Position
Statement
Presented
to Hon. Alfred T. Thompson
District
Commissioner, Harper District, Maryland County, R. L.
By The
Leaders, Women, Men, Youth & Farmers of The Half Graway Ferguson Community,
Cape Palmas
Harper City
Hall, June 18, 2012
Hon.
Commissioner, March, 2011, Refugees emerging from the Ivory Coast that were placed
on The Bishop Ferguson High School Campus by The Liberia Refugee Repatriation
and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC) headed by Cllr. Wheatonia Y. Dixon Barnes,
destroyed eleven (11) sugar cane farms within the Ferguson Belt with impunity. These
farms belonged to eleven tax-paying and law-abiding citizens residing in the
Ferguson Belt. Several complaints were filed to the office of Superintendent J.
Gble-Bo Brown. Additions to that, complaints were also filed in the offices of LRRRC
both in Monrovia and Harper respectively. One year and three months ago today, both
LRRRC and the Superintendent’s office fail to produce positive response. As you
know, the destruction of the farms was astronomical. As such, it has been an
economic burden on us. The damage in terms of dollars and cents is equal to Sixty-six
thousand ($66,000.00) United States dollars. After intensive Positive Action mounted
on the Superintendent’s office from us and our friends, children and other
social justice advocates, the Superintendent’s office was forced to establish a
“Commission of Inquiry” to investigate the matter. Even though we are not
satisfied with the composition and Report submitted by the Commission which was
headed by The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, its formation and
activities justifies our legitimate claims. Page 3, Item Number three (3) on the
“Introduction” page of the Report, our Case is clearly substantiated. It reads:
“Assessment and Finding:”
“Below
are the following findings the committee would want to share in this report”
1. “The committee identified 8 small farms that were
destroyed and not 11 farms”
2. “The 8 small farms are observed by the committee are
being used for defecation by the refugees”
3. “That the farms destroyed have started growing due to
heavy rain falls…”
`
Hon.
Commissioner, having inherited the area from our Foreparents who inhabited the
area for more than 100 years before us, we have done all that is required under
our Organic Laws to maintain and protect the area. When the Refugees were
brought into the area, we, as custodian of the area, were not informed. Yet and
still, as a decent people, we gave our fullest support. But our generosity and
hospitality was and continues to be abused by both LRRRC and the comity of
refugee management.
Hon.
Commissioner, the failure of LRRRC and the local government of Maryland, yea
Liberia, to recognize the Report of its own “Commission of Inquiry” which
confirms the destruction beyond human imagination, is a clear and deliberate violation
of our Rights as law-abiding and tax-paying citizens of the Republic of
Liberia.
Therefore,
based on the supra mentioned undisputable facts, the Superintendent’s office
and LRRRC denied us the ability to obtain our full human conditions. It is
under this vein we hereby declare and register our distaste and disdain and
thereby DEMAND reparation; otherwise we will resolve into NONSTOP and
continuous peaceful and nonviolent street demonstrations in order to capture
the undivided attention of the Liberian government. This will include and not
limited to “Sit-ins,” passive resistance and PROLONG marches along the streets
of Harper and maybe transfer our activities to Monrovia to meet with Her
Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia to
submit our legitimate claims.
We
have called on all international and local government and nongovernmental
organizations to help us out of our misery, but none came to our rescue. Even
The UNICEF which is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate
for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to
expand their opportunities to reach their full potential, continues to sit on
the proverbial fence watching our children being kicked out of their class
rooms only to make room for refugees. Consistent with The UNICEF Mission
Statement, it is committed to ensuring special protection for the most
disadvantaged children - victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms
of violence and exploitation and those with disabilities. But when the Refugees
launched an unprovoked attack on our children and their parents, UNICEF has
been sitting by and watching. Are our children considered children of a lesser
god?
Hon.
Commissioner, we want to summon all of you who have a practical nature, all who
possess idealism, dynamism and immense sense of patriotism, all who believe in
goodness, truth and beauty, to unite to support our reparation demands so that we
and the Refugees can built a new society where each of us will have a peaceful
and tolerant future. In this new society we will work for ourselves and enjoy
what the Creator has bequeathed to us, those things that until now we have been
deprived of by the LRRRC and Refugee management who hold economic-financial
power in their hands. We have arrived at a decisive moment in time when it is
no longer possible to go on sustaining unnecessary economic pains as a result
of Refugee violence.
We
are calling on you and all others to bring about a change that is in the
interest of the refugees and citizens of this country. We are calling on you to
turn this economic bankrupt situation around, to disinvert it and head it in
the right direction. We want to live life; we want to produce for ourselves and
our fellow men and our children; we want to live in peace with everyone. Nor
can we let anyone go on exploiting us and destroying our children’s future. We
intend
to put a stop to all of this because we want to live in a time of peace now —
that peace we have always desired but which has been denied us.
Hon.
Commissioner, we are greatly disturbed by this broad daylight violence against
us. And so we are now prepared to take matters to the Liberian government. And
if need be, we shall take this matter to The United Nations for redress.
Our
children have been denied schooling and we, as their parents, have been denied
economic progress. Therefore, we unequivocally, with all we can command from
the roof our tongues, demand reparation!
We
look forward to your immediate response to this human catastrophe.
Attached
is a copy of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry set up by your office and
headed by The Catholic justice and Peace Commission. The Report is captioned,
“The Committee Report
Eleven Sugar Farms
reportedly destroyed at Bishop Ferguson Community in Harper by Ivorian Refugees
Harper City, Maryland
County
Republic of Liberia
Prepared and Submitted
on behalf of the Committee:
Thomas B. Mawolo
Chairman
The Catholic Peace and
justice Commission
Cape Palmas Diocese”
Signed - Victims:
1. Monday Howe
2. Alexander Harris
3. Perry Harris
4. Thykindon Harris
5. Quiah Harris
6. William Harris
7. Nyemande Elizabeth Harris
8. Martha Harris
9. Victor Harris
10.
11.
Approved:
Victor Wade Harris/CLAN CHIEF/HALF GRAWAY CLAN
Attested:
T.
Gbuo-Mle Bedell/Founder/Operations/CCAC/Social
Justice Advocate
cc: Superintendent, Maryland County
Ministry of Internal Affairs
LRRRC
Legislative Caucus
KudeNumo Peace Initiative Foundation, Inc. (KNPIF)
File
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