A lad who returned a missing US$ 50, 000 found was heaped with praises terming him as an integrity hero versus a former government appointee who acted upon the orders of his Commander-in-Chief to expend some US$1m for the intended purpose yet gets reproved and condemned.
This paper catalogued all the most publicized events in 2021 and has reached a decision to pick these two financial displays to memorialize 2021 interesting historical events.
A 19-year-old Emmanuel Tuloe’s act of integrity and the drama surrounding Brownie Samukai as the only and first Liberian to get elected and pronounced winner, yet the election managing body is reneging on certificating him needs deeper thoughts while we heap praises and rain diatribes either for or against.
These events for us, are the most memorable in the year under review especially as Emmanuel quickly gained stardom even in the wagon of ‘corrupt officials’ when he least expected that his action could have made him sit with kings and queens or even turn the heart of a President while Samukai is being derided and fated to the core in spite of his delicate and diligent public service which has troubled native devils from Lofa County to even leave the bushes and called a press conference to express their next action.
The story is that this 19-year-old lad who rides a motorcycle for a living returned some US$50,000 and more in Liberian dollar currencies after he had found it to its owner, who was a passenger on another bike in Ganta, Nimba and through extensive media coverage, he won recognition though there were several others whose hands this money surfaced.
According to the teenager, during one of his many interviews with the media, he had earlier received series of insults from friends for returning the money.
However, though he was being hurt and mocked at as well, his audacity to return the money, be it for fear or out of honesty, won the heart of President George Weah who invited him and offered him a US$10,000 cash reward for his trustworthiness.
The teenager who aspires to be a medical doctor in the future was also offered a scholarship by President Weah up until Master’s Degree level and these offers were followed by several others thereby prompting Emmanuel to relocate to Monrovia with his family for fear that he could be bewitched if he remained in Nimba.
This paper’s recognition to him is just an addition to the many recognitions he continues to receive for his ‘honesty’ for returning such huge sum of money in a country that is blemished internationally due to its wanton corruption and Tuloe, as he is called by his peers in his county of origin has now become a national hero.
While as for Samukai, the ‘government’s denial to allow him take his seat for a year now is not only historical but a blatant violation of our Constitution which makes up a portion of the Weah-led government’s history that as a sitting President, a senator was denied from taking seat on allegations of misapplication of public funds instead of election matters or his inability to win.
The former Defense Minister who was overwhelmingly designated and voted by his people to represent them in Lofa County was disallowed by government through its justice arm on grounds that he stole money belonging to the gallant men and women of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) when this same government began refunding the money on an arrangement of ‘continuity’ in governance.
The Solicitor General, Cephus’s argument is that Samukai is imperfect to take an “integrity seat” therefore mandated the NEC through the Supreme Court to halt his certification though the same Supreme Court purged Samukai of all matters arising from the elections which he won massively showcasing himself as the choicest of the candidates in the December 20, 2020 representative election.
This unprecedented event among other things, has ignited series of protestations from sons and daughters of Lofa County as a means of expressing their dislike over the treatment meted on their kinsman.
This heartbreaking event against the people of Lofa County in the word of an elderly man who spoke to our reporter in Lofa had led “Bush devils” too to launch protest against the government of Liberia thereby denying government officials free entrance to Lofa.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the Ministry of Justice against the certification of Samukai, in the mind of Cephus according to the petition filed by the government, the senator-elect is a convict who is due to pay every dime withdrawn from the AFL pension money while he served as Minister and that he should not be certificated.
But, the Criminal Court ‘C’ ordered the restitution of the money which Samukai began according to the payment plan while the rest of the accused are left unnoticed; an action which is in accordance with the Supreme Court’s Chief Judge Francis Korkpor’s mandate that Samukai cannot be certificated until he is cleared by the lower court at the Temple of Justice.
Some prominent citizens of Lofa, Nimba, and others from the southeast in the Diaspora, as well as some Liberian business persons contributed nearly US$182,000 and presented same to the Friends of Lofa County-Senator-Elect Brownie J. Samukai which represents a 50% share as required by the court.
However, considering the political maneuverings coupled with the political poly, this institution has voted to declare the former Defense Minister’s denial to represent the people of Lofa in the Liberian Senate as the most memorable event in 2021.