A CANDID ADVICE TO FORMER PRESIDENT DOE CHILDREN

It would be utterly ludicrous for anyone to hold former President Samuel K. Doe children liable for alleged crime their dad may have committed. Doe kids should not be held liable for their father's crime. However, I believe that they have been brainwashed by the same group that misled their dad. Interestingly, I have always had the conviction that these children have a great future in Liberia if, and only if, they surround themselves with the right people. Firstly, they need to extricate themselves from the cult like group they are perceive to have surrounded themselves with and become more mainstream.

What they have not realized is the fact that they have an opportunity to create a Doe brand that their father failed to leave behind for them. Several prevailing circumstance plays in their favor. They are young and likeable. Now is the time for them to use that to their advantage by doing the right thing; disassociating themselves from their dad and has tainted legacy. Their ages during their father’s rule has provided them an easy way out of the predicament they were trusted into by their dad. If I was advising these children, my first advice to them before they made their first public appearance would have been for them to make this speech.

MY FELLOW LIBERIANS, SO MANY TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPENED IN OUR COUNTRY WHEN I WAS ONLY EIGHT YEARS OLD. I HAVE HAD SEVERAL DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF WHAT TRANSPIRED, BUT ONE THING REMAINS CLEAR; NONE OF THOSE THINGS SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED. SOME BLAME IT ON DADDY, WHILE OTHER HAS DIFFERENT JUSTIFICATION FOR WHY THINGS HAPPEN. SOMETIMES, I WISH THAT ALL THESE STORIES AND JUSTIFICATION WERE BAD DREAMS THAT WILL GO AWAY, BUT THEY ARE NOT. THESE DREAMS ARE THE REALITY OF OUR TERRIBLE PAST. IF I COULD TURN THE HANDS OF TIME, I WOULD HAVE DONE WHAT I AM ABOUT TO DO NOW; MAKE SURE NO LIBERIAN CHILD EVERY GO THROUGH THIS TERRIBLE ORDEAL. MY DAD MAY HAVE LEFT BEHIND A TAINTED LEGACY BUT, WE HIS CHILDREN REFUSE TO BE DEFINED BY THAT LEGACY. WE ARE GOING TO DO EVERYTHING TO MAKE SURE NO LIBERIAN GO THIS, IRRESPECTIVE OF TRIBE. IT IS WITH THIS SPIRIT THAT I INTRODUCE TO YOU ALL THE CELUE DOE OR SAMUEL K. DOE JR. PEACE FOUNDATION. WE ARE GOING TO WORK TIRELESSLY TO PROMOTE THE PEACE THAT WAS NEVER AFFORDED TO US THE YOUTH OF LIBERIA. THANKS YOU.

Why form a foundation in honor a man that has been cast on the wrong side of history? I understand that he is your dad, but politically, socially and logically, it was not the best interest of Samuel K. Doe’s children to continue their dad’s failed legacy. They had all the resources to create a new saint brand of the Doe family. Interestingly, they don’t need their dad to become relevant; they are already relevant because of their dad. A political correct thing to have done was to quietly disassociate themselves from their dad and find their own way.

It is obvious that they are going to love their dad, but they could have sacrificed that public show of affection to emancipate themself from the shadow of their dad. Now that they have chosen to align themselves with their tribal group, whatever they do will be highly questionable. A lot of Liberians are skeptical of whatever they do because they have not extricated themselves from the group that once advised their dad. I have no personal problem with former President Doe kids; it just pains me that they are not using their youth to their advantage. Liberians are very forgiving people. Had these children been more mainstream, they would have been adored by all.