By Julius T. Jaesen, II
editordemocracywatch@gmail.com
In a land where the blood of war victims still cries from the earth and justice remains absent from the doors of the downtrodden, what use is a ceremonial gathering in air-conditioned halls to honour the dead without honouring the demands of justice? What use is reburial when accountability lies in the grave and truth has been thrown into the sea of forgetfulness by those who benefited from war and chaos? Liberia must not continue this national mockery enveloped in flowery speeches and soft songs that do nothing to confront the real demons haunting our present.
The announcement of a National Healing, Reconciliation, and Unity Program by President Boakai’s government, though painted as noble and soothing, falls flat when matched against the hard truth of Liberia’s post-war reality. You cannot speak of healing when wounds are still open, and those who inflicted them walk free, some even sitting comfortably in the legislature and other public offices. You cannot speak of unity when victims remain sidelined, and the perpetrators of carnage still enjoy honour, privilege, and state protection.
To hold such a programme without the full implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) recommendations is nothing but state-sponsored hypocrisy. The TRC named individuals, institutions, and groups responsible for grave crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report clearly called for prosecution, lustration, reparations, and memorialisation, not merely in spirit, but in clear actions that show commitment to justice and accountability. What happened to those recommendations? Why are they not being executed? Why is there a rush to bury bones when the conscience of the nation has not yet been unearthed?
The reburials of Presidents Tolbert and Doe are not in themselves offensive. Every person deserves a dignified rest. But when those two men, both controversial figures in our history, are reburied with state honours while thousands of war victims slaughtered, raped, maimed, and dismembered remain faceless and voiceless, then the state is once again honouring power over pain, hierarchy over humanity. What about the nameless children killed in the streets of Monrovia? What about the mothers who died with babies tied to their backs while fleeing rebel lines? What about the fathers buried in shallow graves on looted farms? Who speaks for them? Who reburies them with dignity? Or have we decided as a country that only powerful names deserve national tears?
This entire event stinks of political performance. Bringing a Rwandan speaker to address us may sound poetic, but Rwanda’s healing was not built on speeches. It was built on firm action, on local trials, truth-telling, confessions, punishment, and a national refusal to forget. In Rwanda, the genocide was not sanitised through dialogue alone; perpetrators were brought face to face with their deeds and their victims. That is healing. That is reconciliation. That is justice. Liberia, by contrast, remains in denial, staging ceremonies without substance and reconciliation without responsibility.
How can there be unity when the basic rule of law is absent? When warlords become lawmakers? When victims become beggars and perpetrators become millionaires? When the children of victims drop out of school while the children of the accused enjoy scholarships abroad funded by the state? When the very structure of governance is built on impunity and selective memory? What President Boakai should do is not to gather people in the name of reconciliation, but rather to implement the TRC report with urgency and courage.
Healing must be built on truth. Reconciliation must be driven by justice. Unity must be rooted in accountability. These three pillars are not optional. They are essential if Liberia is to truly move forward. You cannot wish away a national trauma by singing hymns or giving politically correct speeches at the Ministerial Complex. That is not how a wounded nation is restored. That is how it is further betrayed.
President Boakai, if you truly believe reconciliation is a moral imperative, then act accordingly. Bring war criminals to book. Follow through on the recommendations of the TRC without fear or favour. Establish a war and economic crimes court, not as a threat to stability, but as a path to real peace. Let the victims know that their lives mattered, and their deaths are not forgotten. Let the nation know that no man is above the law, and no amount of time can erase the stain of impunity.
Enough of this cosmetic healing. Liberia needs deep surgery. Enough of symbolic reburials. We need the reawakening of conscience. Enough of dialogues that dance around the truth. We need firm decisions that confront the ugly past and reshape the future. Until that is done, all these programmes amount to performance without purpose.
Recommendations
1. Implement the TRC Report in full, including prosecutions, reparations, and institutional reforms.
2. Establish a war and economic crimes court without further delay. Liberia cannot build peace on impunity.
3. Create a national registry of victims, identify mass graves, and carry out dignified reburials for ordinary citizens, not just presidents.
4. Bar warlords and perpetrators from holding public office in keeping with the lustration recommendation.
5. Stop weaponising reconciliation for politics. Make transitional justice a genuine national priority, not a tool for public relations.
Liberia has walked too long with a limp. It is time to stop pretending we are healed. It is time to confront the pain, prosecute the evil, and rebuild the nation on the solid ground of justice. Anything less is deception. Liberia deserves better, and Liberian war victims deserve justice. As war victims, we can’t avoid being treated like an abused and neglected African bastard child.
About the Author
Julius T. Jaesen, II is a social justice activist, newspaper editor, author, academic and climate advocate. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science, a Master of Arts in International Relations and a Master of Science in Sustainable Development. He’s currently the Managing Editor of Democracy Watch.
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