Jungle Justice: A Book of Some Common Mistakes in Leadership

By Adventor Trye

Where do we find justice and freedom in our world today? We believe that justice and freedom can be found on earth through the sensitive leadership of our leaders. Next to God, our leaders are given the responsibilities to safeguard our lives and properties. With that in mind, this book, Jungle Justice, presents the dramatic account of a certain insensitive leadership. The author created an imaginary state called Dubli Kingdom that symbolizes some third world nations. A self-styled leader called Blamah maliciously got into power with the aim of bringing justice and freedom to his people. Instead of delivering the goods he promised, Blamah and his admirers terrorized the sub-region for decades. He abused the dignity of humanity, and executed many former leaders, citizens and destroyed the nation beyond a century of its existence. The land became the biggest undeveloped global village. He isolated himself from other world leaders. In fact, he considered anyone who advised him as his number one enemy. Many people went into exile in the search of freedom and a better life.

While Blamah was carrying on his genocidal activities, and the widespread crime of ethnic cleansing against nations in the sub-region, a liberator named Leila became the redeeming leader. He was the most successful and wisest leader who ever ruled Dubli Kingdom. He stabilized and minimized corruption, and eased crimes in the kingdom. He reconciled the nation with other nations. Leila called his form of government, the assembly democracy. With this form of government, decision-making was in the hands of every citizen, and any approved decision was presented to the national government for implementation.

Dubli Kingdom rapidly developed to meet international standard through the many projects undertaken by the leading government, investors and entrepreneurs. No one could easily notice that the land was once devastated, and jungle justice was erased.

A.M. Trye uses parables and proverbs as metaphors to develop the plot and explain the theme.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 16, 2006
• ISBN: 9781467063265

Adventor Trye

Adventor Trye is an ordained Minister of God. He has worked in the human service field for the past twenty-one years. He has demonstrated an excellent leadership role in the church and the community, especially with young people, and the elderly men and women. Presently he is head elder of the All Nations Church in North Minneapolis, Minnesota. Whenever you meet Adventor, you have seen a humble and a God-fearing gentleman. He does not dwell on the negative aspects of life in speaking, in leadership or during his interaction with people; rather he wants every man and woman to know the positive values of life.

Book preview

© 2011, 2014 Adventor Trye. All rights reserved.

Rewritten 2014 & 2010

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/20/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4259-1128-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4259-1362-5 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2006900449

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

========\Contents//========

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Preface: Do Not Harm Them

Giving Justice and Freedom

Unity Brings Peace

Marred by a Jungle Justice

Living In the Frying Pan

Why Take Away Life?

Living with Greed

The Fight Over Pigeons

Deaths at the Gate of Hell

Every Man’s Trouble

Dying From Hate Talks

The Day of Reconciliation

Life at the Survivor’s Creek

The Man with the Strange Disease

Helping the Helpless

Buying Beauty for Beauty

From Grace to Grass

Abusing Their Rights

Ruled by the Same Rule

The New Beginning

The Redeemer as the Leader

The Lead Dogs Lead

Sources

About the Author

This book is dedicated to

my mother, Yamah Nialah Buta,

and my cousin, Father Kweetor Kekula Velemee.

Sometimes, the motives behind the decisions

we take are unexplainable; they make us to be

genuine or insensitive leaders. Thereafter, we bear

their consequences or enjoy their rewards.

Adventor Trye

========\Acknowledgments//========

Usually, we see books carrying the names of their various authors. They always contain essential information given by some valuable thinkers. There are some who also morally and physically support the authors. But they usually remain behind the scenes to make the authors succeed. Such people deserve to receive some flowery words of commendation from the authors.

In a similar way, my book is no exception. Before and during its composition, I benefited from many good people to whom I am ardently indebted. One of those people was my paternal uncle, Carl Dougbah Velemee. He was the veteran journalist and former Liberia News Agency Senior Correspondent to Bong County, Liberia. He acted as my surrogate father and nurtured me to become a writer. I wish he didn’t die during the civil war. He could have been happy to read his dream work.

My delightful heart goes to Pastor John P. Harris, whose amazing love for education led him to persuade my paternal grandparents to allow me to start my quest for formal education. It was from that man of God that I learned the true story about the mountain genie called Blamah, the main character of this book, who believed in justice and freedom, but he later became a public nuisance to the kingdom and its people.

I cannot forget the unfailing love and efforts grandparents always sacrifice for their young ones. It is not an afterthought that God usually sends them into this world to acquire much wisdom and knowledge to prepare the way for their future generations. For instance, most of the parables and proverbs used as figures of speech in this book are legacies from my maternal and paternal grandfathers, Matty Mantor Buta and Jesse Yakpalo Trye.

Though, the book’s preface summarizes the dreadful Liberian saga, it is not written about Liberia. It is about Blamah and the imaginary island-state of Dubli Kingdom. The book mainly contains a collection of stories some comedians told at the town square when television and other entertaining media were nonexistent in my community. I also learned some from traditional orators during important occasions or from friends during our normal conversations. I wholeheartedly acknowledge each and every one of the people who contributed these stories that best explained the behaviors of Blamah and his gang.

The following personalities are highly acknowledged for conversing with me on leadership: Barbara Danielsen, Tim Nelson, Counselor David D. Kpormakpor, Dr. Wilton Sankawulo, Roberta and John Sims Dennis, Dr. O. E. Gordon, Pastor David Ripley, and Pastor David Z. Whea, as well as Hon. Venecious K. Vorkpor. Besides my academic studies, working with many leaders and friends gives me the prudence to figure out some principles of genuine leadership.

I cherish the hospitality of sisters Juanita Suddler and Edith Paterson, Elder Jonathan S. Morris Sr., Elders Edwin and Isabel Ekah, Elders Lester and Lucinda Carter, David Buta, Peter Johnson Karbee, John Dahn Trye, Henry Kolleh Velemee, and Anatole H. Faye.

I will not forget the assistance I received from Dr. Joseph P. Collins, Jr when he was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia during the late seventies.

The encouragement from my cousin, Dr. Klykon Makwi, and the leadership of Dr. Walter T. Gwenigale led me to have worked at the Phebe Hospital while seeking undergraduate education at Cuttington University. I enjoyed a similar opportunity from the Gbarnga Central Church of Adventists. The leadership of Pastor Arthur B. Francis, Elder David W. Gbawoquiya, Elder Peter Sulon Dolo, and the devoted church members led me to achieve my first seminary education abroad. I will never forget the words of Dr. S. Analīgo, one of my seminary professors, who always admonished us, Leaders must be humbly trustworthy, devoted, prayerful, hardworking, and willing to work with others.

Among many nationals from other parts of Africa, I enjoyed my seminary days with my colleagues, especially those from Liberia and Sierra Leone. Many thanks to Sinil Laugani, Moses Hubbard, Samuel Turay, Michael K. Richards, Jallah Karbah, Emmanuel Peter Smith, James Golay, Samuel Deemi, Charles L. Massaquoi, Boyd R. Anderson, Orlando S. Kanswen, Dr. Augustus Garlet Quiah, and Emmanuel S. Shaporlu, just to name a few. As young seminarians, we usually joked, discussed, and envisioned the future leadership tasks advocated by Dr. O. E. Gordon, Pastor Samuel K. Baysah, and other indigenous leaders of the church.

I also give the greatest gratitude to Barbara Davis White, a real God-fearing sister and friend, who wrote the foreword for this book.

My many friends and classmates in graduate school were kind enough to have taken times from their busy schedules to read the manuscript and give some valuable recommendations.

Let me not forget my main editor and the beautiful staff and workers of AuthorHouse who made final the effort to publish this book.

I remain humbled and grateful to everybody, including my colleagues—pastors and elders, church members, friends, family members, colleagues at Loft Literary Center, my dear wife, and my beautiful children. Without your love and concern for me, I could not have succeeded.

Likewise, I appreciate the concern and efforts of those who are reading this book to discover the kind of injustice performed by the Blamah leaders.

============\Foreword//============

Knowledge is an important thing. It is life; it is power. Most of us seem to know so little about the many essential values of knowledge. An enormous chance is given to everyone. When we fervently seek, acquire, and utilize the right knowledge, it can also be the agent of our awareness and development.

Our impacts on knowledge are the bases by which we are judged as community members or leaders. This principle is true for Adventor Trye. His is judged by his impacts on knowledge presented in his work, thought, and interaction. He envisions the world in which men and women should live peacefully, knowing the limitations of their rights and freedom.

A few years ago, I came across Adventor Trye during a local anti-abortion organization’s fundraising program in Minnesota. I got to know him as an ordained minister who was born in Liberia and worked in West Africa and the United States. As a victim of a horrible civil war, he always thinks about the plights of the less fortunate—the people of Liberia. He dreams about the day humanitarians will support the cause to construct a low-cost college of professional studies to prepare young Liberians to take up the challenges of leadership in a free, peaceful, and modern Liberia. Based on his passion, I am overwhelmingly persuaded to partner with him in any way possible to achieve such a plan.

Besides reading numerous books about Africa, I have visited many of its countries for humanitarian purposes; I have seen the plights of the less fortunate. But Adventor Trye’s book, though fictional, brings to a deeper light the essential knowledge that existed in primitive West Africa before the emergence of foreign traders and explorers. He named one of the lost kingdoms that enjoyed its own autonomy and civilization as Dubli Kingdom.

Before writing this foreword, I knew a little about Liberia. By reading the preface of this book, I am also aware of most of the hurdles Liberia has undergone over the years.

Likewise, as you read the twenty-one chapters of this book, which is not on Liberia, you will know how various events led to the disintegration of Dubli Kingdom. You will also know how the kingdom survived its devastation. Adventor Trye develops each chapter with traditional proverbs, parables, dialogues, and monologues that are true to life.

This book also reveals the perceptions of the common people about leaders and their leadership styles, the plans of potential leaders, and the salient mistakes leaders make when they are in power.

Adventor Trye believes that, very soon, mankind will be united after all of these commotions, threats, abuses, and murders. He imagines that leaders will acquire enough knowledge to be patriotic, loving and working along with their people. He is convinced that leaders will learn to play by rules; no member of the civil society will worry about the infringement of statutory rules and the presence of maltreatment, which he calls jungle justice.

As the search for knowledge continues to improve our living standard and that of our neighbors, I wholeheartedly recommend Adventor Trye’s intellectually important book to everyone who comes across it. In fact, he plans to give a greater portion of its proceeds toward the construction of the proposed professional college. Let us support this endeavor.

Barbara Davis White

Minneapolis, Minnesota

============\Preface//============

Do Not Harm Them

I wrote this book, Jungle Justice, as my stance against one thing that I have personally known with all my five senses, even along with the sixth one.

All the years of my existence have been in constant conflicts with injustice. As injustice took away my rights and privileges, it also destroyed the hopes, visions, and passions of many other innocent people. Injustice continued to enjoy the apparent impunity for violating our human rights, because it first corrupted and paralyzed our legal system. We dwelled with dismay and resentment. We blamed our instituted government, the leaders of our various communities and family units for failing to instill justice in our land.

I have read and heard about many patriotic advocates, including the British William Wilberforce, the Senegalese Leopold Sẻdar Senghor, the South African Nelson Mandela and the Indian Mahatma Gandhi who followed the Messiah’s doctrine, calling for a supreme justice to reign within their respective lands.

Even, the American Martin Luther King, who once voiced out, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I believe in him as well as many others who stood for justice. I believe in the men and women like Paul Cuffee, Marcus Garvey, Fredrick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, William E. B. DuBois, Susan B. Anthony, Anna Cooper, Aung San Susu Kyi, Rosa parks as well as Harriet Tubman who campaigned for a peaceful pathway to justice. I believe in those men and women who created various peacemaking organizations like the United Nations, the African Union, and the Economic Community of West African States to support and defend the rights of humanity. I remain humbled to the men and women who bought justice with their blood and tears on this land.

In order to understand the injustice that existed in the imaginary island-state of Dubli Kingdom, I will summarize the one that existed in the West African nation of Liberia as the preface to this book.

I perceive that the region now called Liberia had many indigenous kingdoms many centuries before the missions of foreign traders and explorers in West Africa. Because of the absence of adequate written records, the names of the kingdoms—which enjoyed their homogeneous culture, language, and government with stability and prosperity—are yet known. Some of these kingdoms were seized, merged, and renamed as Liberia in the early 1800s by freed slaves mainly from the United States of America and the Caribbean nations. In addition, some recaptured people from slave ships were dumped in Liberia due to the rigid international sanction against slavery and the emerging existence of the new world quest for the industrial revolution.

Taking its rightful place in the comity of nations, the young Liberia then became the home for all colored people. The country came to be respected as a bona-fide founding member of the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity, the Economic Community of West African States, and the Mano River Union, just to name a few. Liberia also proudly served as the home for most foreign residents at the time when they were undergoing their liberation struggles. International and local investors established numerous businesses to aid the Liberian Government’s initiatives and to allow more people to be employed. Even though most of the investors never helped to develop the country, most people who resided in the country were somehow satisfied, since they had sources of income to support their respective families.

When I was growing up, I was always happy when some people referred to Liberia as the Little America because of its strong tie with the United States of America, or when they considered it as the symbol for African liberation because of its stability in the subregion. No one knew that a protracted civil war could touch the lives of its entire population. Regrettably, over a quarter of the population perished, while others were exiled, and the rest were internally displaced.

At first, my reaction to the destruction was contrary to the popular opinion of the vast majority of people living in the country that time. It was not negative in the sense that I ever agreed to what was happening in my country, but like most promising young and patriotic Liberians, preparing for the future development of the nation, I was devastated if not furious by the way we had handled our emotions. Taking war to be a dreadful thing, I felt that it was better for us to have remained under a tyrannical leadership than to have torn ourselves apart, washing our dirty laundry in public.

Knowing that most developed nations might have passed through similar madness, I told some friends at graduate school one day, "As wretched as Liberia stands today, it has a bright future. I am happy that the war is now over. We must know that the reconstruction of the country is the prioritized task for all Liberians. The individual citizens and residents build a nation, not solely a government. We must know among other things that a strong government of any nation depends on a viable economy, affordable education, a good health care system, and a road network.

Therefore, we need to improve on our thinking. We must firmly endeavor to stop the generational suffering of our people by our poor judgment, bigotry, segregation, corruption, or neglect against our common cause.

I told my friends, "Though, social scholars are still searching for deeper reasons why such a cruel war was fought in the oldest independent republic in Africa and the second black independent republic in the world, conventional wisdom will always remind us that we were some of the main causes of our problem. We can’t continue to transfer one hundred percent the blame on people who did heinous crimes against us.

For instance, I said, "We had had numerous tribal rivalries before and during the settlement of the freed slaves. Our tribal kings and elders had earlier bartered precious and energetic sons and daughters of the land as slaves to intruding wealth seekers.

"For their part, as few, poor, and uneducated as most of the freed slaves were, most of them came back to Africa with hurt and resentment against the descendants of the people whom they claimed sold their ancestors. They failed to integrate with the indigenous people to be one people with common objectives. The indigenous people, too, feared the domination of the freed slaves. They built up counterresistance against their efforts. As a result, they could not expand their territory; rather, surrounding European colonies continued reducing the young nation from every angle.

"In fact, the entire population of Liberia was systematically classified into various groups. Among them were the white born by black freed slaves