Thomas Woiweyu Still doesn’t get it

I was right when this time around I did not attend the Haywood Reunion especially when the events were right in my backyard. I would have fallen asleep or lost my temperament over Woiwoyu's packs of lies, shallow justification for the murder of close to a million of suffering Liberians, and his misrepresentation of history. I am, for now interested commenting on the excuses and justification that people (Wowoiyu and others) make about their roles in the destruction of Liberia.

Mr. Wowoiyu is giving excuses for what he and the NPFL did to the country. He is claiming that Liberia needed a change so the 14 year carnage was justified. I resolved to strongly differ, Mr. War Spokesperson. That was not a revolution Mr. Wowoiyu, it was carnage. It was mayhem. It was a ploy to annihilate an entire people, Mr. Wowoiyu. It was not a change for progress. And you were right when you said in June of 1990 in Sierra Leone on BBC that the objective of the NPFL's war was to avenge the killing of the 13 TWP government officials.

Mr. Wowoiyu, I concede that a lot has gone wrong in Liberia from the very onset when the resettled slaves entered the Grain Coast and decided to alter everything to their advantage.

I thought you started well in your speech but like a drunken wobbler, you began to fumble from the TRC issue onwards. The problem we continue to face in Liberian is the arrogance of present and past stakeholders of the Liberian mayhem. This has to do with their inability to see where they have gone wrong. You are yet to admit that the NPFL went beyond excesses. And this is also the problem today with President Sirleaf, her failure to acknowledge her past mistakes without giving excuses and justification. Her inability to acknowledge the mistakes of her benefactors, the TWP, the ex-slaves and her protégés. And it hurts a lot of people, Thomas, when those of you who have masterminded the suffering of the Liberia people and the near demise of a nation continue to pester the victims.

Mr. Wowoiyu you alluded to the Ghanaian experience and accomplishment to justify the Liberian carnage. On the contrary, you admitted that progress is stagnant in Liberia. Despite the unparalleled outcomes of the Liberian and Ghanaian experiences, you continue to make the case as if the two experiences are the same. Unlike the Ghanaian experience, the NPFL struggle since 1985 has being about revenge and giving power back to those who believe that power is their heritage, Liberia belonged to them because they "founded" it, they named, they crafted everything about it. They designed the Flag and it is all about them. They carved the Motto. So when a Kanyon Doh took power from them, they saw it as degrading to be governed by an untouchable. So they did everything within their ability with your help, Thomas, to reclaim their inheritance. And many of us dearly paid the price: 300,000 thousand of the already victims of misrule and discrimination were murdered. Our villages and zinc shacks we have labored to put up were turned to relics. The schooling of the children of the down trodden was put to a halt for 14 years while the sons, daughters, and wards of you the elites flourish in serene spheres of the West. After such destruction, nothing has changed. And as you rightly said in your speech, "it seems that we have gone backwards."

But what is disingenuous about this whole thing is if you believe that we have gone backward, then what is the point of justifying the circumstances that have driven us backward? How can this country move forward if you fail to acknowledge your flaws? How can Liberia move forward if we fail to confess our sins one to another and sincerely apologize without excuses. I relish the view that Liberia will make progress when the TWP, NPFL, INPFL, Americo-Liberians and others descend from their arrogant pedestals and admit the ills they have caused us all. Are Americo-Liberians willing to acknowledge that they have misruled the country for over a century? Can they admit that Fernando Po was a wrong measure? That treating the native population as peons was wrong? Until there is true acknowledgment on the part of those who have caused too much pains and suffering to others, there will be no respite. And I do not leave out the victims as well, they must be willing to let go but it starts with the perpetrators. Liberia will be a better place if you and Ellen start the ball rolling. Others will follow in your steps.

“There is no true forgivingness without true admission." - The unknown author