjoyed.
Mr. Kromah, who claims to be very well acquainted with Lofa County and its physical developments, says he is its patriotic citizen, where he even claims his umbilical cord was buried despite the fact that he was born in Monrovia, I wonder he knows in whose administration as Superintendent of Lofa County the following developments were undertaken?:
- The City of Voinjama was electrified,
- The modern Telewoyan Hospital was erected in Voinjama,
- The magnificent Administration Building housing all the county offices was constructed in Voinjama,
- The defunct Voinjama Airfield was reconstructed and opened,
- The two guesthouses were constructed in Voinjama,
- The Presidential building was erected in Voinjama,
- The agreement for installation of a modern water system in the City of Voinjama was signed between the Governments of Liberia and West Germany as a grant from the German Government,
- The Voinjama Multilateral High School was begun to be constructed Mechanized farming was introduced in Foya District, Lofa County,
- Massive rural-highway and farm to market roads were undertaken and constructed throughout the county,
- The Farmers Cooperatives of Foya, Kolahun and Voinjama Districts respectively became very productive and thriving,
- Lofa County was reported to be the most progressive and development oriented county in Liberia,
- The National Convention of the True Whig Party was held for the first time outside of Montserrado County in Lofa County since the inception of the Party in 1869. The City of Voinjama became developmentally transformed by the Government as a result of the hosting of the Convention.
If Kromah did not consider those achievements to be progressive, what development project did he launch or complete during his military and ruthless control of Lofa County? Mr. Kromah lived on my sweat in Lofa County and has no shame to discredit my progressive administration.
In his interview paper with The Perspective Newsmagazine again a copy of which he attached to his letter to me, he narrow-mindedly loud mouthed President Tubman's administration of the 60s as "dangerous years". I wonder what would he call his years of the 90s during which period he killed our innocent, unarmed and non-combatant people in comparison with the Tubman years of peace, economic boom and political stability?
Kromah stated that I was brave enough to admit that I wrote the article in the New Democrat e-Magazine about him. Who is the fellow so much that he would imagine that I would have been afraid of admitting that I wrote the article? I consider that question to be nothing but one of his showy bluffs for public consumption because of the fact that I had expressed practically the same sentiments to him in his physical presence at a gathering. I therefore saw no need of his begging for an answer to that question when he read similar views expressed on a website.
Alhaji G. V. Kromah, where were you in the 70s and 80s regarding the interest, welfare and the development of Lofa County?
My intelligence information tells me that Mr. Kromah has a very dangerous hidden agenda and plan for Liberia if he ever succeeds in regaining some military or political power in Liberia. His hidden blueprint for Liberia and its people is very divisive, disuniting, disintegrative and fanatic, indeed.
In his attempt to make Fridays on par with Sundays in Liberia, Mr. Kromah once questioned in Monrovia why on Sundays in Liberia all businesses and Government offices are closed by law as Christian holidays and Fridays, the days of mass Muslim prayers, are not similarly observed pretending to be ignorant of the fact that Liberia was founded on Christian principles, though the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and worship. I wonder a Christian would dare to publicly question why the Government of Saudi Arabia does not grant equal preferential status to public worship with that of exclusive rights Muslims enjoy in Saudi Arabia founded on principles of Islam.
|
||||||||
|
(symbols of terror above)
|
My Rebuttal's delayed publication was due to the fact that I was waiting for Mr. Kromah’s promised remaining Rejoinder on my letter of Comments associating him with his teaming up with Mr. Taylor during the 1996 bloody uprising in Monrovia. As I waited in suspense, without his fulfilling his promise, I had no alternative but to release this rebuttal to his Rejoinder.
About the author: E. Sumo Jones served as Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization (Liberia), Superintendent and Senator of Lofa County.