On Claims of the LCC Failure: Earnestly Mary Broh Was In the Wrong

Just recently during a panel discussion at the Monrovia City Hall under the auspices of Liberians for the Protection of Peace and Democracy or LPPD, the Director General of the General Service Agency of GSA, Mary T. Broh claimed that the Liberia Council of Churches has “failed”.

Director Broh told Liberians who had gathered at the City Hall to participate in the discussions on peace in Liberia that whenever the Council of Churches spoke before, many ears were toned-in, but further wondered as to what waste the LCC doing today.

“The church has failed us; let me tell you today that the Liberia Council of Churches is a failure to the Liberian people. I grew up in the church and I’m not afraid of them; what are they doing for this peace? Are they doing anything? I rest my case,” Director Broh told participants of the Peace Forum.

Her claim was  an apparent reaction to what she referred to as  the absence of the Liberia Council of Churches from the Peace Forum. “Let me say something as a senior citizen of this country; I am a very controversial person; When things were going wrong in this country and the Council of Churches comes up to speak, things became calm; but here, we are discussing peace they are next door to us; no one is here representing them,” she noted.

According to her, while Liberians in and out of Liberia were celebrating a decade of unbroken peace, representations of the Council at a series of conferences held around the country could not be felt- a grave claim which did not go down well with some members of the Christian community attending the recent Peace Forum.

Disclaiming Mary Broh’s assertions, the Acting President of the Council of Churches, the Rev. Kortu Brown described Broh as ‘blind person’ because she pretended not to be knowledgeable about similar peace program at the same time the Peace Forum was being held. Rev. Brown clarified that the LCC was neither aware of the Peace Forum nor ever invited to the activities of the LPPD, including its launch last Monday at the YMCA on Crown Hill in Monrovia, even though the LCC only heard about a reconciliation meeting at its offices in Sinkor with several stakeholders and peace actors the Friday before the launch of the LPPD.

While Director General Mary T, Broh may have had her own justification for such claims even though, she said, she grew up in the church, her action against the Liberia Council of Churches was not only  very unfair, but a diabolical fallacy intended to ridicule the church for reason(s) best known to her.

In as much as the LCC may have had challenges in playing its role, Liberians are still witnesses to the positive roles it played throughout the country’s civil crisis up to present, including its intervention in the so-called April 12, 2013 planned demonstration by a group of young Liberians.

Despite the admiration many Liberians may be harboring for Mary Broh, especially because for her achievements at the Passport Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Port Authority, Monrovia City Corporation and Vital Statistics Division at the Ministry of Health and Social; Welfare, the Director General was totally out of order and in the wrong because of the injustice displayed against the Liberia Council of Churches at the City hall recently.

It is no secret in Liberia and elsewhere  that the contributions of the LCC to the country’s peace process up to the moment is uncountable and still memorable; and for the former Monrovia City mayor to castigate it just the other day, was only unfortunate and regrettable, especially without first understanding as to why the LCC may not have been officially represented at the Peace Forum recently under the auspices of the Liberians for the Protection of Peace and Democracy before publicly “jumping into conclusion”.