We will not shy away from Taylor
Opposition Coalition for Democratic Change or CDC Vice Chair for Operation Mr. Mulbah Morlu says the CDC will never shy away from affiliating or speaking with jailed former president Charles Ghankay Taylor, amidst demands to make public the content of a phone call between CDC standard bearer Sen. George Weah and Mr. Taylor.
“But let me tell you something, we are not shying away from our standard bearer speaking to Mr. Taylor because there’s nothing criminal in doing that”, Mr. Morlu argued Monday morning, 10 April when he appeared on a local talk show in Monrovia at Prime 105.5 Fm.
“We will never shy away from affiliating or speaking with individuals that are Liberian citizens irrespective of their status. When people are sent to jail they go to be rehabilitated in most cases. So are you telling me Kelvin that those that are convicted at South Beach don’t receive visitors from Liberia?”
Mr. Taylor, a former warlord and ex-president who is serving a 50 -year prison term in a British cell for crimes committed againsthumanity through aiding and abetting rebels in neighboring SierraLeone, was reported in January of having phone conversation with Sen.Weah.
In the face of mounting pressure from some quarters here demanding toknow the content of the communication between Mr. Taylor and Sen.Weah, Mr. Morlu argues that the CDC is “not at risk of demise” or “ofdisintegration” on grounds that it is the strongest party here.
He says every call placed within the walls of prison in Britain ismonitored, and every call placed outside the walls of the prison isalso authorized. As such, he concludes that it is completely legal tointeract with a former president who is in jail for crimes committedin Sierra Leone, and not even in Liberia.
Mr. Morlu argues further that Sen. Weah has clearly revealed that it was an opportunity he(Weah) had to interact with Mr. Taylor and that he (Weah) didn’t initiate the call.
He says a member of the [CDC] Governance Council received the call from Mr. Taylor, and then Mr. Taylor asked the council member to speakto Amb. Weah through a third party that was present at the governance council meeting.
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“So those that speak and lie are the ones that should be judged on thepedestal of the lack of integrity because they got something to hide”,Morlu says.
To back his claim that the CDC is not at risk of disintegration, Mr.Morlu insists that Mr. Taylor is convicted for crimes not againstLiberians, but for crimes in Sierra Leone.
He says speaking to a former president, irrespective of his [or her]status of a free citizen or otherwise does not diminish a politicalparty, but it rather diminishes the integrity of those that he claimswould speak to the former president denied such conversations never took place.
He says he is proud that Sen. Weah is the “most truth tellingpolitician in this country that affirmed and said yes I spoke withhim, others lie everyday”.
By Winston W. Parley-Edited by Othello B. Garblah
