Liberia: “Would I Be Arrested?”

Original Post Date: 2010-11-30 Time: 19:00:01  Posted By: News Poster

With his cane, he limped into the offices of this paper, a piece of paper folded into his palms. “I want to make a publication,” he said, his voice shaking and barely audible. “Advertisement?” he was asked. “No. I want to make news…”As he sat down for an interview, to which he reluctantly agreed, he asked: “Would I be arrested?” He was laughing after being put at ease, with assurances that no one would arrest him. Still skeptical, he asked: You people (are) informant for Ellen, too?”

Mr. Edward Y. Valentine, born in Maryland, did not reveal his age. Told he looks strong, he replied with a smile: “I take care of myself.” His connection with President Tubman began when his father, he said, told him to write the President once in Monrovia after a journey by boat from Maryland. He wrote the President, who called him for a chat. After revealing whom his grandfather was, he said, President Tubman told him of the connection.”I never finished paying your grandfather before he died,” he said the president told him, assuring him that the debt would now be paid to him. With this promise, Mr. Valentine was employed as a ‘Dispatch Clerk,’ (responsible for sending out letters), and after that, he rose into the system, becoming Assistant Director and Director of Archives.

He earned US40 monthly, a significant salary in those years because a bag of cement was sold for US1, truckload of sand for US6, and a bag of rice for US5, later jumping to US9.80 amidst protests and warning from President Tubman, he said, of the price escalating in the future to US15 since Liberia did not produce rice but depends on it. But Mr. Valentine augmented his salary by serving as a spy, an informant (known in those days as PROs) for President Tubman, he said. He saw the President 3 times a week, and for each session of ‘informing’ him, he received US20. If he followed the President to his farm in Totota, he earned US40.

“Tubman liked news,” Mr. Valentine now looks back. And he fulfilled that wish. Some of the pieces of information he gave the president as a spy, was when the women decided to march to the Mansion to protest against the hike in the price of rice from US5 to US9.80. When University of Liberia students planned a protest against the relocation of their campus to Fendell, Mr. Valentine said, he informed the President. The President in turn invited them, fed them with heaps of food at a drinking party. In the end, drunk, they failed to read their protest statement. “If you didn’t drink, don’t go round Tubman. He liked to drink- -whisky and cane juice,” Informant Valentine remembers.

He recalled the early political years of President Tubman with interest, such as when Edwin J. Barclay, Tubman’s predecessor, demanded to see his (Tubman’s) platform after Tubman was sworn in. Tubman snubbed him. And when Tubman arrived at a program, Barclay protested. “You are late…” “I am not late. This is my time,” he recalled Tubman responding. All this and many more were based on the perception that Tubman, only an 8th grade graduate, he said, was a buffoon to be led by the nose, although he served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

Tubman would disappoint them as his own man, becoming one of 2 presidents (the other being the first president JJ Roberts) remembered on their birthdays with national holidays. Mr. Valentine recalled that Tubman faced opposition from the political class on many issues, including education for women, equal opportunities for native Liberians, carving out new Counties with their leaders emerging from within, etc. There was another side of Tubman, he said with laughter, and that is having affairs with wives of cabinet ministers. “He sent them on trips and kept their wives,” he recalled. He also listed Charles Taylor as a president that likes news, remembering that Taylor gave US150 and 2 bags of rice for information. Below is Mr. Valentine’s article as Liberians celebrate President Tubman’s birthday: Brief Profile of Dr. William V.S. Tubman18th President of Liberia 1944-1971.By: E. Wa-Valentine, Sr.Marylander in MonroviaIn the histroy of every nation, there comes a leader who is destined to raise the hopes and aspirations of his people and lead his nation to greater heights.

For Liberia, we had William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman, the 18th President of Liberia.When he was sworn into office January 3, 1944, there was little or no indication, except for policies enunciated in his first inaugural speech, that his administration would be responsible for a vast socio-economic and political changes that will completely transform Liberia into a prosperous, united and progressive nation.That he accomplished so much at home and changed the image of liberia in the eyes of the world in so brief a period, nothing short of a modern miracle.William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman was born on November 29, 1895, in Herper City, Maryland County, Republic of Liberia. His Father, the Rev.

Alexander Tubman, a general in the Liberian Army-Millitia, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Former Senator, a methodist minister of the gospel, a descendent of the early settlers who emigrated from Augusta Georgia, USA.

His Mother. Mrs. Elizabeth Rebecca Barnes-Tubman also emigrated to Maryland County with her parents from Atlanta Georgia, USA.Since taking over the Presidency, Mr. Tubman has not only overcome the difficulties, but carefully tackled and achieved what was once considered the impossible. He has brought national stability, unity, solidarity and prosperity to Liberia’s beset by tribal dissections, inter-tribal conflicts and economic backwardness.His record of achievements is astounding and impressive. In fact, no other Liberia chief of state has ever served his people so long and so well for twenty-seven unbroken years, and has demonstrated by precept and example a more genuine interest in the well being and progress of every section of Liberia.If the Liberian people idolize him, it is because he has convinced them beyond the shadow of a doubt that his every effort, his entire life was devoted to their peace, prosperity and happiness.

Why was President Tubman able to accomplished so much for Liberia? First of all, he was a true lover of people and a great humanitarian who contributed liberally to all charitable institutions. Secondly, he was not only a devout Christian who knew the holy writ as much as or better than many clergymen, but he believes in the tolerance of all religions. Thirdly, Mr. Tubman was keen student of politics, whose record in becoming his nation’s youngest senator.Having obtained his primary education at the then only government school in his home-town-Harper City, he entered the then famous Cape Palmas Seminary, a Methodist Missionary Institution.

Here, Mr. Tubman, met rigid disciplinarians and noted educators who impressed upon him the very importance of a sound education in the world.Upon his graduation, in 1931, Mr. Tubman taught for seven years in the high school of his county. In the meantime, he pursued legal and high studies under a well learned and very respected private tutors such as Prof. George Williams-Hutchins, a one time renowned scholar, and Dr. Joseph G. Sherill, an American Missionary who resided in Harper City. Four years later, Mr. Tubman successfully passed the local Bar Examination and was admitted as an Attorney-AT-Law; he took skill in 1917 and set up a practice in his home town, Harper City, Cape Palmas.In the legal profession, Mr. Tubman quickly won fame as the “poor-man’s Friend” because he pleaded gratuitously and won many cases for his impecunious clients. No one was too poor to gain his sympathy nor too insignificant to warrant his legal talents and precious time. In 1916, during the administration of President Daniel Edward Howard, Mr. Tubman entered government service as a recorder in the monthly and probate court in Harper City, Maryland County.Later he was promoted to served as a collector or the Internal Revenues for the County of Maryland, and in 1919, he was appointed County Attorney for Maryland County, R.L. Mr. Tubman’s wide popularity and unusual ability and acumen resulted in his election in May,1923 to the National Legislature as a Senator. He was then 28 years old and became the youngest Senator in the Liberian history.With his pleasing personality, quick wit and very sharp mind, he gained the respect and admiration of his colleagues. For nearly fifteen years, Mr, Tubman represented his county with credit and distinction until 1937, when President Edwin James Barclay appointed him to the post of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court bench of Liberia.His opinions on the supreme court bench now form a classic chapter in Liberian Juris-prudence.In the Liberian-Millitia, Mr. Tubman proved himself to be a gallant and courageous soldier. He rose through the ranks from private to colonel in the fourth regiment of Maryland County.A methodist by birth, Mr. Tubman was always active in church and religious affairs. In 1928, he was elected to represent the laity at the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church which was held in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.There he set a glowing record for the Liberian church, En-route home, he visited several countries in Europe where he made many good friends for himself and his country-Liberia among high government officials and business men. Shortly after his election as eighteen President of the republic of Liberia in May, 1943, Mr. Tubman as President-Elect, accompanied President Edwin James Barclay on a state visit to the United States of America on the invitation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1952, he went to spain upon the invitation of the then Spanish chief of State, President Paul E. Magloire of Haiti, and the head of the British Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II. President Tubman also visited Jamaica in October and November 1954 respectively. In 1956, President Williams V.S Tubman was invited by several chiefs of states; he made a tour of Europe, including Italy, France, West Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Vatican. In 1958, President Tubman headed the Liberian delegation to the conference of Independent African states to attend that historic conference.In 1959, President Tubamn was invited by the Sierra Leone government and he and his official party visited Sierra Leone, upon the invitations, President Tubman visited the following African Countries: In 1960, he visited the Federation of Nigeria.

In 1962, he visited successively the State of Isreal, Great Britain and Sweden respectively upon the invitations of President Ben Ziv of Israel, King Gustay, VI. In 1963, 1964 and 1965, 1966, upon invitations, President Tubman visited Algeria, Ethiopia, Congo Democratic, Republic of Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malagasy, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Tanzania, Tunisia and the United Arab Republic to name few.Under President Tubman’s able and enlightened leadership, vast programs were successfully undertaken and executed for the over all development of the human, natural and economic resources of Liberia. These have literally transformed the face of great areas of his country-Liberia, as an active participant in world affairs and resulted in unparalleled improvement and prosperity. Tubman also pursued a sound policy of close ties with America, one of his first acts upon assumption of the Presidency of Liberia January, 3, 1944, was to declare a state of war on the side of the allied forces against the axis forces.Throughout his twenty-seven years Presidency, Tubman maintained a pro-American Policy as a guarantee of his Political Security and Stability. In three decades of his leadership, his One-party Policy-State and Open Door Policy opened the Hinterland of Liberia. President Tubman struck the rock of abundant resources and great riches gushed forth, enabling him to pursue his effective programs of extended education, improved military, security, communications, public health and sanitation, expanded foreign trades, construction of public roads, bridges, public buildings, intensified industries and agriculture.He revamped and tightened public administration, para-military and made great strides in political integration and the tribesman in the heart of the country, long ago without representation in the Liberian Government and lacking in equal share of the fruits of the land, were extended the right to vote and given equal participation in Government of the Republic of Liberia in 1946. After three years in office as Chief of State before Liberian women were given the equal rights to vote in the government of Liberia.In 1952, there were five Liberian women and thirty-three direct representatives of tribesmen elected in the National legislature for the first time and this illustrated the success of Tubman’s Unification Program.These accounts of his twenty-seven years of uninterrupted accomplishments incuding his successful “Open Door Policy”, the people of Liberia demanded President William Vacanarat Tubman to rein in office for twenty-seven unbroken years – – January 3rd, 1944 to July 23, 1971 upon his death.

Original date published: 29 November 2010

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201011300391.html?viewall=1

xxxxx Sign Up