By Joe Noutuoa Wandah
Source: ModernGhana.com
At least 5 Liberians have reportedly been shut dead by Ghanaian police at the Buduburan Refugee Camp outside Accra during a riot over leadership.
According to report, the incident occurred Sunday at a Church when a group of Liberian refugees attempted installing a new leadership despite call from the refugee board to halt the process.
Reports say there has been opposition against the current leadership at the Buduburan Camp headed by Varney Sambola. Mr. Sambola has been accused of tribalism and being in cohort with both the UNHCR and the Ghanaian authorities to relegate the interest of the Liberian refugees.
An eyewitness from the camp Decontee Tarnue, told this journalist via mobile that while at the Church, Ghanaian police allegedly stormed the edifice and demanded the Liberians to disperse, using tear gas after they have refused to leave.
Miss Tarnue further narrated that as the Liberians left the Church they allegedly began to stone the police, leaving the force with no alternative but to fire into the crowd with live weapons.
However, another Liberian Emmanuel Smith said the casualty among the refugee is about five, adding three persons, including a lady was shut in the breast, while two men were hit in the head.
Deputy Information Minister for Information Services Jerelimink Piah has confirmed the incident, but added that the Government of Liberia is yet to officially establish the facts surrounding the disturbance.
Police in Ghana have arrested a Liberian, Tyrone Marshall, said to be ringleader of the campaign to replace the current leadership on the camp. Other sources said the police are moving from house to house rounding up Liberians.
Liberians at the Buduburan camp have had confrontation with Ghanaian authorities, resulting to casualties and the deportation of several of them.
In 2007, a group of Liberian women staged a sit-in protest on the football field in the camp, demanding UNHCR authorities to resettle them to a third country that again resulted to arrest and detention of the unarmed women and children into a scorpion infected abandon campus in the Volta region of Ghana.
Latest reports via mobile as the event on the Buduburam camp continue to degenerate a resident of the camp whose spoke to this journalist hours ago indicates that reinforcement of the Ghanaian police in their hundreds has surrendered the refugee camp to the total amazement of the camp dwellers!
Our source said that the police has vow to arrest every male refugee as night falls going from door to door asking every occupants to come outside with their identification cards and as the result of that every male Liberian refugees has taken to their heels to safety in the surrounding villages within the Gomoa district and parts of Accra!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
News Headline
Everyone is a genius
Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. – A Einstein
Drawing the line in Liberia
Crimes sponsored, committed, or masterminded by handful of individuals cannot be blamed upon an entire nationality. In this case, Liberians! The need for post-war justice is a step toward lasting peace, stability and prosperity for Liberia. Liberia needs a war crimes tribunal or some credible legal forum that is capable of dealing with atrocities perpetrated against defenseless men, women and children during the country's brutal war. Without justice, peace shall remain elusive and investment in Liberia will not produce the intended results. - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Men with unhealthy characters should not champion any noble cause
They pretend to advocate the cause of the people when their deeds in the dark mirror nothing else but EVIL!!
When evil and corrupt men try to champion a cause that is so noble … such cause, how noble it may be, becomes meaningless in the eyes of the people - Bernard Gbayee Goah.
When evil and corrupt men try to champion a cause that is so noble … such cause, how noble it may be, becomes meaningless in the eyes of the people - Bernard Gbayee Goah.
If Liberia must move forward ...
If Liberia must move forward in order to claim its place as a civilized nation amongst world community of nations, come 2017 elections, Liberians must critically review the events of the past with honesty and objectivity. They must make a new commitment to seek lasting solutions. The track records of those who are presenting themselves as candidates for the position of "President of the Republic of Liberia" must be well examined. Liberians must be fair to themselves because results from the 2011 elections will determine the future of Liberia’s unborn generations to come - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia's greatest problem!
While it is true that an individual may be held responsible for corruption and mismanagement of funds in government, the lack of proper system to work with may as well impede the process of ethical, managerial, and financial accountability - Bernard Gbayee Goah
What do I think should be done?
The situation in Liberia is Compound Complex and cannot be fixed unless the entire system of government is reinvented.
Liberia needs a workable but uncompromising system that will make the country an asylum free from abuse, and other forms of corruption.
Liberia needs a workable but uncompromising system that will make the country an asylum free from abuse, and other forms of corruption.
Any attempt to institute the system mentioned above in the absence of rule of law is meaningless, and more detrimental to Liberia as a whole - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia's Natural Resources
Besides land water and few other resources, most of Liberia’s dependable natural resources are not infinite, they are finite and therefore can be depleted.
Liberia’s gold, diamond, and other natural resources will not always be an available source of revenue generation for its people and its government. The need to invent a system in government that focuses on an alternative income generation method cannot be over emphasized at this point - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Besides land water and few other resources, most of Liberia’s dependable natural resources are not infinite, they are finite and therefore can be depleted.
Liberia’s gold, diamond, and other natural resources will not always be an available source of revenue generation for its people and its government. The need to invent a system in government that focuses on an alternative income generation method cannot be over emphasized at this point - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Liberia needs a proper system
If Liberians refuse to erect a proper system in place that promotes the minimization of corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government institutions, and individuals, there will come a time when the value of the entire country will be seen as a large valueless land suited on the west coast of Africa with some polluted bodies of waters and nothing else. To have no system in place in any country is to have no respect for rule of law. To have no respect for rule of law is to believe in lawlessness. And where there is lawlessness, there is always corruption - Bernard Gbayee Goah
If Liberians refuse to erect a proper system in place that promotes the minimization of corruption and mismanagement of public funds by government institutions, and individuals, there will come a time when the value of the entire country will be seen as a large valueless land suited on the west coast of Africa with some polluted bodies of waters and nothing else. To have no system in place in any country is to have no respect for rule of law. To have no respect for rule of law is to believe in lawlessness. And where there is lawlessness, there is always corruption - Bernard Gbayee Goah
Solving problems in the absence of war talks
As political instability continues to increase in Africa, it has become abundantly clear that military intervention as a primary remedy to peace is not a durable solution. Such intervention only increases insecurity and massive economic hardship. An existing example which could be a valuable lesson for Liberia is Great Britain, and the US war on terror for the purpose of global security. The use of arms whether in peace keeping, occupation, or invasion as a primary means of solving problem has yield only little results. Military intervention by any country as the only solution to problem solving will result into massive military spending, economic hardship, more fear, and animosity as well as increase insecurity. The alternative is learning how to solve problems in the absence of war talks. The objective of such alternative must be to provide real sustainable human security which cannot be achieved through military arm intervention, or aggression. In order to achieve results that will make the peaceful coexistence of all mankind possible, there must be a common ground for the stories of all sides to be heard. I believe there are always three sides to every story: Their side of the story, Our side of the story, and The truth – Bernard Gbayee Goah