The Inquirer (Monrovia)
C. Winnie Saywah and Rose M. Saulwas
30 August 2008
Dr. Amos Sawyer, former interim leader in the established government for national unity in 1990 giving clarity on the change of the Liberian currency during his tenure said that at no time did he take delivery of any money or did he in any way have financial transactions with Mr. Johnson.
Dr. Sawyer who headed the Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU) during the invasion of former President Charles Taylor denied ever having any involvement with the former leader of the INPLF Prince Johnson on what was alleged as receiving US$8.7 million from the slain former President Samuel Doe's account.
However, Dr. Sawyer was quick to recollect that his only encounter with Johnson was when he changed the currency noting that it was when he received the rant and rage of those who have looted banks like him (Johnson) and accumulated the currency thereby keeping huge amount of monies in containers on his base.
The renowned university professor, Sawyer, who earlier expressed his unwillingness to dignify the rants and rages of a pathological liar like the Nimba County Senior Senator Johnson, said that during his time of leadership, he did not write a note to the Central Bank or the Finance Ministry requesting a dime to use in government or privately.
Dr. Sawyer told the TRC crowd that even the money that was in his contingency budget was used for humanitarian purposes and that he did not know how much was in it, noting that Liberians are privileged that the people Prince Johnson mentioned are still alive and can be questioned.
Contrary to what former INPFL leader Prince Johnson said just 72 hours that Sawyer, as interim leader, was given some US$8.7million from slain President Samuel Doe account and that he subsequently changed the Liberian currency due to his selfish nature calling them thieves, the witness told the TRC that his acts were based on the facts that even financial experts did not know how much money were being circulated.
"People were in possession of containers of money because banks had been looted during the war and if I had not done what I did, one would have bought a loaf of bread for a wheelbarrow filled of money," Dr. Sawyer asserted.
Dr. Sawyer, during whose tenure the Liberian bank notes was changed without giving account of how much of the new money was printed and circulated told the TRC that he did not know how much money was printed, but thinks that David Vinton, former Central Bank Governor, would be able to give account and that it was very doubtful if there was any pilfering of the printed money because the changing of the money was done under strict security measures.
Addressing the issue of the signature of Baron Tarr being placed on the new money when he had not been confirmed as claimed during Prince Johnson's testimony, Dr. Sawyer said that it was assumed that Mr. Tarr had been confirmed and that they had earlier put in the order of the printing of the new money which already bore the signatories signatures and it could not be revoked due to security measures.
Dr. Sawyer boasted that what he sought to change in the past, if done now, he is capable of doing what he did, thereby cautioning the present leadership not to be seen as bowing to pressure instead, he must be listening and responding to the people.
He said that the money he used in his government was to pay civil servants for which he can boast that when turning over, his government owed civil servants less than two months arrears while there was still electricity in the country.
Meanwhile, Dr. Sawyer, a key drafter of the 1986 Liberian Constitution has also denied ever having an input in the said constitution that established the six-year tenure of the presidency.
"The 1986 constitution is not the constitution I helped to draft," Dr. Sawyer told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Dr. Sawyer who appeared yesterday at the ongoing Thematic Public Hearings at the Centennial Pavilion told the commissioners that in the constitution he helped to draft, tenures for the president and representatives were four years each and Senate, six years.
He said that his drafted constitution also established that judges be appointed through a panel of judges while appointments of superintendents be done by commission scrutiny.
"Auditor generals are to report to the Legislature and not to the president," he continued, adding, that the constitution which was promulgated bear considerable departure of the one they submitted.
Dr. Sawyer who like few others spoke from a prepared script but he specifically chose to speak on the undermining causes of violence in Liberia noting that Liberia had been a centralized paradise of power and pageantry.
He said that even the 1980 coup did not only seek to remove a government but uprooted a governing paradise pointing out that the mass rallies were not an invention of the so-called progressives but that such acts were entrenched in the Liberian society.
The former interim leader in the 1990 peace arrangement told the TRC that they who fought to bring peace by uprooting a governance of centralized paradise were determined to make people to use election processes to broaden the democratic space.
"Government must respond to people and not policies flowing down to the people as if they are blessings. People should be able to learn from their mistakes," Dr. Sawyer stressed.
"March 1979, the Progressive Alliance of Liberia (PAL) announced that there would be a demonstration on the price of rice but why was the police ordered to kill? Who ordered them to shoot to kill and how many persons were killed? Dr. Sawyer questioned the panel of commissioners recalling that the price of rice began to rise to 15% in 1976.
He recalled that when the currency was changed, his regime was able to pay civil servants with less than two months outstanding when they turned over and that there was electricity in the country and the economy was relatively okay.
Speaking to what he knows about the Tolbert government, Dr. Sawyer said that President Tolbert was a good man but that the dilemmas of his time made him to be a victim to those who wanted change.
"In 1974, Tolbert introduced the gambling bill and that, to my knowledge, has not been repealed. Citizens did not like it but when it reached the Legislature, six persons voted against it and when Tolbert heard it, he demeaned the Legislature by vetoing said bill.
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What else could anyone in Liberia hear from Mr. Amos Sawyer? The same old story from Cheapo, Tipoteh, Carlor and even Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. It is very sad that Sawyer is brave enough to call Prince Johnson a pathological liar when his own statements to the TRC are fulled of lies. For examples, could it be possible for man like Amos Sawyer to authorize printing of a nation's currency without knowing the total amount? Lie number one. If so, what kind of political scientist is he? Did Sawyer leave the brim of power owing only two months to the civil servants? Lie number two. Sawyer left the interim leadership owing more than three months to the civil servants while he distributed two thousand U.S.dollars to his ministers and heads of agecies along with vehicles used by said institutions. Moreover, why can't he be bore enough to tell the Liberian people that it was a naive mistake on the part of his government to have MR. Baron Tarr's signature on the money when he was not confirmed. Did not this proves that taking major decision in government based on assumption he is worst than the very unlettered leadership he stood against? Again, where did he get the U.S. two hundred fifty thousand dollars to buy his house in Marland, USA? By the way, when is he going to sue the ENQUIRER NEWSPAPER for exposing him in that deal? Mr. Sawyer, if you were really against what you called "centralized paradise of power and pageantry,"
why didn't you replace Mr. Peter Ngor when he resigned as vice president of your interim administration rather you kept all power to you and your alleys? Do you remember when your minister of Yourth and Sport refered to the government officials as "gg",grapt and go? Mr. Sawyer, it is better for you to shut up. You can't any longer fool the liberian people by lies through rhetoric.
There’s definitely must be a referendum to undo the current tenure of the president and the congress. For a country that has never had a real election, six and nine years are too long. We must have elections as often as possible to work every kink in the electoral process and to give everyone an opportunity to serve.