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Posted September 6, 2006
Fire Not Aimed At Chief Executive
Following the fire incident at the Executive Mansion on
Liberia’s 159th independence, Liberians and their compatriots in
the Diaspora were overwhelmed by rumors of sabotage. The cause of the
incident which was believed to be an electrical fault quickly shifted to an
act of arson probably because of the time and event during which the
incident took place.
Shortly after the fire incident, the minister of
Presidential Affairs/executive chief of Staff, Morris Dukuly resigned before
President Sirleaf made the changes that affected the security adviser, SSS
director, and minister of Presidential Affairs/executive chief of staff
respectively.
After his resignation, former Presidential Affairs
Minister Morris Dukuly told Liberians that he would take the blame and
responsibility for the fire that now believed to have its origin in the
cabinet room of the Executive Mansion. It was previously reported that the
fire started in former Minister Dukuly’s office.
The former minister did not say however, what led to
his decision neither did President Sirleaf give reasons behind the post fire
incident shake-up except for poor security. But rumors circulated in
Monrovia pointed to two undisclosed meetings between former LURD’s leader,
Sekou Conneh and Morris Dukuly prior to the incident.
While President Sirleaf tried to discourage
speculations into the cause of the fire, as efforts were being made to hire
South African forensic scientists to probe into the incident, words of
mouth, media analysts, Liberian Security Intelligence were busy finding
causes and motives behind the incident which some observers described as
“perfect timing” referring to it also as a move to send a negative picture
of Liberia to the visiting West African heads of state and other dignitaries
present during the incident.
Rumors and speculations became most wide spread when
the chief executive announced that she would launch a scrutiny exercise of
the Executive Mansion staff including the gardeners. The president’s
decision to conduct a massive scrutiny exercise at the Executive Mansion,
according to unimpeachable sources at the Executive Mansion was intended to
distinguish between good and bad employees.
So the question many well meaning Liberians at home and
abroad posed at the time was who wanted to kill the president and why? The
Liberian leader too has been very cautious of her personal security, thought
she refused to publicly point finger to masterminds or saboteurs in the
incident.
However, her caution for her personal security led to
major changes in the Special Security Services (SSS) which brought in Chris
Massaquoi as the new SSS director.
The changes within the SSS created another security
concerns when shoot-outs took place at the new SSS boss residence in which
the SSS boss body guard, Emmanuel William also known as Silver J. was
killed. The incident which is still under investigation points to a feud
between Deputy SSS Director Ashford and his immediate boss, Chris Massaquoi.
These strings of events, prior to the findings of the
fire incident have created suspicion within different Liberian and
International communities about the reliability of Liberian security system
especially at the Executive Mansion.
Meanwhile with the findings from South African forensic
analysts pointing to electrical fault in the Executive Mansion fire, the
rumors of sabotage will likely vanish, but the issue with the SSS still
remains. Investigators have not established on whose orders an SSS man
killed another SSS man. Investigators have not established what prompted the
fatal shootings among the SSS men, especial those that are close to the
chief executive.
Writes,
Thomas Kai Toteh
tnyantk@yahoo.com
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