In
life there comes a time when we all as a people retrospect. And that is for us to see
behind us what we’ve left in order to know what exactly lies ahead of us so as to
plan a sensible future.
That time is now!
What prompts this retrospection is when I read a
letter addressed to President Sirleaf. The letter was addressed to her in 2012.
I saw it on the website of The Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas
(ULAA). The letter was sent over-and-over-and-over on The University of Liberia
Alumni Association’s listserve, ulibsaaforum@yahoogroups.com.
The continued reposting of the letter captured my attention. Why did they have
to repost this one letter over-and-over-and-over again and again? Whatever the
reason was, I am here to draw lesson from the past to cast it on the present
so as to know where we are heading as a people. That particular letter I make
specific reference to, denounced Gaye Sleh as President of The Union of
Liberian Associations in the Americas by another Union of Liberian Associations
in the Americas. This spoke volumes to me coming from the experiences I have had in ULAA and other Libderian organzations in the Americas and other counries around the world coupled with my work and engagements on the ground in Liberia.
After reading the letter, I started to look back
what had happened to ULAA twenty-three years ago.
I’ll start with my experience of the “All Liberian
Conference” convened in Atlanta, Georgia and events prior to and after.
Here is the story:
I was elected President of Cleveland and its
Environs; LACE for short. Around that same time, one of the oldest Liberian
community organizations in the Americas, The Federation of Liberian
Associations in Ohio, commonly referred to as “FOLAO,” suffered a five-year
administrative paralysis. At the age of more than two decades, FOLAO, as an
organization, failed it members and community. As a result, the community and
most members unplugged their support from it. FOLAO began to wobble in despair.
As President of the Liberian Community of Cleveland and Cleveland being a
founding member of FOLAO and the home of FOLAO, I thought I help to resuscitate
it. Because by staying away from the organization by its membership and
community wasn’t the right way to go. And so I embarked upon revamping FOLAO
and the Ohio Community. This process took me throughout Ohio, from Cleveland to
Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron and other parts. In the end, I succeeded.
FOLAO was resuscitated.
But a strange thing happened worth commenting on:
I was accused by some Liberians in Cleveland. They
said in the revamping process of FOLAO (which took me throughout the State)
that I had abandoned LACE and the Cleveland community. They accused me of
paying attention to external matters at the expense of internal matters. My
attention on FOLAO had reduced my concentration on LACE. And so they put forth
my immediate removal from office. In as much as their claims were clear and
understood, the approach to remove me was unconstitutional. As a result, it
created an up-and-down activity plunging LACE into chaos and a prolong
standstill.
The City Corporation of Cleveland received
complaints against me from those few Liberians. Hon. Mike White was Mayor at the
time. He invited me for a hearing. I attended. In the end of the Hearing, I
won. The Constitution was on my side. Another complaint was filed to few
Churches in the community. I met with the Bishops and priests. A hearing was
conducted. Again, the Constitution delivered me. In all this, I was all along. My case was good and strong.
But the hauling-and-pulling took a year-and-the-half of my office time.
According to the Constitution, my term of office was for one year. By this
time, FOLAO that I revamped was slowly recovering. It had its election and Mr.
Francis Nimene, a founding member, was elected the new leader.
During this period, ULAA too was looking forward to
General Elections. I previously invited ULAA to help in resolving the crisis.
But I learned a new thing. I think ULAA did too: ULAA could not help us because
it did not have any visible presence and impact in Ohio over the years prior to
the problem in Cleveland. In other words, ULAA wasn't focusing it work in Ohio and parts adjacent. As such, nobody wanted to listen to her.
Soon FOLAO
completed its election. Since we had helped FOLAO come back to life, it embarked upon its obligation - helping LACE resolve its conflict. A committee was set up by FOLAO in this direction - to help resolve the Cleveland
crisis. The chair of that committee was Dr. Marcus Dahn. After looking into the
matter, the committee encouraged us to reconcile and compromise for the common
good of the community and the Organization. But notwithstanding, the
constitution withstood the test of time on my side. As such, my claims were
supported and defended.
All in all, having made my case and convinced the
Church, the Mayor of Cleveland, my antagonists and other level-minded people, I
was now willing to let go the leadership. I gave in. My antagonists also gave
in. New election was set. The Constitution that guided me all along was now to
be revised and amended. Because new things were learned that the Framers did
not envisioned. When the time came for a new election, all those who wanted me
out of office had their names put forward for leadership by the community. But
interestingly, all of them declined to take any office. My name was put
forward. I accepted. In the end, I won the election. I became the first elected
President of LACE to serve under the new revised and amended Constitution.
Under the new Constitution, I became the first President to lead the
Organization for two years instead of the previous one-year constitutional term
of office. All of a sudden a new hullabaloo developed. With support from
progressives, the hullabaloo died down and we all moved on.
We moved back on to strengthening FOLAO. This time,
ULAA joined us. ULAA was now determined to become visible in Ohio and other parts
of the Midwest. Hon. Gus Major, chairman of the board of directors of ULAA
began to frequent Ohio. As the contact man, he was working out the
modalities to get FOLAO membership added to ULAA.
Soon, chaos gripped ULAA. And to me, this was
becoming an epidemic.
There were some Liberians who felt ULAA had
outlived its significance. And so they wanted to replace it with another
organization that would do better. While it was true ULAA, like FOLAO, needed
overhauling, the methodology of approach of those who wanted to replace ULAA
with another organization was wrong. At least, that was and still remains my
personal opinion.
In our effort to strengthen FOLAO, series of mini
conferences were scheduled throughout Ohio. The sole purpose of those mini
conferences was to get FOLAO reconnected with Liberians throughout Ohio and at
the same time identify and embark upon meaningful projects. Essentially, we
wanted to catch up for FOLAO’s five years paralysis.
Along these lines, those who wanted to replace ULAA
tried to use our (FOLAO) mini conferences to campaign and forge their
objectives. I worked with them. But little did I know their sole intent until the
conference in Dayton, Ohio was over. In Dayton, all hell began to break loose. Our
conference had a different agenda than what we previously decided and set. When I
inquired, all the “dogs of war” were sic on me. But I stood my ground. I was
not prepared and ready to support any effort by anyone to oust ULAA. Right
there and then, I became public enemy number one for those whose intent was to
oust ULAA. Chairman Major traveled to Dayton for the conference. But it wasn’t
a good atmosphere for him. ULAA was under attack. Besides me, he and ULAA had
no friend in the meeting. After all was set and done, an All Liberian
Conference was set for Atlanta, Georgia. Evidently, the All Liberian Conference
slated for Atlanta was preplanned based on how events were unfolding. But I did
not have a clue until after the meeting in Dayton. The stakes were high then.
ULAA’s existence was surely threatened. Something had to be done to save ULAA.
I was ready; so were chairman Major and few others. Atlanta, Georgia would be
the place where all this would unfold. At least, that was the plan of the
apparent breakaway group.
In Atlanta, I formed an integral part of the FOLAO
delegation to the conference. My voice was as strong as it could be, except
that I was the only one who supported the continued existence of ULAA. Everybody
else on the delegation supported the death and replacement of ULAA by another
organization. As a result, I was a lone wolf.
I am not writing this to make myself look good and
make others look bad. But this is the truth. What people fail to understand is
that history always comes back to revisit our lives. And that’s exactly what I
am doing here.
First in Dayton the “Die was casts” for another
organization to replace ULAA. In Dayton, I disagreed on grounds that there is
no evidence that a new organization to replace ULAA would do any better than
ULAA. But I was alone. So the case in the contrary was made.
Few weeks after the Dayton Conference we went
to Atlanta, Georgia. As things were unfolding, Atlanta was the “ideal” place to
unravel the case against ULAA so as to replace it. Prominent Liberians, some of
the older generation and well-learned individuals converged in Atlanta. The
City was jam packed. This time I wasn’t alone. Gus Major, chairman of the board
of directors of ULAA was there and very vocal in his defense of ULAA. After a
two-day conference (at one point we were being kicked out of the University
auditorium) some kind of decision was reached half hazardly: The All Liberian
Conference in the Americas was born. And this organization would replace ULAA.
I was disappointed. But there was nothing I could do. We were being kicked out
of the conference hall for overusing our allotted time. More so, the noise was
too much.
We walked out of the conference only hearing the
rumors that The “All Liberian Conference in the Americas” was born as a new
organization to replace ULAA. Dr. George Klay Kieh became its first founding
leader. All the other folks that traveled with me from Ohio had their share of
the leadership pie. I returned to Cleveland with one thing in mind: no one was
able to bend my convictions; my love and commitment to ULAA.
It didn’t stop there; there were series of other
conferences that carried the name, “All Liberian Conference “that were convened in
the US.
Notice, there’s a big difference between the
organization that was/is called “The All Liberian Conference in the Americas”
and the name of the annual Liberian conference referred to as The “All Liberian
Conference.”
I think the founders of the “All Liberian
Conference in the Americas” used this nomenclature to buy the support of
Liberians and to do a quick sale of the organization as a marketing strategy.
It was a good strategy, except that it was not properly done. Having said so,
from 1990 to 2013 is exactly 23 years. I know for sure ULAA is still alive.
Even though I am hearing there are two different groups with the same name:
ULAA. But that’s not the issue under consideration. What concerns me most is
knowing the whereabouts of “The All Liberian Conference in the Americas” not
whether or not ULAA is divided currently.
All I am asking my fellow Liberians and
friends is, where is The All Liberian Conference in the Americas today?
Just wondering!
I am Thomas G. Bedell speaking and working on the
ground in Liberia.
