According to an article appearing on the Liberian observer website attempting to account for how each of Liberia’s presidential candidates are funding their campaign, portrays the presidential campaign of Cllr. Varney Sherman as being funded by members of the Liberian Lebanese community. Without stating any evidence, the Observer website has joined the critics and opponents of the Sherman Campaign to further strengthen an already dismissed fabrication.
At the onset of the political campaign, it was rumored that Gyude Bryant was using government money to fund the Sherman campaign until the Liberian Action Party Chairperson, Mrs. Sheba Brown, sent out a challenge to anyone who could prove or reveal any evidence to substantiate this ugly rumor. Since that challenge went out, the gossip has ceased and no evidence has been presented. Now the Liberian Observer website is re-hatching an old perception hoping that the people of Liberia will believe it.
What is happening here are people not wanting to accept the fact that a Liberian can be successful without being corrupt or without serving in a government. Rather than using the strong work ethics of Cllr. Sherman as a model for all Liberians to follow, his critics and opponents, many of whom served in many of Liberia past corrupt regimes, are turning the success of a hard working man into something negative.
How is the Sherman Campaign Funded
Like any other candidate in the race, there are many Liberians who shared Cllr. Varney Sherman’s vision of good governance; some of these Liberians based in the US have organized themselves into an organization called Liberians for Good Governance, or LIGG, which was established in late 2003. LIGG endorsed the candidacy of Cllr. Sherman in 2004, and since then went to work and started raising funds for his campaign.
The Liberian Observer’s article reported that only Ellen Johnson and Charles Brumskine supporters in the US are hosting fundraising programs, an assumption I considered inaccurate. To maintain some form of credibility for the reporting of the ongoing campaign the Liberian Observer website and other media outlets should be careful and refrain from injecting their own biases into news articles they are projecting as legitimate articles.
The Observer website claimed that Cllr. Sherman has not responded to attempts to have him interviewed; even if this was true, it does not give the Observer the right to assume and write anything about Cllr. Sherman that is not correct. It is not the law that in order for Cllr. Sherman to be free of these rumors, he must sit and have an interview with the Observer website or any other website. All media outlets don’t need an interview from a candidate in order to believe him. Media outlets are known to have investigative powers or talents, and for the sake of the general public, I think the Observer should employ those powers and talents and come up with facts, none assumptions, in writing about a candidate, specifically Cllr. Varney Sherman.
At the right time, Mr. Sherman will sit with any media institution to be interviewed. At the moment, Cllr. Sherman is visiting every county and district in Liberia to raise the status of his party. His hard working efforts are not being reported by the Liberian Observer or any other websites. But each time other candidate make a move, especially Cllr. Charles Brumskine and Ellen Sirleaf, the Observer and other websites make it into a headline. How are they getting news about other candidates’ travels and statements but are unable to do the same with Cllr. Sherman?
LIGG is comprised of Liberians from all backgrounds and is headquartered in Landover, Maryland. LIGG has branches throughout the United States. LIGG has hosted series of fundraising programs in which it was able to raise funds for the Sherman campaign. This money is being used to help fund the Sherman campaign. Beside funds, LIGG members are making contribution in information technology and research. The Observer website is free to contact Mr. Henry Clements, the National Chairman of Liberians for Good Governance at 301-218-0964.
Finally, we urge the Editor and staff of the Liberian Observer to find out why it is taking the Liberian Elections Commission so long to render its decision regarding the complaint filed against other candidates by the Liberian Action Party and its standard bearer Varney Sherman. The Observer websites and others wildly publicized the complaint against Cllr. Sherman and his party and the decision that followed. But since LAP and her standard bearer filed their complaint the elections commission and the news media have been silent on this.
Patrick Nimely-Sie Tuon
Publicity Chairman
Liberians For Good Governance |
