Inside the People’S Redemption Council Government of Liberia: The Untold Story

By Sei Rubel Gehyeka BBA MSA

After 133 years (18471980) of relative peace and stability in Liberia, the unthinkable happened. A group of enlisted noncommissioned officers of the military seized control of the government. For five years, they monopolized power, and the key leadership was only removed by a civil war.

I believe the war was caused by the birth and death of the Peoples Redemption Council government. I am therefore presenting what I think has been left out of many conversations about my motherland and may possibly be left out of its history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Feb 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781489715005

Sei Rubel Gehyeka BBA MSA

Born in a town called Dingamo in north central Liberia, the author considers himself a fittest of survivals. Not many persons ever crossed the many challenges he faced in life. At about age two he lost his father and caring for him rested on maternal grandparents and close relatives. He and two older sisters were eventually taken away by a paternal uncle to live on his farm. Within short period of time after the author moved to his paternal uncles farm he was sent to school. By age twelve he learned to drive a vehicle (Ford F-150) stick shift. He instantly became a celebrity admired by many friends who assumed he was living extraordinary life. The friends didnt know he was missing out on all the funs befitting childhood as driving became his primary job. It was uncommon at the time to see any child drive at age twelve anywhere in Liberia in the early 60s. The author lived in Monrovia when the military coup occurred, survived it, and now live to tell the story. He was tempted with many job offers but turned all down on ground that he didnt want to get anywhere by accident as he may not find a way back. He is currently retired and lives happily with his children, grandchildren and wife in New Jersey.

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Copyright © 2017 Sei Rubel Gehyeka (BBA, MSA).

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-1501-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-1500-5 (e)

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 12/18/2017

Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1   LIBERIA IN BRIEF

Chapter 2   SHORT HISTORY ABOUT THE LIBERIA MILITARY BEFORE APRIL 12, 1980

Chapter 3   A GLANCE AT THE PEOPLE’S REDEMPTION COUNCIL GOVERNMENT

Chapter 4   STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND THREATS OF THE PRC GOVERNMENT

Chapter 5   RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DOE AND THOMAS WEH SYEN

Chapter 6   RELATIONS BETWEEN DOE AND THOMAS QUIWONKPA

Chapter 7   DISSOLUTION OF THE PRC GOVERNMENT

Chapter 8   IMPORTANT LEGACIES OF THE PRC GOVERNMENT

Chapter 9   INTERVIEW WITH MR. JEFFREY S. GBATU, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE PEOPLE’S REDEMPTION COUNCIL GOVERNMENT OF LIBERIA:

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

LIBERIA was born out of sympathy for a Negro race whose ancestors had been forcefully taken to the New World in 1619 by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. As I learned, a number of good will white Americans encouraged and convinced the United States government to resettle Negroes that were then swimming in a pool of disgrace and poverty. The Negroes had been mistreated in every part of the United States following introduction of machinery to replace their productivity (labor).

People whose dreams, efforts, financial contributions and ingenuities were employed to deliver the country Liberia may have envisioned her as a new beginning for Africa. Motto of the American Colonization Society, Lux en Tenebris (light in darkness), and now found on diploma at the University of Liberia for example can attest to what those people may have expected of Liberia. They saw a place that would have become like the United States which started as 13 colonies along the eastern Atlantic sea coast and spread westward until it reached the Pacific Ocean. Never did they expect Liberia to become failure on the continent of Africa.

Majority of people taken to establish Liberia were people that had graduated from numerous plantations in the southern part of the United States. It is shown in history that the first group consisted of 88 individuals among whom were 37 children. Historical accounts say they were dispatched with farming implements, fishing nets, guns and ammunition, tools, lumber, nails and wheelbarrows. But upon reaching Africa, the story is that they abandoned what they carried and adopted styles of American slave masters of the United States (absolute control over native Africans).

For more than one hundred and thirty years many things alien to Africa were introduced and practiced in Liberia by people who traced ancestry to slavery (the Americas). Discrimination, nepotism, sectionalism, rampant corruption, and iconoclasm became the norms. These destructive elements divided Liberia from its very foundation as it is believed that light skinned settlers perceived themselves to be superior to dark skinned settlers.

Numerous books have been written about Liberia. None ever discussed the economic, political and social injustices that were prominent in that West African country for long period of time. The books were always one sided and made mention of no influential or powerful indigenous people in the country. They were basically written by people who never experienced life in rural Liberia. Until this year I am yet to see any material written about the PRC government. It may be because the government was dominated by people with rural Liberian roots. Therefore, as product of rural Liberia who was fortunate to live mature life in coastal Liberia, my long desire to write about the PRC government under which I lived has emerged. Some associates and acquaintances of mine were functional in this government. I was offered numerous positions in government due to connections but declined all and remained a high school teacher. I told my associates that I hated to get into any position by accident, as I may never find my way out.

To facilitate writing of this book I was fortunate to meet and interview one of my associates who is seemingly the lone survivor of the short-lived Redemption Council government. He was a member of the then Executive Mansion guard unit and saw President William R. Tolbert Jr. alive prior to his unexpected death. He admits not being a participant in activities that led to death of the president. According to him, he and other members of the Escort Guard that accompanied the president to the Executive Mansion were placed in detention while the coup was being executed. It was after success of the coup that they were released and added to the council. His narratives about events leading to birth of the People’s Redemption Council government and many activities within from beginning to end appear valid, truthful and reliable.

I lived in Liberia, witnessed, observed and experienced many events on the date the coup. I saw loads of dead people that were transported in open dump trucks from the porch of the house I inhabited. I spent my life in Monrovia the entire period of the regime. What was experienced, observed and gathered from this government along with vast knowledge of Liberian history laid ground work for presentation of this book. I hope many Liberians and others will find it worthy of reading.

CHAPTER ONE

LIBERIA IN BRIEF

There is a philosophical question for black people who trace ancestry outside Africa. A river crosses a path and the path crosses a river; which is older? Rivers are nature’s creation while men create paths. Which of the two is perceived as older?

Africa and Africans were created by nature long ago before evolution of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. In fact, when the New World was discovered in 1492 no African was among the first population. Africans were only introduced to the American continent 127 years later (1492 -1619). History shows that Europeans landed on the American continent in 1492 and still continue to identify with Europe as ancestral homeland? There are Liberians who feel foreign in Africa and trace ancestry to the United States. This makes Africans of various countries on the continent feel that Liberians are clueless and have no cultures or traditions. Behaviors exemplified by some Liberians have left the entire country far behind other countries on the African continent in terms of development and spirit of nationalism. People with wealth from Liberia prefer to build or buy homes in South Africa, Great Britain and the United States.

According to several books, the foundation of this West African nation was laid for freed African American slaves by an organization called the American Colonization Society. At the time of Liberia’s birth persons of African ancestry in the United States were disallowed in schools and other places then opened to other people. No African American was considered or treated as citizen of the United States but rather perceived as personal property. None had civil or voting rights and wealth. Only white agents