Liberia History & Information

Liberians Call for Teahjay’s Immediate Release

By Swenju Juah

Teahjay

WASHINGTON, DC, April 9, 2001––In an open letter to President Charles Taylor of Liberia, partisans of the United People’s Party (UPP) in the United States, Europe and West African capitals, as well as other Liberians concerned about the escalating violation of human rights in their country, have called upon the NPP administration to protect former deputy information minister and ex-presidential media consultant J. Milton Teahjay and his family.

“We are concerned about the whereabouts of Mr. Teahjay and call upon central authorities to protect him and his family under the laws of our country,” the statement indicates. “While President Taylor may not find Mr. Teahjay’s services useful anymore, the Liberian leader would do well to protect Teahjay’s life and rights under the Liberian Constitution. If Teahjay has not been charged for any crime within 48 hours of his arrest and subsequent detention, he should be released immediately, consistent with the rule of law,” says the letter.

“Mr. Teahjay is not a state criminal. He has only served his country and people. It is, therefore, wrong and unwarranted to reward him and his family with arbitrary arrests and intimidation. Such arrests, without any probable cause, are a direct attack by the government on a private family,” the statement continues.

The letter also sees government’s reaction to Mr. Teahjay’s questionable arrest and illegal detention as a public act, which should not be construed as a private intercourse between President Taylor and Mr. Teahjay.

According to Bodioh Siapoe, acting national chairman of UPP’s political action committee, a meeting was held by partisans in America resulting from the global media hoopla on the latest human rights violation in Liberia. The meeting, he said, decided to urge Liberians to stop being mute on issues that could eventually affect them sooner than later.

“In lieu of being quiet, Liberians everywhere must stand up for the principles of social justice and radical democracy to eliminate the existing debilitating culture of silence which engenders economic, social and political stagnation and further anarchy in our country,” Siapoe said.

Mr. Teahjay served as national chair of the U.S.-based committee in the early 1990s before returning home to serve in the Interim Government of National Unity. The organization meets this weekend in Philadelphia, PA, to conduct a seminar on political education as the United People’s Party prepares for general elections in 2003.

UPP’s history reveals the keenness of political intelligence, the wisdom, range and depth of struggle which have merited the exceptional esteem in which Liberians perceive the institution. This esteem is a result of the party’s unimpeachable valor with which it has publicly confronted turbulent political events in Liberia at the turn of the 20th century.