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Posted November 22, 2006
Veteran Liberian female soldier proposes Military College
The
need to have a modern army and educated military men and women that
Liberians can be proud of begins with a military college, an AFL veteran has
proposed.
Joyce
DeLine, a prominent Liberian based in the U.S., said Liberian army was once
referred to as nokos, but at this time, especially in the 21sth century,
Liberian army must not serve as a dumping ground. “No more nokos….the army
is the pride of the nation upon which the security of the people and nation
rests,” she said in her email to runningafrica.com over the weekend from her
home in Georgia.
DeLine
looks back to the days when men and women of the Armed Forces of Liberia
were dehumanized only because of their level of education, even though they
were sacrificing to protect their country. “Let us not allow history to
repeat itself,” she said.
“We
must put our money where our mouths are,” she said, adding that every one
wants a new army but is waiting on government and other nations to fix it.
She said Liberians at home and abroad are querying government about many
things, but “how many of us are willing to be a part of the solution?”
DeLine
disclosed that there have been favorable responses to open an escrow account
for every one to at least donate $10.00 towards modernizing the Liberian
army. She said when this account generates a substantial amount, a committee
will be set up to go to Liberia and conduct a survey for a suitable place
for a College to be built for the Liberian army. After the accomplishment of
the mission, “we can present it as a gift to the military, which is one way
we can help the security system in Liberia.”
DeLine
is calling on all former AFL soldiers, every Liberian, and friends of
Liberia in the US to come on board to contribute their quotas if they love
to see the army moves from nokos to an army of educated men and women with
discipline and reliability. “I am proud to give a helping hand. We all have
to get involved to make our national army a proud one,” DeLine said.
There is no government without the people’s input
“The
reconstruction of Liberia is a task for all Liberians. But it appears we all
are looking on and criticizing as if reconstruction and putting things back
in the right directions rest exclusively upon the government.” She observes
there is no government without the people, adding that government is only a
care taker of the different branches and offices.
She is
urging Liberians to work with government to build a wonderful, loving and
peaceful Liberia. “We have all traveled out of Liberia to many different
countries. Some of us have had the opportunity to live and work in the
United States of America, Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. We know
how these systems work,” she observed. She said those Liberians who have
traveled need to take the positive parts of these systems where they visited
and try to apply them to rebuild Liberia.
She
said every time Liberians get on the telephone, they express the need to go
home and how hard things are. She said this is true because there is no
place like home. “If we do not help ourselves, no one will. We are so used
to being spoon fed, that we are too lazy to pick up the crumbs that fall
from our mouths,” she said.
She
said right now in Liberia things are being given and done for Liberians by a
lot of countries and that is all good. “My fellow Liberians let me tell you
something. At the end of the day, these countries will reap their results
and we will stand aside only to say, you see these foreigners are just here
exploiting us.” She asked, “What are we doing now, waiting to be spoon fed?”
She is
urging her fellow Liberians to stop writing what the government needs to
do-and-what-not-to-do and start doing what we need to do as a people,
because according to her “we are the government.”
Writes,
Thomas Kai Toteh
STAFF WRITER
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