God changed her life in a flash : From poor illiterate marketwoman to First Lady of Liberia .
RIP, Mrs. Nancy Kanyon Doe
By Kabs Kanu
When beautiful Mrs.Nancy Doe left her husband’s dilapidated military quarters at the Barclay Training Centre ( BTC ) in the early morning of Saturday April 12, 1980 to go sell at the market , little did she know that her life was about to change forever in an instant.
The wife of the then Master – Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe, an enlisted man in the Liberian Armed Forces, Ma Nancy had heard faintly that there was a coup that morning but like other unlearned “country women ” who did not understand fully the implications of a coup, the diligent marketwoman went to the market to earn her daily living that morning . After all, nobody was going to feed her , her broke and frustrated soldier- husband, or relieve them from the life of squalor they endured, even having to place buckets inside their ramshackled quarters whenever it rained to trap the leaking water from the roof .
Mrs. Doe must have been thinking of the soon- encroaching rainy season, which would bring more misery and whether with the frenzy of activities increasing minute by minute at the news of a coup, sales would be good enough to enable her to subsidize her husband’s paltry earnings as a soldier that day. Little did she know that God was about to change her fate forever.
As she sat selling her monkey meat, greens, pepper, onions , palm oil and tomatoes, the whole market was seething with people jubilating for the change of government. Poor, illiterate , countrywoman as she was, disintetested in politics , Ma Nancy paid more attention to cajoling customers to buy her wares.
Then suddenly, according to reports, a group of soldiers came urgently asking for her . She was frightened and her heart began beating harder and she must have thought that something had happened to her husband since she was being increasingly aware that soldiers were at the center of the change of government that had taken place that morning. As an illiterate woman, it was doubtful whether she actually knew the meaning of the word “Coup ” . But the soldiers were very friendly and respectful and told her to leave her wares and go with them to the Executive Mansion. She did not understand what was happening and was totally confused. Then, one of the soldiers excitedly broke the news to her in her dialect, Krahn. ” Your husband is now the President of Liberia …he staged the coup last night. Samuel K. Doe, your husband, is now our President “.
Only God knows how the poor, unlearned marketwoman felt to hear the earth- shaking news. Nobody else would describe rightly the emotions that befall her. Only she and God knew. But it is safe to conjecture that she must have felt at first that it was a joke and that the soldiers were pulling her legs. But it wasn’t so, she learnt . Even marketwomen around were heard chanting that President William Tolbert was dead and that the new head of state was a soldier called Samuel K. Doe. It was true. Reality struck Ma. Nancy like an express train. Her husband, whom she affectionately called Sammy, had become the President of Liberia. He and over a dozen soldiers had ended the over one hundred years of Americo- Liberian Congau settlers’ oppression and denial of the rights of the original citizens of Liberia called “Country people. ” It was the kind of news that would make somebody lose their mind, go crazy and start running around like a mad man. Colleague marketwomen who had heard the news jubilantly came surging at the stunned woman and start embracing . It was said that they lifted her from the ground and carried her shoulder high, dancing with her.
The rest was history . From a poor marketwoman , who did not ” know book ” and who lived in a leaking army barracks with her struggling semi- illiterate husband and children, Ma Nancy had become the First Lady of the Republic of Liberia and she moved into the posh and regal Executive Mansion — the seat of power– with her equally bespectacled husband.
For 10 years , from 1980 to 1990, Mrs. Doe metamorphosed from an unknown countrywoman into the most important woman in Liberia , where Americo – Liberians had opptessed countrypeople for more than a century and her life changed from selling monkey meat and other wares in the market to meeting and hosting dignitaries , foreign guests, white people, ministers, ambassadors , army generals and the like. She changed into a very strong , confident and impressive woman standing by her husband through the crucible of his turbulent leadership of Liberia. It was said that she was given instructors to teach her the simple routines and protocols of being the wife of the head of state of a country.
Though an illiterate woman, she learnt fast , like her half- educated husband and was soon mobilizing women to support her husband’s governance policies and activities. She even established foundations to support and help famished children and women of Liberia. It was not an easy thing to be the wife of a controversial military leader, who had his speeches written for him, often prompted subtly in public about what to say; stepped on toes, incurred the anger of citizens with his inept leadership, human rights abuses and survived many plots to overthrow him ( Real or stage- managed ) . But Ma Nancy maintained a calm, unruffled and dignified profile , with the help of hosts of aides and hangers-on. Those who had dealings with her described her as a transformed, remarkable woman, who had empathy , always ready to listen and help and was humble to a fault.
With all the opposition from students, radical elements ( Whom her husband described as socialists ) , teachers, university professors and citizens alike, life at the Executive Mansion was turbulent for Ma Nancy’s husband, herself and family but she always carried a dignified posterior in public.Doe, the phianderer , was said to have many women and “country wives ” but Ma Nancy remained loyal to the president ,providing comfort and needed support from the background .
Things fell apart finally for the family when rebels entered the country on Christmas Eve in 1989 . Given that her husband had survived many plots, including the Gen. Thomas Quiwonkpa coup that he reversed, Ma Nancy must have thought that it was just a minor event that would soon pass and would not remove them from the Mansion.
By the time her husband was murdered by the rebels in 1990, Ma Nancy had fled Liberia and had sought refuge in the UK, when the Liberian civil war worsened. She handled the cruel and brutal murder of her husband with grace and dignity and she was on record at social media and online TV to announce that she had forgiven the late Prince Johnson and other rebels who slaughtered her husband in cold blood and on camera. She maintained a level head to take care of and bring up her own eight children for Doe, plus the many kids the late President fathered out of wedlock ( Doe himself once told Gen. Prince Johnson that he had 50 or more children, which made it impossible for him to accept America’s proposal to grant him refuge in the U.S ).
Even as a sorrowing widow, life was not easy for Ma Nancy. While in exile, greedy and heartless family members of her late husband, his former officials and business associates came after his monies in banks in Liberia, Switzerland and other countries and landed properties. She was taken to court and she even had to sue the Liberia government to the ECOWAS Court in an $18 million suit she won, but was never paid by the government.
Mrs. Doe joined both S.K. Doe, her husband and his killer , Prince Johnson , in the Land Beyond on Thursday, after a protracted illness.
Her death is a monumental grief to many Liberians including the huge number of people she helped when her husband was in power.
Ma Nancy died a broken , betrayed and deprived woman ..
May her soul rest in peace.
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