Open Letter To President Taylor

The Perspective
April 5, 2001

Hon: Charles McArthur Taylor President Republic of Liberia Executive Mansion Monrovia, Liberia West Africa

Dear Mr. President:

I write this letter as a concerned, common citizen of that once "haven of rest" nation called Liberia, where races of all nationalities, religious, and ethnic background merged years gone for peaceful co-existence, happiness and refuge. I am appealing to your good conscience to please step down. I strongly feel, sir, that it's the only patriotic thing to do especially for a person who had continuously expressed genuine concern and love for his country many years prior to ascending to the nation's highest office.

When you took over the realm of Liberia as President, you were extolled; there were spectacle of genuine reverence for you beyond credence, undepicted by many Liberians and friends including myself from every sector of the globe. Soon, however, your perception of a leader reverberated the sentiment many had expressed about your predecessor, the late President Doe, and you deplorably proved that you were extemporaneously prepared for the highest office of our country. Mr. President, many qualified reasons could be given for this appeal, but time and space will not allow me to do so. I will therefore illustrate just few of the most compelling reasons even you should find necessary and perhaps appropriate to call for a new election without participating if as proclaimed by you in the past you truly love Liberia as I sincerely believe you still do.

The first reason, sir, is that you have miserably, contentiously, inescapably and completely failed the nation with your many broken promises. You told the Liberian people that "I messed it up", meaning the country, and "if you elect me, I will rebuild it".

Since winning the election, Mr. President, many of us have waited patiently in vain to see any progressive initiative or program put in place, but so far, to no avail, and in fact the country is in a complete stage of siege and retrogression. This Mr. President is illusive, an aberration, indefensible and totally unacceptable to those of us who dearly care for this country. I can assure you truthfully that this is the view of many Liberians and friends, but most are afraid to express it for fear of retribution, and, or reprisal.

Secondly sir, if this administration has an agenda, then it must be surreptitiously still in waiting, but in all seriousness, the Liberian people have a right and deserve to know what those agendas are. What are your goals for the nation, or do you intend to run the country as if it's a farm you own, and no one has a right to say what you do and how the affairs of the nation is conducted?

Thirdly, you along with your hand picked officials have shown total contempt for the rule of law. Corruption is conspicuously hindering any progress in the country, and because of this, the entire country is now in need of resuscitation economically and you Sir, are not an innocent by-stander. Mr. President, please explain to the Liberian people, if you will and perhaps to the entire civilized society in detail what really was and is your dealing with Mr. Sankoh, former Vice President of Sierra Leone. Why are you so furiously against Sankoh being tried for the many atrocities he and his inhumane entourage brutally committed against innocent children and defenseless civilians? What are you hiding? Is it true Sir that you helped channeled millions of dollars worth of gold and diamond through Liberia from Sierra Leone and sold them for your own promotion, personal enjoyment and political gains? Isn't it really the truth that Sankoh might just expose the real Charles Taylor to the Liberian people and the international community the only reason you are now aggressively defending him, and trying to prevent his trial? I am sure you are aware that even the United Nations is now seriously considering imposing sanctions on Liberia because of this long strange relationship, and, or bond you formed with Mr. Sankoh which has drained both nations of their precious rich minerals. You and your few chosen ones have not only benefited from this illegal sale of minerals, but have also seized the liberty to empty the coffers of the treasury with even the little amount that you met there to dispose of for your personal use leaving the rest of the people destitute and even neglecting time and again to pay government employees.

Finally Sir, you have disappointed and failed the precious jewels of Liberia, its children. In the process of trying to delineate yourself as a strong man, your discretion of leadership style is in no way in consonance with modern day democratic governments. Your leadership, Sir, brings an efficacious result for your very own personal aggrandizement, which is also a deliberately provocative behavior for a leader who wants to rebuild his country. Take for example Sir, Education, it is oblivion in your state of mind, and you and your administration have refused to embrace any educational agenda that will benefit those that have the burden of carrying on the torch when we are long gone from this synthetic place called planet Earth. You will neither seek nor receive advice from anyone, or government who wants to help the needed among us educationally, suggestive of your total disregard for our future generations which you see as an exercise of what I term your stubborn ill-advised leadership and total subordination. They can no longer grow up with dreams and aspirations like you and I did many years ago, because the future for them and for us all looks very bleak, and because you have chosen through your irresponsible policies to dash away those hopes and dreams. When you and myself were growing up Sir, we look forward to a decent job just right after high school, because your predecessors, namely: presidents William V. S. Tubman, Sr. and William Richard Tolbert, Jr. laid those foundations, but today even with a decent college education in or outside of Liberia, there is no hope of ever achieving any peaceful dream no matter how little. In fact there is so much degradation and starvation, that many children and their families go to bed hungry every night. While those of us in foreign lands were trying so desperately to rescue and help feed family members, relatives and friends back home by sending food in barrels, you and your so called lawmakers, or you, arbitrarily so egocentric decided to impose a $100.00 US fee on each barrel sent to Liberia to pocket the money by paying yourselves exuberant wages. Why has thou forsaken the land and its people Mr. President?

May I remind you Sir, that when you served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA) and I was then one of the presidents of the many conglomerate states, and a member of the board, one of the many things you spoke vehemently against the Tolbert government about was the lack of concern to feed the Liberian people when the price of rice went up by a few dollars. You were one of the strongest critics of that government as I recall now. You said then that the Tolbert government was a corrupt one that had put the price of rice for gainful financial purposes above the best interest of its citizens. You reminded all of us so eloquently that the Liberian people should never be denied the right to feed themselves at a reasonable rice price, the stable food of the land. Why have you deviated from those principles that made your friends and adversaries alike to believe in you Mr. President? You once stood as an advocate against other administrations pleading for the cause of the poor and needy of our society, and rightfully so. Why should your government be exempted from what you preached so ferociously then, and not be placed under the same microscope that you had other governments before you under? Or are you willing to admit now that those words were cosmetic public relations and presentations that paved your way to the top? You and your so-called government officials are living the lives of aristocrats, the rich and famous, riding Mercedes Benz, and the likes that the country can not really afford, and lavishly and arrogantly disbursing the people's money that you personally had appealed to manage during the presidential election while the rest of the nation go to bed hungry. Where is the compassion you talked about ever so often as a member of the citizenry when a resident of the United States of America? Or is it now the strong survive, and everyone for self and God for all type of government your presidency prefer? Are you and your so-called "big shots" so almighty, sophisticated and too rich now to attend to the business of the very people you took the oath of office to serve and to protect Sir?

Liberia needs to start building on the future, because the past is gone, but without a new direction for the country, many including myself strongly believe the coming generation will have no future to look forward to. If you still love Liberia and the Liberian people since becoming president, then you will do the only prudent thing in the best interest of the country by stepping down and giving someone the chance, and the opportunity to commence this renaissance that everyone is anxiously looking forward to which we can all agree Liberia needs and deserves, and to get us all up-ward bond in this once flourished and freed land of liberty. May God bless the nation, rescue, and save His people.

I have no political affiliation with any party or organization, and want to make that crystal clear. As stated earlier, I am only one of many concerned Liberians.

By: Patrick M. Thompson, Sr.

Washington, DC. USA.
April 5, 2001