By Sherman C. Seequeh
Every series must end. And I am pausing this one now. I cannot afford to ignore the stream of urgings coming from our Tarjuowon citizens, our groups, and our friends in the diaspora.
But let me be clear about one or two things as I pause my pen.
First, I did not wake up one morning looking for a fight. I was provoked — tormented in countless meetings, and lately in the full glare of live cameras.
Second, I did not take up this fight for myself alone. And I am not laying it down for myself alone.
I close this chapter on behalf of all of them — the wronged and the grieving, the living and the dead. All those whose lives have been bruised by the excesses of Milton Teahjay. All those who, for far too long, had nobody to carry their cry into the open.
THE ROLL OF THE WRONGED
Let me call their names. Not all of them — they are too many. But enough that nobody can pretend they do not exist.
Think of Mother Martha Duaryenneh, Edward Saydee, Ojuku Blamo, Victor Menibo, T-Boy Clark, Mildred Wiah, Paul J. Chea, Dominic Farley, Wiah Jaryenneh, Peter Sworr, Peter Weagbah, Mother Annie Pobleh, Richard Noah, Elijah Weagbah, Augustine Campbell Sr., Matthew Kamara, James Samukai, Ezekiah Nouhn, and Joseph Tuoh.
And think, now, of young Robert Manneh — we call him Kotatee — dragged before a magistrate over a plank and a few dollars from 2018.
Then think of those who are no longer here to speak for themselves. Angle Gbassie. Old Samuel Bioh. And the fathers and mothers of our land — some of whom, we believe, carried this frustration quietly to their graves.
For all of them, named and unnamed, I have written. To every one of them, I dedicate these words. Their grievance was real. Their silence was never agreement. It was only the silence of people who had no megaphone. I tried, in my small way, to be their megaphone in this four-part series.
And yet, listen to Milton boast. Listen to the surrogates who swallow it whole — who will tell you that not one of these men and women, living or dead, ever did a thing for Tarjuowon. Before the war. During the war. After the war.
Only Milton made Tarjuowon what it was, and what it is. Only one man built Tarjuowon. No other. See how outrageous that is. How absurd. How shameless. He even claims it was he who stopped this government from cancelling our cities. And if you watch him well, any day now he will tell you he is the one running this Unity Party government.
THE LEDGER OF LIES, ANSWERED
Now let me put the record in its place. In the last three parts of this series, I answered Milton’s barrage of falsehoods — his satanic lies — one after another, methodically, and with evidence. I will not repeat them all here. Those who are interested should go back and read Parts One, Two and Three.
Since 2023 he has spewed these lies at me, with reckless abandon, before the cameras and the crowds. And beside every one of them, I set the plain truth.
Lie after lie, laid bare. Each one answered — not with another insult, but with names, with dates, with living witnesses.
That is the whole difference between us. He deals in lies. I deal in the record.
MY POSITION ON TARJUOWON PEACE — THE WAY FORWARD
With all this noise about Tarjuowon’s peace, the road to real peace is actually simple.
First, let Teahjay take his knee off the neck of the people.
Too many of our people are living in fear. Fear that they will lose their job — in government, or at GVL — if they act free. Fear that they will be harmed if they even think differently.
This Milton ayatollah regime in Tarjuowon has run for nearly thirty years. It started when our elders, our zoes and our bodios handed him the power to lead, and told the young people to submit to him. That was done in a night meeting, at the late Edwin Kumon’s residence in Caldwell.
But over time, he abused that near-sacred trust. He bullied the silent majority, until his overreach became the normal thing. Now any disagreement with him is treated like a crime. And our people have grown fearful and paranoid.
Second, there is one thing in democracy that Milton — and some of our people — do not accept. Maybe some of them don’t even know it. It is a simple word: tolerance.
What many of us call “conflict” in Tarjuowon is not conflict at all. It is the opposite of tolerance. It is intolerance.
Go to the homeland and see for yourself. Our people are not fighting with clubs and machetes over land. They are not fighting over women. They are not caught in the troubles that usually breed conflict.
What we brand “conflict” is this, and only this: the moment one or two persons refuse to keep Milton as their political godfather, they call it conflict.
After nearly thirty years of bowing to him, some have reached a point — a point of refusing to make Milton’s friends their friends, and Milton’s enemies their enemies.
To some people, whatever Milton says is lord and gospel. When he switches political sides, everybody must switch and follow.
Go and visit the chatrooms of our people, young and old. Look well at the cursing, the swearing, the insults poured on one person or another. It is not because somebody took another man’s wife or lover. It is not because Kulu has taken all the jobs meant for Tarjuowon. It is not because Shaw has a land case with Boe.
All that bad blood, all that hate, comes down to one thing. Somebody disagreed with Milton. Somebody refused to switch poles with him. Nothing else.
So once tolerance finds a place in our hearts, we will be better for it. Once a Tarjuowon man or woman can let his kinsman choose his own political road, and still show him love.
We can differ in politics and still be brothers and sisters. We can still love one another. We can still wish one another well, even when our political roads go different ways.
When one Tarjuowon citizen succeeds in life, or the party he backs wins, let us count it as Tarjuowon’s own success. Let us pray for one another, even in our different pursuits. That — only that — is true brotherhood.
Because without tolerance — which I preach at every turn — it will be in vain. In vain that we smoke the peace pipe, shake hands, and call it peace. Because the next day, when politics divides us again, our intolerant hearts will boil over. And we will land right back in the same quarrel.
So, to all those who want peace — who want us to reconcile, to let bygones be bygones, and shake hands with Milton and the others — here are my proposed pathways:
- Tolerance. Give a brother the room to hold his own political views, without anger. This must come first. And it must guide all our dealings from now on.
- An end to the ayatollah ways. The bullying and the fearmongering must stop. The threats must stop. The seizing of people’s jobs, and the pushing of people out of Tarjuowon, must stop.
- Decision by consensus. Our decisions must be built on consensus. Not on elitist posturing, where a few crown themselves “the Real People,” “the Right People,” or “the Faces” of the people.
- An end to trading favours for jobs. The trading of money and favour for jobs and contracts must stop. Too many ordinary people are grieving, shut out of a job or a contract from GVL under TAPA’s one-man leadership. TAPA was my own gift to our homeland. It was never meant to be a one-man show. I still hold its Organizational Philosophy and its Inaugural Statement — beautiful instruments of inclusion, innovation and pragmatism, now dashed by the hand of Jaysay.
Any peace plan that ignores these four counts will die on arrival. Not because they fit my personal taste. But because any plan outside of these only treats the symptoms and leaves the root cause. It will be ill-fated. It will be anti-people.
WE ALREADY HAVE THE CONCEPT
And let me say this plainly: fixing TAPA is not just a complaint. We have already done the thinking. Myself, Dan Saryee, Richard Noah and Dominic Farley have put together a concept on how to professionalize TAPA, and how to put our whole house in order.
The idea is simple, but it is important. Let us separate the two things that have been wrongly mixed together. On one side, a traditional body — responsible for our rituals and our customs, in keeping with the ways of Tarjuowon. On the other side, a professional organization — one that answers to modern development, that drives transformation through innovation, and that can sit at any table in this age.
And let us weave all of us into one confederate architecture — TUDA Monrovia, TAPA on the homeland, TUDA USA, TUDA Greenville, and every other Tarjuowon grouping at home and abroad. Let each body be tied together in one goal and one mission, but let each keep its own measure of independence and autonomy. That way, every group stays relevant, productive, and useful — to the development, the progress, and the peace of Tarjuowon.
Now, I know some people will not like this concept, nor the people behind it. The reigning ayatollah system on the homeland, first of all. And why? Because they fear inclusion. They fear transparency. They fear accountability. They hate any idea that is not their own. And deep down, they fear that the day this comes, their personal pocket-interest — the money and the favours they have been feeding on — will be exposed, and brought to an end.
I PAUSE THE PEN, NOT THE CAUSE
I pause my pen now. But I do not pause the cause.
The truth I have set down does not need me to keep repeating it. It will stand on its own two feet. And it will outlast the liar.
To the victims of Tarjuowon, I say this: you are not alone. You are not forgotten.
And to the one who started all of this, I say only this. The next time you reach for a lie before the cameras, remember — somebody is keeping the record. And the record does not blink. The series will be back.
And let me end on this note: I welcome all peace brokers — any day, and anywhere. Come. Let us build a peace that is real.
I thank the people of Tarjuowon for reading, and for walking this long road with me. The series pauses. The truth does not. All of this will be compiled as my talking points going forward, and for posterity.
