Recall Liberian Ambassador

Recall Liberian Ambassador

Say protestors as they express anger over recent killing and arrest of Liberians in Ghana

Wade C.L. Williams

A group of young Liberians on Friday February 18, 2011, converged on the Ministry of foreign Affairs calling for the immediate recall of the Liberian Ambassador accredited to Ghana. The protesters Rudolf Von Ballmoos has been reckless in dealing with the situation that led to the brutalizing of Liberians on the Buduburam refugee camp located in Accra. Police are said to have fired live bullets leading to the death of at least one person and injuring several others.

Says Joash T. Hodges President of the University of Liberia Student Union: “We want the government of Liberia to firstly condemn the action of the Ghanaian people who consistently and persistently dehumanize our people in Ghana. We also want her Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to recall the Ambassador who has been reckless; an Ambassador who is disconnected with the people that he represents in another country is unfortunate. He should be the one on top of the information and insuring that the Liberian people in that country are protected. Rather he’s defending the Ghanaian government by saying Liberians violated Ghanaian laws.”

Hodges asserted that even if Liberians violated Ghanaian laws as put by Ambassador Von Ballmoos, it did not warrant the firing of live bullets leading to the death of defenseless people.

Continued Hodges: “So we are saying that the President must recall him and dismiss him from the foreign service of this country, because he has not represented the interest of Liberia in Accra, Ghana.”

Hodge’s criticism comes on the heels of recent comments made by Ambassador Von Ballmoos on several radio stations in Monrovia concerning the incident in Ghana which he(Hodges) believes is an affront to the people who are victims of the incident.

The UL student leader condemns the slowness of the Liberian government to react to the situation involving its citizens. “The government of Liberia has been foot-dragging on the situation as it relates to the situation of our people at the Budumburam Camp in Accra Ghana. So we’ve come to draw the government’s attention; to wake up from her slumber and move to ensuring that the carnage, the mayhem against the people of Liberia in Ghana can be brought to an end.”

Standing admits a crowd of placard bearing protesters who displayed newspapers with bold banner headlines and graphic images depicting the brutal incident, the tough spoken UL student activist noted, “For us we think that the Liberian leadership’s inability to move swiftly since Sunday is insensitive. The government of Liberia cannot ensure that they stand to the Ghanaian government and tell them in their faces that this issue is humiliating and it must stop. The protestors shouted slogans expressing their frustration over government’s cool toward the incident.

Hodges recalled that the incident a forth-night ago was not the first of its kind. Continued Hodges: “In the 1960’s the Ghanaians bundled up our people in fanti canoes and brought them back to this country; in 2008 when our mothers and sisters went to seek redress in Ghana, the Ghanaian authorities again visited them with brutality, then this gone Sunday such thing happened.”

The man leading the protest of about a hundred persons said the committee set up by the Liberian government in 2008 to investigate another use of force by the Ghanaian police against defenseless Liberians is yet to make its report public.

To those who are calling for the return of Liberians from Ghana, Hodges believes the issue is not about Liberians returning home, “We have Ghanaians integrated in the Liberian society. They are living the best of lives, some of them are business people, they are fishing in our waters, and they are earning capital and sending remittances to their people, are we telling them to go back home?

 If our people establish a community in Ghana and want to live there and get integrated and people are telling them to come back home? I’m discouraged in the Ghanaian government to be saying such and for the Liberian government who should be telling the Ghanaian government ‘no, this is not about coming home, but this is about you as an ECOWAS state protecting the interest of another ECOWAS citizenry’ that is the issue.

Jefferson Koijee of the National Student Interlectual Council, NSIC says justice must be served Liberians “We think the government of this country is reckless in her behavior toward this Ghanaian saga. We come here today to ensure that Madam Sirleaf gives us a listening ear. We think that our people in Ghana must be given justice”

The Situation in Ghana a fourth night ago involved the raiding of the Buduburam refugee Camp inhabited mostly by Liberians, by Ghanaian police who were trying to quell confusion over leadership issue among the Liberian refugee, but the incident turned violent and the police used tear gas and live bullets to disperse the crowd.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf met with the laders of the demonstrating students and assured them that Government will continue to seek the welfare of its citizens no matter where they may reside.

The President said a high-level Liberian delegation departs for Ghana Saturday to obtain a first-hand account of the incident at Buduburam from its residents and Ghanaian officials. The students were asked to nominate a representative to join the delegation, which includes officials of the Ministries of Justice, Information, Internal Affairs, and of civil society, they designated Joash T. Hodges.