Since the submission of the TRC Unedited Report on June 30, 2009, government has not settled salaries and other areas owed Commissioners, staff and vendors. The TRC through its secretariat has for the past several months been working with the Ministry of State and other appropriate governmental institutions responsible for such matters including the Ministry of Finance, the Legislative Committee on Finance and the National Budget Committee to resolve the matter but to no avail.

It is nearly one year since the submission of the unedited report and six months since the presentation of the Edited Final Report yet, the government has refused to pay the balance salaries and other arrears. It has also been seven months since the TRC Commissioners met with President Sirleaf at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding this matter. It can be recalled that on 25 November 2009, Commissioners met with the President on outstanding TRC issues including the closing down and archiving of the Commission’s work and payment of back salaries. At that discussion, the President assured Commissioners that the matter would be resolved and actually instructed Minister Morris Saytumah of the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs to work along with the TRC and Ministry of Finance to that effect. Subsequently, the Ministry of Finance requested a log of documents from the TRC including several audits reports which the TRC has complied with.

The TRC has been informed by Finance Ministry and Budget officials time and time again for more than six months that they are meeting on this matter yet no result is forthcoming instead, people are constantly being told “to go and come back”. At this time, Commissioners are of the opinion that the inability of government to settle salaries of TRC personals especially Commissioners, is politically motivated because of the inclusion of some individuals in government including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Deputy Finance Minister Tarnue Mawolo  on the list recommended to be barred from holding political office because of their role in supporting the war which saw over 250, 0000 dead and the destruction of the Country.

The overtly aggressive posture adopted by  Ministers Ngafuan and Mawolo towards the report and Commissioners who signed it, for example is clear indication that the failure of government to meet its legal financial obligation to commissioners and staff is indeed politically motivated. Both men, according to reliable sources, have declared that they are at war with the TRC.  That they have up to this point failed to fulfill their responsibilities, despite President Sirleaf’s informing Commissioners that she has charged the Finance Ministry to do so, tends to lend credence to Executive Mansion corridor gossips that President Sirleaf is enjoying what they call her “sweet revenge” and playing cat and mouse with the TRC.

In our attempts to resolve this matter we have exercised more than enough patience as a way of giving government sufficient space, given other national preoccupations, to adequately address our concerns. However it appears that our patience for over 10 months has been taken for passivity. We have brought this matter to the attention of the “moral guarantors” of the Liberian Peace process i.e. the International Contact Group on Liberia (ICGL), ECOWAS, the EU, AU and the government of the United States of America thru its Ambassador accredited near Monrovia all seemingly to no avail. It is indeed unfair, unjust and abusive of human rights to out rightly deny, for political reasons, payment of salaries and wages earned by an individual or group of individuals, as is the case of the TRC.

Commissioners, cleaners, messengers, security officers, drivers and other staff have families to take care of, to feed daily, to pay school fees buy medicines, etc. Why are they being punished or why should they be victimized because President Sirleaf and her ministers are “vex”?   So much for the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) but is this the kind of new Liberia that we seek to build for ourselves and our children” Has national politics become so debased that it is now characterized by lies, deceit, vindication and self aggrandizement- have we forgotten so easily our 14 year nightmare?  Has Liberia under President Sirleaf now reverted to that of a Country of men and not laws? We certainly hope not, not especially at a time when President Sirleaf is being hailed and receiving accolades abroad for her sagacious leadership and adherence to tenets of good governance.

In wake of this deliberate attempt to economically strangulate Commissioners and staff, and having exhausted every possible diplomatic means to remedy the situation, Commissioners are left with no other alternative but to consider the filing of legal proceedings in order to ensure Government’s compliance to its obligation to pay wages and salaries legitimately earned. Government functionaries must be reminded that they are only custodians of state resources entrusted by the people of Liberia to administer with accountability and transparency.

We would like to remind President Sirleaf that this misadventure by her “Knights in shining armor” (unjustifiably withholding TRC salaries and wages) can only hurt the image of her government and herself in particular. We therefore call on President Sirleaf to come through with her pledge and commitment to bring to this matter to a close with the payment of salaries, wages and the archiving of TRC documents. We Commissioners and staff have done our work honestly and with out fear or favor.  The government must do the right thing by paying our just due.