By John H.T Stewart
Everybody, I mean former officials who have been axed are demanding severance benefits. Some of those individuals have already been paid according to available information.
My question is how about us TRC Commissioners who are signatories to the Final Report. We were vilified, denied payment for services and did not receive a word of thanks and appreciation from the GoL for services rendered- the completion of the report under very difficult circumstances when the GoL failed to underwrite our living expenses in Ghana.
Because of threats to our lives some Commissioners had to flee the country to live in exile. Those like me who refused to flee were treated with utmost contempt and virtually ignored only because of our service to God and Country. I should also add that no pension benefits at all have been paid to former Commissioners.
To date, the TRC has not been officially decommissioned neither has there been any official acknowledgement of the Final Report which today has taken center stage and forms the framework for Accountability for past crimes committed in Liberia during the course of the 14-year civil conflict.
I recall that while on assignment in Tubmanburg, Bomi County, I had an accident and broke my left leg. I did not received a cent from GoL to attend to my injury and I had to self-medicate, shouldering all the expenses related to my treatment.
Why were we treated like dogs after having completed a national assignment when at the time other officials were being paid astronomical salaries. No scratch cards, no gasoline allowance, no personal vehicles either and a monthly salary of US$3,000 which even Finance officials complained was much too high.
What was our sin? Is because we dared to include Madame President on the list of those individuals sanctioned by the TRC? For nearly three months we stayed in Accra, Ghana working on the report and guess what?
We were provided living allowance for only 18 days after which GoL refused to pay a dime. As a result we were thrown out of the hotel and had to find means on our own in order to complete the report.
Even the fees(US$25,000) charged by Ghanaian editors to finalize the report we could not personally afford in the face of GoL refusal to complete the report so we were forced to do it ourselves.
But compare our situation to that of then private lawyer and Liberty Party bigwig Jonathan Fonati Koffa who was paid according to sources over US$500,000 to prosecute Varney Sherman and others in the Sable Mining Bribery case(Big Boy 1 and Big Boy 2) which turned out to be mere VLAH!
Even a National Apology tendered by the President on behalf of all preceding national leaders for not upholding the rights of the Liberian people was never done and still has not been done.
But the ball is now in President Boakai’s court and he will decide whether or not TRC Commissioners deserved the kind of treatment they received at the hands of Presidents Sirleaf and especially President Weah who simply ignored our plight.
But our cry, my cry is a cry for justice and I genuinely hope that he will take the appropriate steps to address the situation.
Meanwhile, as steps towards the implementation of the TRC recommendations gather pace, we hope that our concerns will not get lost in the discussion. That is all I can say for now as I ponder and think about the “Ünthinkable”.
