INTOLERANCE IN THE FLEDGING LIBERIAN DEMOCRACY : CAN COUNSELOR GONGLOE RETROSPECT ?
Intolerance in the Fledging Liberian Democracy: Can Cllr. Tiawon Gongloe Retrospect?
By Joseph S. Sherman, Washington, DC
Ever since President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf formally took power nearly two years ago, she has called on officials to put people’s interest first and build a civil and harmonious society. All this comes against the backdrop of rising social tension emanating from the too close to call November elections of 2005.
Reports in the local media in Monrovia that Mulbah K. Morlu, Chairman of the Forum for the establishment of a War Crimes Court in Liberia was arrested and kept incommunicado because of his alleged involvement in mobilizing some group of citizens, in solidarity with the embattled Speaker of the House of Representative, Mr. Edwin Snowe, is ludicrous and betrayal of citizens rights to assemble and freedom of expression as enshrined in the Liberian Constitution.
The Solicitor General of Liberia, Counselor Tiawon Gongloe, should retrospect that he was once a victim of political repression during the regime of Charles Taylor. Consequently, he was jailed and forced to leave the country and sought asylum in the United States because of his stance against injustices and Human Rights abuses in Liberia. While I do not mean to question his authority of arresting Mr. Mulbah K. Morlu for acts which termed “posing security threat to the state”, it is however, ironical for a man who gained public and international recognition for his pro-democracy stance to resort to acts which are anti-democratic.
Political tolerance is the oil in the machinery of democratic politics. Learning to put up with one’s political enemies is essential to effective democratic government and even more important in Liberia that is undergoing the transition from relatively authoritarian to democratic regimes. On the contrary, with the present trend of events in the country, achieving harmony, however, seems to have meant that any dissenting voices are dealt with most swiftly and more harshly than ever before, what a paradox.
Tolerance is much more than the peaceful coexistence of different cultures. It is an active and positive attitude, inspired by the recognition of and respect for the rights and freedoms of others. It means that concern for others must prevail over callousness and contempt, and that an effort to know the “other” takes the place of blind prejudice and discrimination. More than a moral virtue, it is a reasoned exercise through which we can define, together, through dialogue, exchanges and acceptance of difference, the value for which we wish to base our existence
In the spirit of reconciliation and tolerance, let us try to be always open to others, in heart and in mind. Let us practice what we preach which will help us to build the safer and more peaceful Liberia towards which we all aspire.
About the Author: Joseph S. Sherman is the Assistant-Editor-In-Chief of Cocorioko online (www,Cocorioko.net), Adjunct Professor at Montgomery College, in Maryland, U.S.A. and former broadcaster of the erstwhile ELCM Radio in Monrovia, Liberia and former Editor of the Footprints newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
