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Transitional Team Saga: Who Made the List?

FrontPageAfrica (Monrovia)
ANALYSIS
December 6, 2005
Posted to the web December 7, 2005

By Sidiki Trawally

It's being hailed as "The List", but since its release two weeks ago, the
transitional team of Liberian president-elect Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has sparked
a major controversy.
Frontpageafrica takes a look at the budding argument and recent avowal by Mrs.
Sirleaf, which has raised some eyebrows as to who actually made the list.
Mrs. Sirleaf is said to be the brainchild behind the composition of the list,
but recent utterances by her in response to the public outcry against the team
has left room for one to wonder whether she was actually in charge of the list.
Upon her arrival back to Liberia from a West African nations tour, president-
elect Sirleaf declared, to the disbelief of many, that people who do not meet
international human rights standards would not serve on the transitional team.
She said people found in this category whose names were placed on the team have
been removed.
Mrs. Sirleaf fell short of naming the rest of the people that were removed from
the list, but amid burly disapproval from the public, she promised to examine
the list to drop off individuals with bad human rights records.
As a first step towards her intention, Mrs. Sirleaf scratched off former police
director, Paul Mulbah from the list. She cited the ugly track records of the
director, who served under the regime of exiled former president, Charles
Taylor as reasons. Mulbah was the last head of police under Taylor, whose
regime was internationally condemned for human rights abuse. Chris Massaquoi,
another former police director may also be in line for a boot as he has some
human rights issues as well.
Mrs. Sirleaf stated that "There is one case in which there was clear error
because Mr. Paul Mulbah was not, should not, and will not be part of either the
Transitional Team, or have anything to do with the new government." In a star
radio broadcast, the female president-elect said, "That is, he does not meet
our requirements when it comes to human rights. So this is a clear error that
has been corrected."
She assured Liberians that by the time she is done reviewing the Transitional
Team List, there would be no individuals of whom the public have strong
abhorrence even though she conceded that she may not be able to give credence
to all rejections especially those that were classical cases of witch-hunting
in disguise.
Speaking to on a live radio talk show Monday, Mrs. Sirleaf said the list was
published "prematurely," suggesting that names on it were not approved before
publication.
Mrs. Sirleaf: "The list was not finished; we were still working on it and it
got published prematurely, too."
It is not clear who authorized the publication of the list on which about 50
percent or more of the members on the team are people of Americo-Liberian
origin. To complicate matters, one of the criteria for selecting members of the
transitional team is that one should not be serving in the current government,
but Dr. Charles Clark, a member of the Transitional Assembly is on the list.
Johhnson-Sirleaf in maintaining that the list was published prematurely
admitted that the list was sexed up with other names, again raising questions
about its compilation. "There is the name of some family people on the
inaugural committee which is also an error," Mrs. Sirleaf added.
"These were people who volunteered; their names were not part of the list. If
they wanted to help in a personal or family way ," the President-elect said,
adding, that those names have also been removed. Pushed that her transitional
make-up suggested that she was reintroducing the class system in the country,
Mrs. Sirleaf said there was going to be no class order.
The president-elect says her review of the list is only the beginning of her
government's adherence to the principles of good governance that includes
transparency, accountability, and respect for human rights. "You want to tell
me she did not see the list before it was published," Alvin B. Kamala of Darby,
Pennsylvania groaned.
A political analyst told the Frontpageafrica that the list of members on the
transitional team should have been scrutinized and approved by the president-
elect before it was published. However, there are strong indications that she
is just beginning to execute the much-needed scrutiny.
Frontpageafrica learned that the "Iron Lady" has not been happy with some of
her aides since the controversy started, which also suggests that someone, not
Mrs. Sirleaf might have drawn the list with her not having an inkling about the
composition of the team which is supposed to work in her behalf.
Mrs. Sirleaf furthered that, "Government officials will be required to declare
their assets immediately upon their election or selection to a position of
public trust. The size, quality and pay scale of civil servants will be
revisited and reformed," the president-elect noted recently in defense of the
UP platform upon which her administration will base its activities and
programs.
The transitional team is to work with the out-going transitional government to
ensure a smooth exchange of power in early January, but as soon as its
composition of more than thirty members was made public, many Liberians and
political observers expressed concerns that it has too many familiar faces from
Liberia's most recent past that were part of the problems that got Liberia in
the situation she finds herself.
The team, divided into 19 areas of emphasis was also regarded by many as the
reemergence of the "old order" that sets to give preference to the so-called
Americo-Liberians over indigenous Liberians. There was not much of a fanfare as
the so-called indigenous Liberians were gripped with fear that the team does
not signal a good beginning towards the much yearned reconciliation and
reunification efforts.
Mulbah, a football enthusiast and former director of the Liberia National
Police Force has human rights issues written all over his background. As a
Director of Police under Taylor, he was one of those behind the shutting down
of independent newspapers, radio station and the public flogging of Liberian
lawyer and human rights activist, Tiawon Gongloe.
He was also involved in arresting and incarcerating Liberians perceived as
"dissidents" a term used to described supporters of former rebel faction, LURD,
which was fiercely engaged in war battle with Taylor forces. He was also
accused of leading a joint forces of the Anti Terrorist Unit (ATU) and the
Special Operations Division (SOD) on the University of Liberia main campus on
March 21st, 2001 to brutalize students and professors alike, and humiliated
others with no legitimate reason.
Another person with alleged human rights issues is Chris Massaquoi, the former
police director and a close friend of Johnson-Sirleaf, who is being said to be
considered in some capacity in the security sector. Massaquoi was suspended
indefinitely earlier this year by Chairman Bryant for misuse of public
property." It is alleged that he gave an electrical generator to a female
friend for private use when the police station was in darkness. A nomination to
any such post though may not augur well come confirmation hearing, as those
charges may come back to haunt him.
Besides, Massaquoi has some human rights issues dogging his past. On July 4,
2004, a group of police officers, acting on his orders flogged Deputy
Information Minister for Administration in the NTGL, Bernard Warity. The
government official sustained bruises and was treated at the local St. Joseph
Catholic Hospital in Monrovia.
While some Liberians are applauding Johnson-Sirleaf stance on the issues of
human rights, others want to know what she will do with other high profile
people who have been accused of past corrupt practices, including Harry
Greaves, Dew Mason, Fatu White, among others.
Meanwhile, the President-elect has clarified that there will be no class order
as is being speculated in certain quarters, especially that her government will
be highly dominated by Americo-Liberians. She also announced that her newly
appointed transitional team is no indication of the make-up of her future
government.
Speaking on a local radio talk show, during which she addressed numerous
critical national issues including appointments in her administration, the
President-elect made it unequivocally clear that the newly constituted team in
no way represent a "shadow government" or what the next government will look
like.

   

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