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'Tactics of Diversion, Demonizing'

The Analyst (Monrovia)
NEWS
September 11, 2006
Posted to the web September 11, 2006

A group calling itself Youth for the Promotion of Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's
Administration (YOPMEJOSA) claimed in a press statement issued September 6,
2006 under the signature of its National Chairman, Edward Jallah, that
opposition politicians were using their followers to perpetrate the wave of
crimes that has engulfed the capital and other major cities of the country.
The group proffered no evidence but called on the public to organize community
watch teams to oppose their machination.
The release was so emphatic that some unsuspecting Liberians were almost
convinced of its truism even though analysts picked up one or two loopholes in
logic, sincerity, and substance.
The story though sparked mixed reactions amongst the accused with some blaming
The Analyst for "glorifying the allegation" while others think the release is
part of a large scheme to get at the opposition.
One such thinker is the New Democratic Alternative for Liberia Movement (The
New DEAL Movement).
The Analyst Staff Writer looks at what the movement has been saying.
The New Deal has described as "diversionary ploy" last week's allegation by
YOPMEJOSA that defeated politicians were using their followers to sabotage the
Sirleaf Administration by supporting community crimes.
The New Deal statement issued yesterday recalled the use of similar tactics in
the past to get at the opposition and called on the Unity Party and the Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf Administration to abandon the old tactics and rather
concentrate on the actual precarious socio-economic challenges of the nation.
The preface of the statement said the movement observed with total outrage a
statement by YOPMEJOSA, which appeared in the Friday's September 8, 2006
edition of this paper captioned: "Opposition political parties Sponsor
Issakaba".
"The New DEAL Movement considers the statement by the 'Youth for the Promotion
of the Ellen Administration', linking the 'opposition political parties' to the
unprecedented wave of criminal activities in the country as not only vicious
and sinister, but the display of the usual traditional diversionary ploy, used
by the incumbent and its surrogates to get at the opposition when they are
faced with crises," the statement said.
The statement said while the New DEAL Movement did not represent the mouthpiece
of opposition political parties, it viewed the YOPMEJOSA allegation not as out
of place but as inimical to the peace process.
"The Party however views it as very stupid and lunatic for any political party
of substance, such as the New DEAL Movement, having fought for the creation of
this new democratic dispensation, to use criminality as a means of exercising
effective and legitimate opposition to the current regime via the current
'Issakaba' criminal gangs that are terrorizing peaceful, law abiding citizens
and foreign residents alike," the movement's statement noted.
It then wondered what in an environment where all political groups and parties
freely exercise their constitutional rights and duties without any hindrance,
any opposition political party of substance would achieve by supporting and
encouraging criminal activities.
It described the group's statement not only as vicious and sinister, but as a
display of the usual traditional diversionary ploy used by the incumbent and
its surrogates to get at the opposition when they are faced with crises.
"This group is reminiscent of the malicious tactics of the old order to create
cronies that serve as agents of provocation and the concoction of lies against
the opposition. Such included, for example, Tubman's 'Public Relations
Officers' (PROs), the 'Youth for the Promotion of the Tolbert Administration'
(YOPTA), the 'Youth for the Promotion of Doe Administration' (YOPDA), the
'Youth for the Promotion of Taylor Administration' (YOPTA), etc," said the pro-
reformist party headed by university professor George Klay Kieh.
According to the party's statement, such state-sponsored cliental institutions,
sustained at the expense of taxpayers, were used as instruments to sow seeds of
confusion and discord that contributed immensely to Liberia's predicament of a
defector one- party state, prior to, and during the Liberian civil crisis.
"The Party therefore strongly condemns, in no uncertain terms, the statement of
this supposedly tele-guided and stage-managed group of mischief makers, and
calls on the Unity Party and the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Administration to desist
from engaging in the old tactics of diversion, demonizing and scapegoating the
opposition like her predecessors, but to rather concentrate on the actual
precarious socio-economic challenges of the nation," it stated further.
The movement then reminded the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Administration, which it
said enjoyed, incomparable to none, the single largest unanimity of support
from the international community required by any government of substance to
perform, to direct its efforts toward meeting the demands of the New Deal
Movement and the people of Liberia for nothing but performance, characterized
by tangible results.
It may be recalled that in its press release YOPMEJOSA claimed: "With such
stance, the Youth view this as disgust and disappointment on the part of the
defeated twenty political parties whose interest was to produce a leader for
all Liberian after a long devastating war. Isakaba are group of arm bandits and
remnants, whom were supporters of defeated politicians in the just ended
general and presidential elections."
The group decried the criminal attacks on peace-loving Liberians and called on
the general public not to be mute on such matter, which it said, has put the
people of this country in a dangerous situation.
The group, though, failed to produce evidence linking the opposition to any
crime. More than that, it failed to say why it did not pass whatever evidence
it had to the police, which continue to appeal to the public to provide
tangible hints leading to the arrest of those supporting criminal activities
around the country.
It was YOPMEJOSA's failure to inform the police, which it said would be aided
by the formation of community watch teams that prompted critics to challenge
the authenticity of the allegation.
"How can a shadow political support group with no criminal investigation
credentials suddenly crack a crime syndicate that had baffled months of joint
LNP and CIVPOL investigations and eluded detection by civilian informants?"
they asked.
The answer to this question, many say, may be known only when the group is
brought to book. How that may be done, they said, remains anybody's guess.


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