MONROVIA – Liberia’s former president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is once again submerged in grief, death hitting her hard and the Sirleaf clan, so close and so hard—yet again. The Matriarch’s son, an accomplished public servant and shrewd bureaucrat, Charles E. Sirleaf, is reported dead, bringing to two the key pillars of the revered family whom the indomitable specter of death has snatched away in the last three years. When the news broke and the country’s first democratically elected female president and kin and kith got drowned in the pool of grief, the nation and many good friends at home and across the global community awoke with them in sorrow and compassion, tendering streams of heartfelt condolences, as The Analyst reports.
The bell of death has once again tolled over the home of Liberia’s former president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and the prey this time is another son of hers, Charles Sirleaf, who passed out Sunday, June 3, 2024.
It is being reported by multiple sources that Mr. Sirleaf died in his sleep, though The Analyst is yet to confirm this from authority.
This is the second time the tragedy of death has befallen the former Liberian leader who in 2021 mourned the passing of another lovely child, James Sirleaf.
James was not reported sick before his death, family sources had hinted. He accordingly felt unconscious at home, taken to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Sirleafs were once on yesterday, June 3, shocked by news of Charles’ death, with sources saying he couldn’t wake of from sleep yesterday morning.
Spontaneously, the Fish Market home of Madam Sirleaf was seen sunk in crowds of sympathizers made of ordinary citizens, including nearly Sinkor and Congo town residents, present and former government officials, members of women organizations and some diplomats.
Though our reporter who visited the area could not confirm if the country’s first postwar democratically elected president was in when the throngs of citizens converged on her home, he said he watched endless streams of people with somber countenances moving solemnly in and out of the compound that nearly borders the Atlantic Occasion and drooped in high-rise mango and coconut trees.
“What an unfortunate incident for Ellen again, my people,” a lady returning from the compound was heard saying, her arms akimbo, looking at the vacant sky beyond the turfs of trees sandwiching the mourners.
“It was just the other day when she lost her other son, perhaps two or three years ago,” she continued, apparently referencing the death of the late James Sirleaf. “If all these boys are going before her, very strong children who are supposed to bury her, then it is too bad for her and the family.”
Madam Sirleaf was blessed by providence with four boys— The Late James Ebreem Sirleaf, The Late Charles E. Sirleaf, Dr. James Adama Sirleaf and Robert Alvin Sirleaf, as well as host of other dependents and also Fombah Sirleaf.
Amongst prominent personalities who already have reached her with condolence messages is her 12-year vice president and current president of Liberia Joseph Nyuma Boakai.
President Joseph N. Boakai, Sr., who is in Seol, South Korea attending the Africa-Korea Business Summit, was swift in identifying with his former boss in her state of mourning.
An Executive Mansion release said the president “has extended his condolences to former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on the loss of her Son, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), Charles Sirleaf”.
“In a telephone conversation with the former President, the Liberian leader expressed his profound regrets and prayed that God consoles Madam Sirleaf and her family during such a difficult time,” the released added. “The President promised to pay her a visit upon his return to the country, as he is currently away on national duty.”
The Liberian Chief Executive, according to the release, “is urging Liberians and friends to offer prayers for consolation and peace of mind for the former President and her family in this moment of grief and sorrow.”
The social media is already awash with condolence messages from various demographic, social, and political groups and citizens.
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