Tuesday, 3 April 2018

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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