by Rabbi Joseph Gbaba, Ed. D
Part ONE
Good morning to all. This important national document “Ellen, Do You Love Liberia and Liberians: A Rebuttal to Mrs. Sirleaf’s Call for Revision of Article 27”, will be published in sequel on Facebook and LinkedIN because I do not have money as national playwright of Liberia to publish it in “Front Page Africa” and “Daily Observer.”
However, if both newspapers believe as media institutions in Liberia, that what I have written is not trash but newsworthy, the editors of both newspapers are welcome to contact me so it can be published for all Liberians to have access to it. If not, I ask that everyone who reads this document please share it with family and friends far and near. Let us begin our deliberations.
Introduction
If you want to succeed in breaking a nation and its people and to enslave the people mentally, destroy anything that has to do with the culture, education, and constitution of that nation. These three pillars of society Mrs. Sirleaf did not score great marks in implementing them during her tenure.
For instance, Mrs. Sirleaf said our educational system was “messy”, and she demolished Kendejah due to her resentment of native people and then sold Liberia’s cultural shrine to a foreign businessman.
Now, she comes to the National Legislature of Liberia seeking the interest of foreign businesspeople to revise a clause in Article 27 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia. If this vicious plot should succeed, it will delve a fatal blow to our sovereignty as Africa’s oldest Republic.
Please stay with me as I provide you a cultural context of my rebuttal to Mrs. Sirleaf’s call for the revision of Article 27 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia. I will first address the current constitutional debate and then conclude with the demolition of Kendejah.
The Purpose of the Citizenship Clause in Article 27 of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia.
Since “J.J. Roberts’ Time”, Liberian man says, the founding fathers etched a specific safeguard clause in Article 27 of the Constitution of the First Republic and then later in the 1986 Constitution of the Second Republic that states: “Only persons who are Negroes or of Negro descent shall qualify by birth or by naturalization to be citizens of Liberia.”
This clause was not inserted in the Constitution of the First Republic of Liberia out of error. Instead, it was intentionally written not based on emotions but based on the harsh realities and truths the founding Settlers or ex-slaves experienced in the western hemisphere where they were castrated of their history, culture, and African languages and spirituality.
Accordingly, the clause was placed in the Constitution of Liberia to remind and warn all succeeding generations of Liberians that WE MUST NEVER TREAD THE PATH THE EX-SLAVES WALKED ON WHILE IN BONDAGE IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.
FURTHER, THE CLAUSE IS A MANDATE FROM OUR FOUNDING FATHERS AND MOTHERS THAT WE MUST NEVER TREAD THE PATH OF SURRENDERING OUR FREEDOMS IN EXCHANGE TO BECOMING SLAVES AGAIN ON OUR OWN SOIL IN AFRICA.
HENCE, TO TAMPER WITH THAT SPECIFIC CITIZENSHIP CLAUSE IN THE 1986 CONSTITUTION Of LIBERIA IS TO HAVE THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND MOTHERS ROLLING IN THEIR GRAVES.
ALSO, SUCH ACT WOULD INDEED BE AN ABONOMINATION AND BLASPHAMY AND AN EVERLASTING CURSE TO BLACK FREEDOM AND LIBERATION BECAUSE IT IS THROUGH LIBERIA’S AND ETHIOPIA’S CRABS THE REST OF AFRICA’s CRAWFISHES DRANK THE WATER OF FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE!
Simply put, what Mrs. Sirleaf is asking the Legislature to revise can be translated as asking our lawmakers to enslave all of us so that we will no longer have a voice in our homeland and on African soil!
End of Part One
Rabbi Prince Joseph Tomoonh-Garlodeyh Gbaba, Sr., Ed. D.