“Action and Reaction Are Equal But Opposite": The Sen. Ballout Citizenship Situation

Sen. John Akel Ballout, Snr, is a current senator of Maryland County. He and I developed a problem over the short time I am visiting Liberia as a volunteer worker. And this problem has reached an alarming stage. The reason why it reached this stage is because the young man is confused who his perceived political enemies are. He thinks I’m one. But I am not!

See, I came to Liberia on my own account and volition. I reside in the United States of America. I know it is difficult for the ordinary person to comprehend why a young man like me would chooses such a task – work as a volunteer within a revolutionary thought process.

See, I read Ernesto Che Guevara, Frantz Fannon, Walter Rodney, Fidel Castro and many other revolutionaries who came long before me all the time. I began reading about them since I was a high school teen. One day, in life, I thought I would do some of the things they have done or continue to do. They left their own personal successes where they were born or grew up and attending universities to go out and “ground” with their people and others in other countries. That’s why today I am fully engaged in this sort of work to move my nation and people into modernity. This decision on my part to leave all I have worked for in the US and come to a “dry” land to work and hope to achieve progress for the people and nation is domestically costly to me. But if a man decides to stand up for what he believes, he has to pay the price that comes with the belief he holds. That man needs not complain. That’s why I am not complaining of all the ills that befall me in the process. I am up and measured to the task. Let those who wish to rip apart my character and/or my reason to work as I do, do so freely. But I can assure them, they cannot undermine my work. After all, I have passed the most troubling stage of this work in Liberia. The time I thought I would fail but did not, has passed on. I’ve swallowed the Pain. I went through it all like a man. It hurt. But it is paying off! Everything else now, is as cool as cold water.

Let me convict myself before I convict Sen. John Ballout.

Normally, I won’t hang around individuals a lot. Because there is tendency in our Liberian setting to get used to certain people and then don’t correct them when they go wrong. Because if get used to them and correct them when they go wrong, they take serious offense. They feel shouldn’t correct them. Because you are a friend of theirs. For me, I don’t believe this at all. I believe I should tell my friends the truth. Because when I lie to them, then I am not a good friend to them. Here is the mistake I made in the John Ballout case for which I must chastise myself: Sen. Ballout drew me too close to him. And I sort of let myself go all the way. See, Sen. Ballout is a man who doesn’t like the truth to be told to him in his face. Even how hard one tries to do so in privacy, he takes serious offense. And you what else he does? He keeps speech. And leaders should practice keeping speech from his or her citizens and/or constituents simply because that citizen criticizes him. So I was wrong to allow myself to get too closed to the Senator. It made him feel I would pat him on the back if he did wrong. During the time I was closed to him, he did me favors. Actually, I don’t think they were favors that he did me. He was using me to cover up some of his wrongdoings. But little did I know all this until when we fell off. I was definitely wrong having not told him that I never compromise principles. I was wrong I did not tell him equivocally that I hold allegiance to a Cause not to individuals. Up to now, I still believe he and I have allegiance to the Cause of Maryland. And there’s where I thought he and I were standing for Maryland. I thought we were pursuing Maryland issues together. And that he and I know that without him or me, Maryland has to still move on.

I told him Ballout that I do not believe in the “slap-one-jaw-and-show-the -other jaw” sort of principle for peace. I told him that I believe in the “Tooth for a tooth” principle – The Law of Retribution! Since I consider myself as a true revolutionary, a progressive and a decent man, I always have respect for every human person (old, young, rich, poor &c). But I categorically emphasized that I however do no bow down to any man! I obey all laws. And I love everyone. But if anyone put his hands on me, I surely will send him to the cemetery without a second thought. I impressed upon him I believe all humans should respect each other irrespective of status in society. So, if anyone insults me and I caution him to discontinue, but chooses not to stop, I am under obligation to defend myself. And there’s where self-defense comes in. I informed Sen. Ballout on all of these. Probably I did not make myself very clear. So he fails to learn. If I did not make all of these things crystal clear to Sen. Ballout, then I take the responsibility for not being able to educate him as to who I am and what I stand for. Therefore, I convict myself on that ground!

Now, let me convict Sen. Ballout.

The Sen. is an arrogant man. He’s power drunk! He doesn’t take advice. He is antagonistic. I know all this because he shows all this to me. Let me drive you through the point that makes me attack his citizenship. I’m in Liberia for three years. I work from village to village; from city to city and from hamlet to hamlet. In many cases I try to connect Sen. Ballout with my work. But the Senator decides to attack me for no apparent reason. At one point I ignore his attacks. But the more I try to ignore his attacks, the more he keeps coming at me. I had to put on my “No nonsense” gloves and boots to repel him. He keeps on attacking me in the public. He says I come to Liberia calling myself revolutionary. But according to him, I have not visited my late Father’s hometown. What he means by that baffles, my mind. I begin to ask myself why would this man choose to attack me on grounds I refuse to go to my Dad’s hometown. I can’t figure this out! At one point I thought he was just trying to be funny. Because I did not come to Liberia to serve one group of people. I see Liberia as one people one destiny. When he continued this tendency, I began to think he was not joking anymore. Because he won’t relent. Certainly, I feel he is seriously undermining my work. So I seriously warned him. I explained why I am not visiting my late Dad’s hometown. But the warning does him no good. I guess he thought he had me cornered. Every time I try to explain about my work to my people and what I see as the problem in our country, Sen. Ballout tried to undermine. But check this out: Ballout himself has not been to his Father’s hometown in Palestine.

Well, just so you know, my late Father’s hometown is Rocktown in Maryland County. Ballout is correct when he says I had not been there until just recently. When I got in Maryland, I took my Program to Barrobo which is far away from my Father’s hometown. Most people thought I would have focused on my late Dad’s hometown. But I didn’t. The reason is, in the US, I helped organized a group of individuals from my Dad’s hometown. Together we began to help the Town. Today, it has one of the best educational systems in the rest of the villages in the entire Maryland. So when I got to Maryland, I thought I should help decentralize development. So I went to other villages other than my late Dad’s. This is what Sen. Ballout has been using against me. As a result, Sen. Ballout forces me to defend myself. He forces me to ask him if at he has ever visited his late dad’s hometown (Palestine) if he thinks I have not visited mine (Rocktown). I think this is as fair as it can be. Our Immigration and Naturalization laws, ours is Patrilineal (that means we look at where your father comes from). It is not matrilineal (where your mother comes from). Because our Constitution emphatically states that only people of Negro descent can become citizens of Liberia. Now watch the tricky part. The Constitution states this OPENLY. But the Liberia Immigration & Naturalization Laws defines and restricts the Stipulation. It addresses issue in this way. If one is born on to one parent (most especially the father) who is not of Negro descent, that one will have to choose his or her citizenship at the age of 18 in a court of competent jurisdiction. If he or she fails to do so, he or she forfeits Liberian citizenship. This is just a gist! In Sen. Ballout’s case, it is he who has the problem not me. My late Dad and mother are all of Negro descent. My Dad comes from Rocktown. Sen. Ballout is correct. I barely visit the place. But does that mean I don’t care fro where my late Dad’s from? As for him (Sen. Ballout) his dad is from Palestine. His dad was not a Negro or of Negro descent up to his passing. And so if he (Sen. Ballout) will use the fact that I barely visit my father’s hometown as a way of trying to demoralize me, he needs to think again. Because he will be under obligation to tell us if he has ever visited his father’s hometown in Palestine. And that upon reaching maturity has renounced any other citizenship acquired by virtue of one of his parent being a citizen of another country?

This is what the Constitution of Liberia says on the citizenship question of those with one parent a citizen of Liberia and the other of another country who’s not of Negro descent: 

Article 28   “Any person, at least one of whose parents was a citizen of Liberia at the time of the person's birth, shall be a citizen of Liberia; provided that any such person shall upon reaching maturity renounce any other citizenship acquired by virtue of one parent being a citizen of another country . No citizen of the Republic shall be deprived of citizenship or nationality except as provided by law; and no person shall be denied the right to change citizenship or nationality.”

Ballout Confession: Split in Caucus is Responsible for Proliferation of the County Citizenry

January 6, 2009

 

I’ve been in Liberia on a working-visit for more than a year now. I know this situation of mine confuses too many people. But that’s what I always do best – confuse people till the end when the light shines so brightly. My working visit is a Re-evolutionary task. At least, that’s how I describe it. It is a radical departure from things as we know them. It comes after a 14-year generalized anarchy of violence when infrastructure and human resource destruction reached astronomical heights. It demands everyone to chip in and make the Reconstruction effort a success. So my NGO is helping. And I am personally making a difference. Thanks to those who are supporting me in their own unique way!

My whole intent when I came to Liberia was to work in other counties other than Maryland. But I was convinced to go to Maryland.

Why did I want to go to other counties to serve besides being in Maryland? Simple! I am a student of history. And I have read history widely on men and women who tried to identify with their homelands but were ostracized. For it is said in many books and the Books of books that no village has ever embraced its own.

Jesus’ experience tells it all including that of many more prophets and revolutionaries around the world. I found mine out quickly.

To date, it is Marylanders, especially current leaders, who are attempting to destroy the work we do. Why do they do so? Simple! They want to say, “Aha, aha, there he is. He said he came to help. But there he is struggling. He has done nothing to help!” And then they can lower citizens to sleep and marginalize them. But I am measured up to the task!  

Anyways, let get to the focus of this Article.

It’s all about Senator John A. Ballout’s final admission of my claim. I say the split in the Maryland Congressional Caucus is responsible for the County proliferation and the lack of infrastructural and human resource development.

It is also responsible for the backwardness in the County. It is also responsible for the emerging armed hostilities in the County. Senator Ballout had no choice but to openly admit on UNMIL radio station on the program, “The Palaver Hut” that my calculations against his is correct. I was on the show with Mr. Thomas Collins when Ballout made the confession.

Let’s start with the actual split Question. Then we can go to its negative impact. And then to why Ballout admits now.  

Split -There are five members on the Caucus.

Three are Representatives of the Lower House. And the other two are Senators from the Upper House. The Representatives from the Lower House include James Bannie (Harper District), Bhofal Chambers (Pleebo/Sodokeh District), and David Sidee (Barrobo/Karluway District).

The senators include John Ballout (Senior Senator) and Gloria Scott (Junior Senator).

All of these elected officials do not see eye-to-eye.

On the Caucus, all of the three Representatives are hands-in-glove with Gloria Scott except for John Ballout who is the only one that is all by himself.

So the split is between Gloria and Ballout. Whatever the four other members agree to, Ballout’s vote is insignificant.

Although he is the Senior Senator, but he is powerless on the Caucus. Democratically speaking, within the split on the Caucus, Gloria has the edge over Ballout. If Ballout refuses to submit to democratic centralism, he cannot influence any decision, whatsoever. Because of this, all development packages are shredded all the time.

The Caucus never comes out with a single decision. Ballout goes his own way. And Gloria Scott goes her own way. But what's good for Gloria (I mean in terms of democratic understanding) she always carries along with her three others Caucus members. And that always make them four in number against single Ballout.

So democratically speaking, Gloria has the majority. As a sign of dissatisfaction, Ballout goes out and musters his supporters on the ground to oppose the Caucus’ decision. Gloria Scott too, in return, musters and energizes her base both on the Caucus and in the County. And when this happens, the supporters of both senators collide either on the streets of Maryland or on the farms and villages of Maryland.

Each time this happens, everything in the County crumbles. The evidence is well and alive. President Sirleaf knows this. Because she has seen this split-attitude in her presence many times.  

My forecast – having traveled in-and-out of Maryland on numerous occasions and worked with several local and Congressional leaders as well as youth groups, I came to the conclusion that the split in the Caucus would provoke serious problems in the County including armed hostilities amongst ethnic groupings.

I was right.

Rocktown and Wetchukeh clashed. And two citizens died. To date, the case is still in court. And both groups are being ripped apart at the seams by the very Caucus. I saw this and I warned the officials. They refused to listen. So here we are locked in a legal case in court with one time good neighbors now turned into "enemies."

My Proposal – Looking at this situation which is eating up the very fabric of our County and that is holding down progress, I propose the problem splitting the Caucus be first resolved before approaching anything concrete. Otherwise, the entire County will remain split right at the seams. And that could damage the entire County. I discussed this with most local government officials including the previous Superintendent, Hon. Neufville, and the Caucus to find time and resolve these differences. I helped set November 29 for Reunion and Reconciliation activities. But the Local and Congressional leadership have not giving it the required support it deserves. Even though the Caucus has seen all my forecasts come true, it still continues to live in denial. But not too long, the truth broke loose on Xmas Eve when John Ballout could no longer hold the truth in his stomach.

Ballout Confession & possible Solution - Recently, the senior senator of Maryland County, who is the lone wolf on the Caucus, submitted an admission and confession. He said everything I have charged the Caucus of is indeed true. He admitted the Caucus is in fact sharply split! This is the first time any member of the Caucus ever admitted to a split in its rank-and-file.

Ballout went on to say the split is responsible for the proliferation of the County citizenry. Another thing none of the Caucus members ever admitted to.

So to change this dull reality, Ballout said he has begun to make sincere peace efforts. How sincere these “peace” efforts are will be determined by time and conditions.

Another thing he did on the nationwide radio was to openly inform the Liberian nation and Marylanders that he had extended several “olive branches” to all his colleagues. One to Gloria. One to Chambers. One to Bannie. And the last one to Siedi. Lots of “olive” branches were extended by Ballout prior to Xmas. According to him, all his colleagues have accepted his gesture and are willing to put behind them all their differences.

Whether or not this is true remains to be seen. But there is one important thing out of all this: he has admitted what I have been saying all along. Not only has he admitted it, but he did so on nationwide radio. So it reached every hamlet, village and squalor of the land. And it is on tape.

Ballout made the admission and confession on December 24, 2008, Xmas Eve. Not only did he confess, but he agrees with me unless and until the Caucus reconciles its differences, all the crises in Maryland will remain unresolved.

The only thing he did not allude to is if the Caucus refuses to resolve its differences, it should be kicked through the back door. And that we can go shopping for new candidates and/or leaders. He made his confession on air.

Mr. Thomas Nma-Mle Collins, secretary of the Klemoweh Chiefdom Association in Monrovia and its Environs was on air when Ballout said this. I was one of the panelists on air when he made all of these confessions. So they are recorded and legitimate.

Additionally, Ballout promised all Marylanders and the country he would reunite the Caucus and the County. He said this was his New Year’s gift to the people of Maryland. He also promised to extend an “olive” branch to the people of Rocktown during the New Year’s.

When and how he plans on doing this is something everyone is waiting to see. At least that’s exactly how the radio moderator put it to him at the end of the Program. I am not alone.

There are many others waiting to see how John Ballout's "peace" initiatives and "unity" move will unfold in and among the people of Maryland and the Caucus!

All eyes are wide open!

I am T. Gbuo-Mle Bedell; volunteer worker, speaking and working on the ground in Liberia, social justice advocate and a victim of police brutality

5000-MAN MARCH in Harper City THE SHIPWRECK VICTIMS ACTION COMMITTEE (SVAC) Maryland County, R.L.

June 7, 8 and 9, 2010, The Women of Maryland held a Peaceful Demonstration. Thousands of them showed up. The March was peaceful! Their DEMANDS include but not limited to: 1) REPARATION, RESTITUTION, DEBT-WAIVER for all the SHIPWRECKS Victims and 2) Refurbishment, Rehabilitation, and the Paving of the Fishtown-Harper Highway

Considering the tremendous pain visited upon our Women and our community by the shipwrecks, we the Men of Maryland County will march on Harper City on Monday, June 14, 2010 to express our SOLIDARITY and SUPPORT!  

We will walk in silence throughout the major streets of Harper City. We will dress in white tops—the color of peace and absolute freedom. All the Victims of the shipwrecks cannot continue to suffer abuses, neglect perpetrated by ship-owners and their partners in Government.

Please join us in this Peaceful March in support of our Women’s DEMANDS!

The Peaceful March will begin at 6am from the Merry-Go-Round.

From the Merry-Go-Round, we will march throughout the major streets of Harper and then to the Harper City Hall where a Statement will be read and presented to the Superintendent of Maryland County, Hon. Gblebo-Brown to be handed over to H.E. Dr. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia.

The March will center around the slogan: This is not only a road and ship issue; it is a human life issue!

We will call on the international community to act and condemn the many shipwrecks and the suffering and deaths it brought on our poor women, men and children and the County!

For more information please call: 06.920.151/06.666.957

The Shipwreck Victims Action Committee is a local, non-profit, nonpartisan, independent civil society group focused on REPARATION, RESTITUTION, REIMBURSEMENT, DEBT-WAIVER for the victims of the many shipwrecks that took innocent lives, investments and personal properties of Marylanders. The SVAC currently includes more than 100 business men and women of Maryland. It maintains an active presence in Pleebo, Kalorkeh, Barrobo and Harper.

Signed: Thomas G. Bedell/Chair/Advocate

Tribute to Ayo and our Beloved Comrades Who Perished in Shipwrecks

If he didn't hear from her at night, he'd go frantic. This is Oldman Achala Cole in his grave speaking. He’s speaking through tears about his daughter Ayo who died in Havea shipwreck. Unlike him, his daughter Ayo will have no grave to rest her troubled back from all her struggles for family and nation. Simply because her corpse disappeared in the belly of the Atlantic Ocean. We don’t want to guess what could have happened to her body. And Oldman Achala wouldn’t want to know how his daughter could have been devoured by the creatures of the Sea.  

The night Ayo was crying out for help in a vessel not seaworthy few miles away from her residence in Harper, Achala Cole, her father, was deeply troubled in his grave where he had been lying for over three decades. He told his daughter to be calm, and she did. She remained calm believing her government would arrive in time to save her including the innocent children and other adults that perished with her. Then the opposite became true. The Government failed her and the rest of the victims. The wrecked ship took her life down the Atlantic Ocean along with little children and some other adults. 

That young man is “Wicked-Joe.” He was her husband. He cried out to the fishermen to help. Did the fishermen understand him or just became selfish and unfeeling when they did nothing?

Ayo was most likely thrown by the sea-wave into the Atlantic’s depth. The little child that she cared for, slowly, crying for a motherly love and salvation, dropped into the very depth of the Atlantic.

Ayo remained dashing into the belly of the Atlantic Ocean while the rest were carried 100 to 200 miles away from the port of Harper and dislodged from the mattresses upon which they have been floating and dumped on the Beaches of the Ivory Coast. Some came out with broken limbs. Some came out with broken souls. But Ayo was no where around to be found.

I know very well where Ayo was born - right in the hood of Marsh Street. She was the most beautiful woman of our time. And she kept her beauty until Havea, a vessel not seaworthy, dumped her body forcibly into the belly of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Ayo would have been in her mid 50s. But a vessel not seaworthy thrashed her entire life in a ditch of no return.

The Liberian government says the vessel that killed Ayo and other citizens is “authorized” to ply our National waters. But it was not seaworthy. How was she supposed to know? National Port Authority, Bureau of Maritime and Ministry of Transportation didn’t know too? So who “authorized” the vessel to ply National Waters? Even we know now, it will not bring back our Ayo! Our President of Maryland Women Inc.

Nothing can bring Ayo back, but we want justice. Who authorized the vessels that are not seaworthy?

It is as easy -- and terrifying -- to put oneself in the place of Achala Cole, Ayo’s dead father, watching his beautiful little girl drowning and calling for help in vain. It is impossible to place oneself in Ayo’s late dad’s position. It is also terrifying -- to put oneself in the place of the parents of those little children that were sucked by the power of the Atlantic Ocean into their early graves. They could have been Presidents like Dr. Sirleaf had they lived and given the same opportunity.

I, too, would want justice. And I would also want those ship owners rot in hell. I would feel righteous for channeling my vengeance into the rule of law, but I would also feel justified for hating, not forgiving, the perpetrators of our grief. 

Some religions teach, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” But Jesus Christ says in Matthew, "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." On the cross, Christ absolves his crucifiers: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Gandhi embraced those who would destroy him: He said, "Hate the sin, love the sinner." 

Samson's revenge on the Philistines is to kill more of them at his death than he killed during his life. When Agag, the captured king of the slaughtered Amalekites, is brought to the prophet Samuel, he asks for mercy: "Surely the bitterness of death is past." But Samuel "hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal." After Haman's ten sons are killed in battle, Queen Esther asks King Ahasuerus to hang their dead bodies from the gallows. The prophetess Deborah, writes Soloveichik, "appears to relish the gruesome death of her enemy, the Philistine Sisera, who had, fittingly, been executed by another woman. Every bloody detail is recounted in Deborah's ebullient song."

It will be up to our secular legal system, not our religious traditions, to decide what justice means to the captain who killed Ayo, the two little kids, other adults, ripped off the fingers of Ma Eliza and killed a twin kid of Sister Seebo and leave her feet into semiparalysis. The law draws distinctions between homicide, manslaughter and murder. Mens rea -- intent -- matters. This may be helpful for distinguishing different kinds of punishment.

Experts in the field say that when we carry hostility around we can kill all of us. Wanting someone to rot in hell, we are told, does more damage to ourselves than to the objects of our anger. Healing comes from letting go of the hatred.

I pray that Clara Ayo Cole Nyema’s late dad will find peace, and that Sis. Seebo will fully recover, and Ma Eliza’s fingers that have been ripped off by vessel that was not seaworthy will not happen for nothing and that the friends and families of those great sons and daughters of our great country that perished in the belly of the Atlantic Ocean will find comfort in the bosom of Christ our Lord and Savior. But I am unable to understand, and unprepared to believe, that their path to healing must pass through the country of forgiveness when their debts are not cancelled and no restitution is awarded.

I am Thomas G. Bedell, a peace volunteer, I write, speak and work from on the ground in Liberia!