"You Can't Look Back" - BY GLENNA GORDON | JULY 7, 2009

"You Can't Look Back"
Liberian warlord-turned-senator Prince Johnson speaks out about the war crimes charges against him and his plans for the future.
BY GLENNA GORDON | JULY 7, 2009


At the end of last week, Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released a report examining the causes and consequences of Liberia's 14 years of brutal and gruesome civil war. The war may have ended six years ago, but Liberia's 3.4 million people are still reeling from a conflict that displaced a million people, left a quarter of a million dead, more than three fourths of women raped, and everyone traumatized.

The commission's report has made waves in the Western media for its condemnation of internationally popular President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf over her past support for rebel groups. But the charges against another high-ranking government official are far more serious and might have more-lasting consequences.



Prince Y. Johnson is now a Liberian senator. During the war, he headed a notorious rebel group called the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia. The final TRC report names him the No. 1 most notorious individual perpetrator and recommends that he be prosecuted for gross human rights violations and war crimes, specifically mass murder, extortion, destruction of property, forced recruitment, assault, abduction, torture, and rape. Johnson labeled the report a "JOKE" and vowed to resist with force any attempts to arrest him, raising fears of renewed violence. Last week, just before the report was released, freelance journalist Glenna Gordon went to his home on the outskirts of Monrovia for an exclusive interview. Excerpts:



Johnson discussed the (then forthcoming) TRC report, which he saw as biased and aimed at the wrong targets:

TRC is supposed to be neutral. It's supposed to be an institution that people of Liberia can depend on to help reconcile. But instead, it has disappointed the people of this country. It is supposed to bring together perpetrators and victims to reconcile both sides. But the TRC chose to keep the victims away from the so-called perpetrators. They never brought the two people together, so where is the reconciliation?



Reconciliation is not an overnight thing. It is a gradual process. There are many programs that can bring people together. If two people have a problem, how do you solve it? By keeping them apart? No, by bringing them together. The perpetrator can remember what he did and he may or may not say sorry. That's the first phase to begin reconciliation, and [it] was not done. And if you cannot reconcile yourself you cannot reconcile a nation.



Who supplied the guns to them? Who supplied the finance to buy the weapons? Who provided the training? It's a whole lot of questions that need answers.

The first group of people that bear the greatest responsibility is not the fighting man but the people who supplied and bought the weapons. I don't know who planned and bought all the weapons, but the men didn't just come here shooting guns from the sky.



When justice itself is unjust, there is injustice. So if you want justice, ... you have to go for the big Nigerian men who got the weapons, who supplied so many things. They are still in power.



I spoke at the TRC and said, "Forgive me for my sins, but when two elephants fight, the grass suffers." I was repentant. I've accepted Jesus.

Every country in the world knows the history of Nimba [Johnson's county]. They know what [former President Samuel] Doe did to my people. I had to defend my people.



Johnson Once Displayed The Skull Of Samuel K. Doe by LHRC

Prince Johnson reportedly kept the skull of former Liberian ruler Samuel K. Doe at his base in Caldwell and would displayed it to visitors. It is unknown if Johnson, who is also running for president, still have the skull of Mr. Doe

Defunct INPFL leader Prince Johnson displayed the skull of late President Samuel Kanyon Doe to a delegation of the Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU) at his Caldwell Base, Commany Wesseh, then sports minister of IGNU said.Mr. Wesseh said during a meeting with the INPFL leader to discuss the intention of IGNU President Amos Sawyer to resign, Prince Johnson told him and others that he had killed Doe who wanted to kill him (Wesseh

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Protecting Liberian War Criminals?

Not Only That She Refused To Prosecute Them, She Appointing Them To Serve In Her Government

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf broke a very important promise she made to the Liberian people, and Liberia's partners within the international community that she will never appoint any one with human rights abuse record in her government. However, the president, in what some are describing as search for votes in the ensuring Liberian 2011 presidential election, has fallen back on that promise by appointing potential war criminals in her government. In 2010, President Sirleaf made series of appointments that included Mr. John T. Richardson, a top rebel commander of the Charles Taylor led rebel group National Patriotic Front of Liberia, or NPFL, to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Liberian National Housing Authority, or NHA. Richardson was the lead organizer of the NPFL's infamous "Octopus Operation" in 1993 when NPFL rebels invaded Monrovia, the Liberian capital, during which time five Catholic nuns were reportedly killed, along with over 3,000 Liberians who were murdered, many in their homes, by NPFL rebels, and is responsible for recruiting kids as young as seven years old to serve in the NPFL "small Boys" unit.



Roland Duo On The Mahare River Bridge in 2003

Roland Duo, another rebel commander of the NPFL accused of throwing babies into the Mahare River during the Mahare River Massacre in Bomi County was appointed as coordinator for special project at the National Security Agency. Roland Duo, upon the orders from Benjamin Yeaten, Duo and his men reportedly massacred 175 persons, mainly members of the Mandingo tribe, for being sympathizers of the LURD rebel faction, according two survival. Duo, like many former rebel commanders, is said to be living large benefiting from loots he gathered during the war at the expense of thousands of innocent Liberians. On June 9, 2003, Roland Duo and those he was commanding arrested 18 persons as POWs from the LURD rebel faction. He turned them over to Charles “Chucky” Taylor and were summarily executed the same day.

President Sirleaf also appointed Mr. Alhaji Kromah leader of the ULIMO-K rebel faction responsible for various massacres in Northwestern Liberia, including the Sinje Massacre in Bomi County, as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Liberian Broadcasting Corporation, or LBC. Also appointed to the LBC Board is Madam Weadi Kobbah Wureh, an executive member of the Liberian Peace Council, a rebel group that operated in southeastern Liberia and is accused of roasting people alive in the fire, and placing hot burning iron between women's legs. Liberians are describing these appointments along with the refusal of the Ellen Sirleaf government to implement the recommendations contained in the final report of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission as insensitive to the memories of thousands of Liberians who were forced to their early graves as a result of the actions of these people.

At the very start of her administration, President Sirleaf appointed Mr. Kabinah Janeh as Associate Justice at the Liberian Supreme Court. Mr. Janeh is widely known among Liberians as a recruiter and legal advisor to Alhaji Kromah and his ULIMO-K rebel faction and also the lawyer for another rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, or LURD, based on that he was appointed justice minister in the Liberian transitional government in 2003 when government positions were being distributed among warlords, rebel commanders and their civilian supporters.

TRC Report question?

As Liberia crawls towards the 2011 presidential and general elections, a powerful question is finding its way into the minds of many Liberians. Which is; can the 2011 elections consider credible without the implementation of the final report of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or TRC?

Money Can Buy Votes: Ex-Warlord Prince Johnson Bought Over for US$25 Million to Support Incumbent Prez Sirleaf in Runoffn Run-off Blog at WordPress.c

Money Can Buy Votes: Ex-Warlord Prince Johnson Bought Over for US$25 Million to Support Incumbent Prez Sirleaf in Runoffn Run-off Blog at WordPress.com.

Monrovia- Ex-warlord turned politician, Senator Prince Johnson who along with 15 other candidates ran for president of Liberia in last Tuesday elections and finished 3rd place putting him in the position as a kingmaker for the runoff scheduled for November 8th in which incumbent President Sirleaf and Cllr Winston Tubman of the Congress for Democratic Change will face off.

In a stunning twist, the Liberian kingmaker declared his support for incumbent President Sirleaf in the runoff putting the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in a comfortable position of being re-elected.

Credible sources close to the ex-warlord informed this outlet Senator Johnson made the decision to cross over to the ruling Unity Party to cast his support for incumbent President Sirleaf after talks broke down with the opposition when his demand for US$2million or US$5 million to support the opposition could not be meant and the ruling party came in to negotiate with him and agreed to offer the National Democratic Union standard bearer the the US$25 million he requested.

“The sum of US$250, 0000.00 down payment was transferred into Senator Johnson’s account, a pre-condition before the ex-warlord could make his public support for President”, our sources said. According to the terms of the agreement, after Senator Johnson’s public announcement of support for President Sirleaf, the first portion of the of support incentive in the tune of US$12 million will be mad available a week later and the balance, US$12.5 million will available to the NUDP standard bearer.

What is stunning , an observer said is “why Senator Johnson who over the years accused President Sirleaf of corruption could accept such a huge amount to support the President when he knows that money comes from public coffers of the suffering people of Liberia whom he all theses years said he was fighting for”

One thing I want to tell Senator Johnson, he can’t use the people of Nimba as pawn and paint us as people who believe the corrupt practice of the Sirleaf government, a Nimbaian told this outlet“ A staunch supporter of Prince Johnson and his National Union for Democratic Progress said even we who supported him financially and his officials in the United States were never consulted but only got the information through the media”, a Nimabain told our outlet. If Prince Johnson can reduce himself to a sale-out, the people of Nimba are embarrassed by what they have heard that he accepted US$25 million from President Sirleaf , we will not follow him to support her because we cannot allow ourselves to be used as pawn to divide the country and the President feeds on the divisiveness while the country is divided and remain irreconcilable. ”We are not casino for Senator Johnson to cash on to enrich himself at the expense of the people of Nimba and the country.

Ex-Warlord’s Ordered to Recant Endorsement: Prince Johnson Support for Prez Sirleaf Backfires, NUDP Executives Give 48 Hours Ultimatum Or Else………Blog at WordPress.com.

Just as the Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was getting set to cruise to victory in the runoff in the West African nation of Liberia in the runoff election on November 8th when ex-warlord Prince Johnson who came third in the election last Tuesday election endorsed incumbent President Sirleaf , less than two days, everything seems to be falling apart.

The ex-warlord was among the 16 candidates who participated in last Tuesday elections under the umbrella of the National Union for Democratic Progress, NUDP but since his public pronouncement that he supports President Sirleaf in the runoff, lot is evolving including reports that the NUDP standard bearer was bought over for the sum of $25 million do to endorse the President.

Today’s pronouncement by the Executive Committee of the NUDP that the decision to endorse the Unity Party and President Sirleaf declared by their standard bearer was unilateral and does not in any represent the party , is a dent in the momentum of the Unity Party and calls on the Senator to recant his statement of endorsement is a dent the momentum of the Unity Party gathered from the endorsement of Prince Johnson. The party executives has directed their standard bearer to appear before the Executive Committee and the party within 48 hours (on October 20, 2011) to show reason why he unilaterally endorsed the Unity Party and standard bearer, President Sirleaf without the consultation and consent of the party. The NUDP standard bearer has been further directed by the party that he desist from any form of activity or action in the name of the party until further notice after meeting with executives and the party.

Hours after the ex-warlord declare his support for President Sirleaf it was reported that the Senator endorsement was unilateral and his party officials were not informed and less 24 hours after that publication, the Executive Committee and the NUDP are cementing that report.

A prominent supporter said the NUDP standard bearer betrayed and disrespected his supporters by deceiving them after he had promised them that he was headed for Nimba to consult with local chiefs to help him decide who to support in the runoff but only to their surprise, they heard through the media with shock that their standard bearer had endorsed President Sirleaf though he had yet to meet the local chiefs of Nimba and held consultation with the party.

It is believed that the NUDP standard bearer decision to endorse President Sirleaf in the runoff on the backdrop that if he had endorsed Cllr. Winston Tubman of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change, the second place-finisher going to the runoff with President Sirleaf, he fear he could be prosecuted for war crime for his role in the Liberian civil war, an ex-general who killed the late President Doe during the civil war if the CDC standard bearer won the election because Cllr Tubman has publicly committed himself to implementing the the TRC recommendations.

The NUDP standard bearer and president Sirleaf are among some of those named in the TRC report recommended for prosecution and are barred from office respectively for their role in the country 14 year civil.

My comment on some of Liberia Issues!!

Our people in Liberia are suffering because NO ONE IN LIBERIA CARES for them. Do you know JFK is the world worst hospital to go to when ill? The hospital is filthy and smells like a sewer tank to say the least. When we (FELMAUSA Medical Mission Team) got to JFK, there were no gloves in the entire hospital, none at all we were told by Mrs. Willie, Procurement Specialist. JFK sent their patients out to buy their own gauge and gloves if they want services.

There are no baby bottles in any of the hospitals in Liberia; mothers are training their new born to drink from a cup because they are not nourished enough to breastfeed their new born. No record keeping system at JFK, nobody knows who you are even though you may have been there a 100 times. Don’t expect the nurses to “feel your pain”, in fact, they don’t want you messing up their floor or clothes so they will not treat you until you clean up yourself. Pehn-Pehns die like flies at JFK each and every day. 80% of JFK patients are pehn-pehns, ask Dr. Guizie. This, my friend is just the tip of the ice burg. Stay tune I have much more to come about Liberia and my 3 1/2 weeks stay there. In short, I wouldn’t take my 19 (human years) years old dog Trixie to JFK!!! You think JFK is bad, trying using the bathrooms at any public offices or clinics in Monrovia; you will not be able to eat or swallow after. There are no working public restrooms in Monrovia, so people are using the outdoors as restrooms and guess where the rain water is taking their dunk, back into the water systems.

No one in Liberia will do anything for you if there is nothing in it for them, even your own family or closed friend. The kids are not playing any more, too busy trying to survive so play time has been put on hold. Liberians have turned themselves into “professional beggers”…. Honestly, I couldn’t take the daily begging any longer. No one wants to start a small business for themselves, begging seem to be easier…what a shame!! Liberia is far more expensive then America, ask anyone who wants to tell you the truth! The Senators, Ministers, and foreigners are the only ones with power and enjoying life in Liberia, but they are also the biggest criminals and break all the rules of law daily!

There are nurse aids in Liberia pretending to be doctors and writing prescriptions and have clinics all over the place. There are nurse aids operating on patients daily, this is why we are dying everyday!! We have Physician Assistant who cannot correctly check your blood pressure but will quickly try to perform a C-Section operation….scary!!! There are Medical vehicles without gas and or working car battery parked “ready to be call in case of an emergency”, no lie, I live this one myself. Oh, don’t call the driver while he is eating, he will not move until he is done eating. Let not forget he can barely see!!! Madam President hired those Senators and Ministers thinking they would bring their outside work ethic and experiences to help her rebuild Liberia, instead they parked their ethic and experiences at RIA and join the ones on the ground and nothing is happening.

One senators office I visited had not one sheet of paper on his desk, not even a folder or pen, nothing, just fancy office well air conditioned. I think Liberia should be turn over to a foreign western company if we want to save her and JFK hospital should be shut down immediately!!! This is how most of their offices look, nothing going on. Oh, don’t waist your time sending them emails, they told us they don’t open it because it takes too long. Attachment, forget it. We (FELMAUSE team) sent all of the doctors and nurses documents via an email attached to the minister to health thinking that by the time we get there, the nurses and doctors temporary licenses to practice in Liberia will be ready. NOT the case, the minister himself sat with us and told us they don’t open their emails, it takes too long, that they needed hard copies before we could start work. Now take a look at the minister’s secretary, what is she doing?......That’s right, taking a nap after watching a movie, see the TV. They were watching one of those Liberian movie during work hours in the minister’s office area. Look closely at the clock, its 2pm. And this was going on while we were there, just imagine what happens when no one is around. They are doing exactly what Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is satisfied with, NOTHING all day long!!!

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the most corrupt African President

I just found out that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has a lot of her government officials staying in various hotels in Liberia. A lot of them do not have decent homes in Liberia so the country is paying for them to be housed in expenses hotels around the city.



Take a look at Government Officials in Liberia annual gross salary each:



Fees Items

$15,000.00 salary

4,500.00 Gas card

6,000.00 Monthly Hotel fees

100.00 Drivers salary @ $50.00 ea

50,000.00 Two SUVs

25,000.00 Traveling expenses to visit wife and children

25,000.00 Medical expenses outside of Liberia

10,000.00 Misc. expanses



$135,600.00 Total Gross salary. And this is just the one we know about, I am sure there are more hidden fees!



A small country like Liberia no one should be getting this kind of money per year! If Ellen returns for a second term, Liberia will be in the poor house by the end of her term or before. This is another form of corruption at its highest. Not only will the country be broke but she is setting the country for another war…….this time, it will be the between the “been-tos” and the “stay-at-home”!!

Is it JFK that we are talking about at this time?

So you are saying…

Its ok for a nurse aid to perform surgeries on helpless patients?
Its ok for the doctors working at JFK to take the medicines meant for JFK patients to their clinics?
Its ok for those innocents pehn-pehn to die daily because there is no doctor knowledgeable or medications to handle head trauma and they are left to bleed to death?
So it is ok for our senior citizens to sit in the hallway floor of JFK begging doctors for pills because they could not afford to pay for it.
And it is also ok with you that our babies are dying from simple illnesses like high fever or some idiots not cutting the cord correctly?
It is ok with you that a major government hospital did not have any gloves or gauges in the entire hospital and the clinics are reusing theirs?
It is ok with you that the nurses cursed at their patients and treat them anyway they like. Telling a patient in labor to “shut the hell up”?


I am sure knowing how you feel about your Liberian people make you sleep sound at night! If this is how you show that you love your people, please take me off of your “love my people” list.



The next time you are in Liberia and having chest and neck pains and think you may be having a heart attack, call the medic (911 works in Liberia as well) truck to take you to JFK. Oh, make sure you have gas money and a car battery on hand for the truck and also make sure you have the heart attack before you get to JFK or you will be sent home. JFK only takes you after the heart attack not before. One of my aunts did not know this and had a heart attack on her way back from been turn down at JFK.



As for me, Liberian hospitals and clinics drums will beat until those good-for-nothing senators and ministers either start to fix the problems or take sleeping pills to sleep at night!!!


The middle of the day, see this senator’s desk, does it look like anything is getting done in here? This is how most of their offices look, nothing going on. Oh, don’t waist your time sending them emails, they told us they don’t open it because it takes too long. Attachment, forget it. We (FELMAUSE team) sent all of the doctors and nurses documents via an email attached to the minister to health thinking that by the time we get there, the nurses and doctors temporary licenses to practice in Liberia will be ready. NOT the case, the minister himself sat with us and told us they don’t open their emails, it takes too long, that they needed hard copies before we could start work.



Now take a look at the minister’s secretary, what is she doing?......That’s right, taking a nap after watching a movie, see the TV. They were watching one of those Liberian movie during work hours in the minister’s office area. Look closely at the clock, its 2pm. And this was going on while we were there, just imagine what happens when no one is around.

They are doing exactly what you are satisfy with, NOTHING all day long!!!



Have a good day!



From: Morris Kanneh
Subject: [alja1] Is it JFK that we are talking about at this time?

Are we talking about JFK hospital here ? Has it been any better with any administration than it is now? Was the naked name "Just For Killing" given to the hospital during the 80s because of its viability or because its deficiency? Did we expect anything good this early out of the Liberian health system after a 14-year war?

"When head burned do we expect to see a bushy beard after"?

Are we cognizant of the warning from the then Under Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen, that if we allowed ourselves to fight for one year we would go backward for another 100 years?

Don't we know that we have just gone six years of those predated 100 years and we are talking about the unfitness of just a hospital so soon? We need to be fair to ourselves mannnn.



Our people say "When the child sees his grand father kissing his toothless old wife, he wonder's why his grand father wasted his money marrying such a tootles old woman". What the child failed to know is that the grand father had been kissing this ground mother's mouth when it was full with teeth as she gradually lost them. And so the ground father is now adjusted to his toothless old lady and has forgotten that she ever had tooth in her mouth before. So yes, the child is right, he was not around when the ground mother was regarded is a beauty during her days, he only saw her toothless



This goes to those who now see JFK as a dilapidated hospital after a long stay in the United States where the health system is developed to its highest, coupled with the destruction from the civil war. Of course JFK will be nothing more than a place where someone living in the World's more powerful country can allow his/her dog to be treated. But like our people say " The tweedy bird's nest might look small to you, but that is exactly where she raises and initiates her chicks." And so JFK remains a savior to those who can not afford to come to University of Penn Hospital for hospitalization. Prayerfully, those critical impediments you referred to will encourage Well Manning Liberians Like those of FELMAUSA to do more as opposed to empty criticisms.



This is one reason while I will keep holding my hat up for the Federation of Mandingo Association in the Americas for its far sighted humanitarian services to the health system in Liberia. If each and every organization was following FELMAUSA's footsteps, maybe not only JFK, but other health centers in Liberia would have been fit to treat not only our puppies but even ourselves.

I hate to make sweeping comparison, otherwise I was in one of the neighboring West African countries that did not go through civil war like we did few years ago, and I saw people taking their patients from a major hospital in that country to Liberia due to the backwardness of their health system.

This reminded me about the man who decided to kill himself because he was poor. As he was knotting the rope to hang himself, another poor man who was naked asked him to please donate his torn pants to him so that he can at least cover his front from to avoid the public reticule he was going through. The man hanging himself quickly took his nick from the rope and thanked God for the torn pants he had the opportunity to own, and prefer living to death.

LIBERIA will triumph my people.



Sekou

Worst Hospital in the world - Liberia JFK Hospital in Monrovia

Our people in Liberia are suffering because NO ONE IN LIBERIA CARES for them. Do you know JFK is the world worst hospital to go to when ill? The hospital is filthy and smells like a sewer tank to say the least. When we (FELMAUSA Medical Mission Team) got to JFK, there were no gloves in the entire hospital, none at all we were told by Mrs. Willie, Procurement Specialist. JFK sent their patients out to buy their own gauge and gloves if they want services. There are no baby bottles in any of the hospitals in Liberia; mothers are training their new born to drink from a cup because they are not nourished enough to breastfeed their new born. I have pictures and fully plan on writing Mrs. Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson in the very, very near future.



No record keeping system at JFK, nobody knows who you are even though you may have been there a 100 times. Don’t expect the nurses to “feel your pain”, in fact, they don’t want you messing up their floor or clothes so they will not treat you until you clean up yourself first. Pehn-Pehns die like flies at JFK each and every day. 80% of JFK patients are pehn-pehns, ask Dr. Guizie. This, my friend is just the tip of the ice burg. Stay tune I have much more to come about Liberia and my 3 1/2 weeks stay there. In short, I wouldn’t take my 19 (human years) years old dog Trixie to JFK!!!



You think JFK is bad, trying using the bathrooms at any public offices or clinics in Monrovia; you will not be able to eat or swallow after. There are no working public restrooms in Monrovia, so people are using the outdoors as restrooms and guess where the rain water is taking their dunk, back into the water systems.



No one in Liberia will do anything for you if there is nothing in it for them, even your own family or closed friend.



The kids are not playing any more, too busy trying to survive so play time has been put on hold.



Liberians have turned themselves into “professional beggers”…. Honestly, I couldn’t take the daily begging any longer. No one wants to start a small business for themselves, begging seem to be easier…what a shame!!



Liberia is far more expensive then America, ask anyone who wants to tell you the truth!



The Senators, Ministers, and foreigners are the only ones with power and enjoying life in Liberia, but they are also the biggest criminals and break all the rules of law daily!



There are nurse aids in Liberia pretending to be doctors and writing prescriptions and have clinics all over the place. There are nurse aids operating on patients daily, this is why we are dying everyday!! We have Physician Assistant who cannot correctly check your blood pressure but will quickly try to perform a C-Section operation….scary!!!



There are Medical vehicles without gas and or working car battery parked “ready to be call in case of an emergency”, no lie, I live this one myself. Oh, don’t call the driver while he is eating, he will not move until he is done eating. Let not forget he can barely see!!!



Madam President hired those Senators and Ministers thinking they would bring their outside work ethic and experiences to help her rebuild Liberia, instead they parked their ethic and experiences at RIA and join the ones on the ground and nothing is happening. One senators office I visited had not one sheet of paper on his desk, not even a folder or pen, nothing, just fancy office well air conditioned. My question was, what do you do in here all day without any PC or paperwork? “I go to meeting everyday” was the answer I got!! Put a gun to their heads and they could not tell you what the meeting was about.



I think Liberia should be turn over to a foreign western company if we want to save her and JFK should be shut down immediately!!!

UN & France Exposed - Be warned of grusome pictures

I agree wholeheartedly. But how do we get to the next level in our thinking and doing, so we don't become the" continent that once was"?

I am sure collectively we can find the answer to this if we try hard enough. But using a different way of doing things and solving our own problems first.

We need men and women with bright ideas to help us please answer some of these questions and put them in practice , not just theory-as we currently do so well.

The obstacles are so many but this is not unique to Africans alone. If others got themselves out of their hell holes, I think we too should be motivated to do same.

Politics is in the way; economics is in the way; wrong education is in the way; hunger is in the way; self hate is in the way; hero worship is in the way; everything seems to be in the way. Etc

How can these ideas come to fruition and be implemented? Do we need a Jerry Rawlings or a Julius Nyerere to help with these questions as we continue to sink (ie. drinking and sinking)? I am just wondering.

I sincerely believe though that if we believe that oft-repeated saying the first humans originated in Africa, then we too as Africans should the first originators of the solutions to our African problems instead of always looking to first, second, third, fourth anthropological derivatives from Africa who had long since settled elsewhere (eg. Europe, Asia, etc) and have practically forgotten Africa, except to come back to exploit and extract minerals for their new found lifestyles that they must support by hook or crook.

The more I think about this conundrum, the more I come to realize that we as Africans have not properly contextualized and compartmentalized the cardinals vices of greed, lust, and envy. Further, we have fallen to money,power and luxury, forgetting that these are tools that should be understood and used appropriately and not to be used or abused by them, etc.

There is too much confusion; our morals too sandwiched and too much noise in the market, so to speak, that we got all our priorities twisted and in the end, we fall to morbid selfishness and then internal and external chaos no matter how much we accumulated materially in the process.

I am still think about your thought provoking comments. You got me thinking.

Thank you.

Zumo


All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
— Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina)

(Paraphrase: All happy nations are alike; each unhappy nation is unhappy in its own way)

"There is no justice on the earth, they say.
But there is none in heaven, either. To me
That is as plain as any simple scale.---Mozart and Salieri, Scene 1, para 1.

-----Original Message-----

From: Williams, Roberta B

Doc, thanks for sharing as always, but if we (Africans) love and respect each other and our lands, we wouldn’t have a need for the UN now would we? The problem is us Doc, we are our own problems and enemies.
Most Africans in African countries that are in power don’t want to give it up. Most that are in charge of funds, steals most of it; most that are in charge of caring for children, rape the kids; most that are in charge of lands, sell it and put the money in their pockets. The number one thing an African man love more than himself is power, funny thing is, as soon as they get it, they abuse it and forget about their people. Remembered the saying: “All my mother’s children, I love myself the best and when I get my stomach full, I don’t care for the rest”………we practice this saying everyday in African!

The UN can live in these African countries until the end of time that will not change us, we have to want change and practice it everyday!

Oh by the way, in the UN, the ones that is on the ground and the ones giving the orders to the one on the grounds are of different races, which do you think is sent on the ground? They know we don’t love and respect each other or our lands so why not send the self-hater, makes perfect sense to me, not so?

Roberta Williams

________________________________________

From Dr. Zumo

See below . And compare with other information coming from "the grounds" wherever UN is or has been stationed. You can choose to use two eyes or four eyes, as you like.

FYI

Zumo

Ivory Coast attack further complicates UN presence in Africa
From impotence in Rwandan genocide to helicopter strike on presidential palace, UN walks a fine line across continent
•
•
o David Smith in Johannesburg
o guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 April 2011 17.26 BST
UN peacekeepers patrol the streets in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Photograph: Jane Hahn/AP
The United Nations attack on Ivory Coast's presidential palace and military barracks marks a new chapter in the organisation's often chequered history in Africa.
Most notorious was its impotence during the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which 800,000 people died. The UN security council failed to reinforce the small peacekeeping force in the east African country.
Kofi Annan, head of UN peacekeeping forces at the time, admitted later: "The international community failed Rwanda and that must leave us always with a sense of bitter regret."
Between 1948 and 2007, about 40% of the UN's peacekeeping and observer missions took place in Africa. In 2009, about 70% of its personnel were deployed on the continent. The current missions are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur in Sudan, southern Sudan, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Western Sahara.
After the massacres in Rwanda and then Bosnia, the UN added the protection of civilians as a priority for each mission. But the question of how far it is willing – and able – to go to intervene remains delicate and politically charged.
The UN runs the world's biggest peacekeeping mission in Congo at an annual cost of $1.35bn (£865m) but it is constantly overstretched in the vast country. It has been accused of supporting Congolese army units responsible for grave atrocities.
Last year there were claims that peacekeepers ignored appeals for protection just days before more than 240 villagers were raped by rebels. There have been similar charges in the past, blamed on lack of equipment, manpower and intelligence capacity. UN peacekeepers in Darfur have been accused of failing to stop violence that resulted in civilian deaths.
Major General Patrick Cammaert, a Dutch marine and UN peacekeeping veteran, told the New York Times in 2009: "They can't start a war against a host government like a well-organised Sudanese campaign. That goes beyond protecting civilians; it is on a magnitude that a UN mission cannot deal with."



-----Original Message-----
From: ZumoAmos@aol.com


"Hesitancy to murder has never been the hallmark of imperialism"..Franz Fanon (1925-1961)

"As a continent, Africa will always haunt the UN Peacekeeping Missions (DPKO)"..Eeben Barlow, former South African Defence Force intelligence officer, CEO, Executive Outcomes Intl.

See FYI below:

http://www.liberianforum.com/Articles/Historical-Context-and-Real-time-projections-for-Successes-in-Africa.html

Zumo


From: Morris Kanneh

There is this tendency of people casting blame on the place they fell forgetting that the place they slipped is the principal cause of the fall in the first place. I thought it was Gbago who is more than been exposed for clinching on to power even at the precious lives of the Ivorians. But God willing he will pay for his deed in not a distance future.
Sekou

--- On Tue, 4/5/11, J. NAN LARSAH wrote:

When the UN denied these deaths early yesterday and Outtara dismissively denied said act as "nonsense" lies, it this what the UN/France/US/Outtara rebel forces "international community is hurriedly attacking Gbagbo for so as to get rid of him quickly?

Massacre in Ivory Coast



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Liberia Health Mystery

I have said this so many times, the only way the Liberia government will take the health care seriously is if they are ban from leaving the country for medical reasons. If they have to use the same low class medical treatment as everybody else in Liberia, they will do something, but each time they get sick or need a check up, they fly out of the country and take the Liberian people money with them to get themselves fix.

In fact, let them stay home and use everything Liberia has, things will change, and quickly! You can’t change things you don’t know is broken or have never use, not so?

Thank you,

Roberta Williams
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My pleasure.

I agree fully.

Given our more than 165 years history as a "nation", we should be doing better in Liberia by now with these things, if we are to move our nation up and away from poverty, ignorance, manipulation, misinformation and preventable diseases. Nobody else will do it for us , without us paying "an arm and a leg" each time they do it for us.
Will continue to keep my fingers crossed for Liberia.

Zumo

FYI from around the globe: See how others are using smart economics: ie. local resources and local expertise to take care of their citizens afflicted by eg. hypertension, stroke, etc.


In Coma, Ariel Sharon Is Moved Home

Reuters
An ambulance brought the former Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to his ranch in the Negev Desert on Friday.
By ETHAN BRONNER
Published: November 12, 2010
JERUSALEM — Ariel Sharon, who had a major stroke while prime minister of Israel nearly five years ago and has since been in a coma in a hospital room, was moved on Friday to his ranch in the Negev Desert, hospital officials told Israel Radio.
A former close aide, Raanan Gissen, said in an interview that Mr. Sharon’s sons had been in discussion with Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv about the move. An elevator and other equipment had been installed at the family ranch to accommodate his arrival and long-term care.
Hospital officials said Mr. Sharon would at first spend several days at a time at home and then return to Sheba Medical Center to be to monitored. Only after several successful trials at the ranch would he stay there permanently.
Mr. Sharon, 82, breathes on his own but is fed intravenously, Mr. Gissen said. Visits to his sterile hospital room had been tightly limited because of a fear of infection. The cost of keeping Mr. Sharon in the hospital, which is borne by the taxpayer, has been high and some commentators urged that he be moved to a long-term care facility or home.
Mr. Gissen said that given his age and the duration of the coma, it seemed like Mr. Sharon was unlikely to regain consciousness, but his sons remained hopeful. He noted that Mr. Sharon used to say that he enjoyed spending time at the ranch, surrounded by livestock and nature, and perhaps returning there would help. Mr. Sharon was widowed twice. His sons, Omri and Gilad, are in charge of his care and estate.
A former general who held nearly every major ministerial post, Mr. Sharon was elected prime minister in 2001 and was at the height of his power when he had the stroke in January 2006. Having spent his career as a noted hawk and champion of the settler movement, he stunned the world by removing Israeli settlers and soldiers from Gaza in the summer of 2005 and leaving his political home in the right-leaning Likud, establishing the centrist party Kadima instead.
After his stroke, his deputy, Ehud Olmert, was elected prime minister.

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1) Demography
The Republic of Hungary has 10.04 million inhabitants of which 2.06 million live in Budapest, the capital of the country. Almost half of the country?s population resides in communities of less than 20,000 inhabitants each. In Hungary, there are 23 cities, 199 towns and 2913 villages.
During the 1950?s and 1960?s Hungary achieved improvements in the historically poor health status of its population through effective health measures and improved socio-economic conditions. While life expectancy in Western European countries improved during the 1980?s partly due to dropping rates of cardiovascular diseases, this tendency continued to worsen in Hungary as did deaths from cancer, liver cirrhosis and external causes such as accidents and suicide. Hungary has thus far completed an epidemiological transition. However, a special policy of health care for the ageing population is to be implemented. In Hungary, life expectancy at birth in 1997 was 75.1 years for women and 66.1 years for men compared to 80.8 years and 74.2 years in the European Union.
Mortality and morbidity due to unhealthy lifestyle, such as high consumption of alcohol, increasing rate of smoking and high fat and sugar diet are thought to be important causative factors. Factors contributing to the health status of population are complex, including social and economic factors as well as access to good quality health services.
2) Economy
It is difficult to estimate the total health care expenditure in Hungary, since it consists of contributions from local governments, voluntary sector and directly from the patients. In Hungary, the total health expenditure as a percentage of the GDP (6,5 %) is lower than the European Union?s average (8,5 %). The expenditure was growing steadily from PPP USD 391 in 1990 to PPP USD 602 in 1996 and it has continued to grow. The National Health Insurance Fund has a share of 70%, the largest part of the total health-care expenditure.
3) History
The first Act on mandatory sickness insurance for Hungary?s factory workers was introduced in 1889, 110 years ago, following the introduction of Germany?s sickness insurance system, affected by Chancellor Bismarck. Back then the centralised system of national sickness insurance was established for the 20th century. Before and after World War II, both the services provided by the insurance system and the group of insured persons had been extended.
In the 1970?s and 1980?s, the health insurance system was defined by Act II of 1975 on health, regulating both health and pension insurance schemes. In 1991, having returned to the practice of the first decade of this century, two self- governmental bodies became responsible for supervising and managing health and pension insurance funds, being the governing bodies of the separated Health Insurance Fund and Pension Insurance Fund.
In 1998, a package of acts has been enacted in order to restructure and redefine the social insurance system. Acts LXXX of 1997 and LXXXIII of 1997 define the scope of nationals entitled to social insurance services, private pension, the financing of the above benefits, and the benefits of mandatory health insurance. In 1999, the newly elected Parliament decided upon the supervision of the social insurance funds by a State Secretary.

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What is healthcare like in Germany?
Category: Health Care
Posted on: May 27, 2009 6:36 AM, by MarkH

What better argument for universal health care can you make than that of Germany? By far one of the most successful systems, it has had some form of universal health care for almost 130 years, and is currently one of the most successful health care systems in the world. It is again, a mixture of public and private funding, with employers providing most of the funding for health care by paying into one of several hundred "sickness funds" that provide health care funding to their employees. Germany is widely regarded as having excellent access, short wait times, care with the best technology and pharmaceuticals available, and this again while spending 10.7% of GDP (US 16%) with per capita spending of ~3.3k USD (approximately half of that in the US).
The German health care wikipedia entry is a good starting point, and it's always fun to try to translate German web pages and try to make sense of Google translations. But I've found several good articles describing the system including several articles in the MSM like this NYT piece which refers to Americans as having an "... immature, asocial mentality [that] is rare in the rest of the world," one for travelers, and one for those looking for German jobs. The consensus seems to be that Germany rocks when it comes to health care.


-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Leewaye

Dr. Zumo,
Thank you ever so much for the informative piece below, I hope our reading audience will learn some thing important from your wealth of knowledge in this area.

I have always wondered if the people who usually used the issues discussed below to score political points have ever asked about the health condition of Madam Sirleaf or her medical records? As you are aware, Madam Sirleaf is either 80 or close to that number and most of her medical checks are done in the USA at the expense of the Liberian people. I would have thought that her medical records would be public to those who paid her bills, the Liberian People.


Tony Leewaye



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From: "ZumoAmos


Two Pressure Candidates
In the wake of a recent admission coming from Johnson’s running mate that both of them are ‘pressure patients’, eye brows have been raised over the country’s future if the NUDP clinches the presidency during the election.
Senator Abel Massalley, also a senior senator of Grand Cape Mount County, in his apparent attempt to dismiss any notion of his colleague’s illness being a problem, told journalists recently, that he too carries similar sickness: “There is nothing wrong with being a pressure patient. I’m also a pressure patient”. -from Frontpage Africa.

In all sincerity, we wish Senator Prince Johnson well. We are sure he will take his meds to keep his pressure at the desired 120/80 and take his daily baby aspirin. We wish to sincerely thank Senator Masselley for being bold about his bout of hypertension as well. Acknowledging hypertension (the silent killer) is a very good and bold step for the two senators. Hope we can all educate ourselves and check our own blood pressure regularly. This is a good teaching momemt about the disease, which is responsible for so much other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality if left untreated.

Hope we don't get the false notion that they are the only ones affected. BIG MISTAKE. SORRY NO POLITICAL POINTS CAN BE OBTAINED HERE!!!!

High blood pressure (hypertension) is an important stroke risk factor: accounting for approximately 75% of all strokes.

FYI: In a recent article (" Stroke, the whip of death in the Young in Liberia", Journal of the Liberia Medical &Dental Association, pp. 15-17, vol.16, no.1) published by our dear, always brilliant colleague, Dr. Abraham Borbor at the Department of Medicine, JFK Medical Center, Monrovia Liberia, Dr. Borbor writes "The (retrospective) review of patients admitted over 33 months(August 2007- May 2010) in the JFK Medical Ward indicated that of the 2606 patients, stroke was significantly high (14.7%) and males were more affected (54.6%). Death due to stroke was high (57.06%) and the younger Liberian population (52.75% of total) is seriously affected. Hypertension was shown to be significantly associated (91.36% of total) with stroke at JFK in both males and females. Therefore, hypertension must be taken seriously by the medical community and society at large."

Hope the message is clear.

This is a chronic illness not a terminal illness so the two gentlemen should do fine with the rest of their campaign.

Instead of hiding their illnesses, at least they are honest with their illnesses- giving the public an opportunity to learn fully well about the disease (as is commonly done by the American and European public when their political leaders are affected by various illnesses), a rarity in Liberian politics and among Liberian politicians and public officials.

Zumo