An Open Letter to the Community
When we plan to have a
convention sometime ago,
our intention was to bring us
together as a community, not to
do anything that will
further divide our
community. When it was suggested
and agreed that Alhaji Kromah
serve as the keynote speaker, it
was reasoned that since Alhaji
Kromah, is one of the most
influential leaders in our
community, his coming may help
in this direction. Little did we
know that others would come out
strongly against that because
they feel that Alhaji has not
done much for peace and
reconciliation in our community
and because of this, he's not
the right person to speak on the
theme of the program.
This is not the first time that
Alhaji Kromah has been invited
to speak at a forum. The last
time Alhaji was invited to speak
to a program was more than three
years ago in New York. That
event generated more controversy
than what it is now but at the
end of the day, Alhaji spoke. As
we stand now, it looks more like
that controversy all over
again.
From that time up to now, one
thing is clear, we urgently need
reconciliation. That was the
case yesterday and that is the
case today. It will not serve
any purpose now for us to decide
which side we stand on whether
Alhaji should speak or not. All
the charges and counter-charges
are simply an indication that we
have issues and we cannot brush
those issues under the rug and
pretend they don't
exist. Whether we decide to deal
with that issue today or not,
the bottom line is we have to
deal with it.
Alhaji Kromah, as the leader of
the greatest political movement
we have ever had in Liberia, can
play a key role in this. Duty
requires him to do so, more than
anyone else in our community.
What is obvious is that in as
much as Alhaji Kromah wants to
be praised for every good thing
that was achieved through the
ULIMO struggle, he must equally
take responsibility for
everything that went wrong in
that struggle. His failure or
refusal to do so has been the
source of the division in our
community all these years. Some
in our community feel that
Alhaji owes us an explanation
and apology for things that went
wrong. Others feel that he does
not owe anyone any explanation
and apology. But if he must hold
on to the title as a leader, he
has to be seen as a humble
person who is trying to reach to
everyone in our community.
Anything other than that will
not augur well for us as a
community.
When we support this convention,
we did so with the understanding
that though we are one
community, we all have divergent
political views and that we must
find a common ground to work
together for the common interest
of our community. It is just
unfortunate and regrettable that
the whole thing has been reduced
to partisan politic. When this
partisan politic has reached to
a point where everyone feels so
strong about their positions and
not showing any capacity for
finding a common ground, then it
does not give us any hope for
the future of our community.
Such thinking and actions will
reduce all our efforts to an
exercise in futility.
As it stands now, this program
will be a failure if people
boycott it either because Alhaji
will speak or will not speak. If
for any of these reasons this
program does not succeed, it
will prove that we are not able
as a community to find a common
ground that transcends any
single individual person. It is
not impossible for us to find
the common ground. We can only
refuse to do so.
Sincerely yours,
Nvasekie N. Konneh
