A Joint Statement By The UCEP Minority

ULAA Council of Eminent Persons (UCEP) Votes 6 to 3 to recognize Kesselly as PresidentA Joint Statement by the UCEP Minority (Cole, Toe and Kromah)Issued this 13^th day of March, 2009 as a follow-up to the UCEP Majority Voters Press Statement

One of the traits of democracy is that we do not all have to agree on every issue. Reasonable men and women on occasions disagree on issues. Like us in the minority, our majority UCEP colleagues have the right to their views and opinions. Regrettably, we do not share their views and opinions which went into their majority decision because we believe they do not address the core issues which could possibly resolve the ongoing ULAA leadership conflict. Whatever were the respective thought processes that went into the decision that our colleagues made is not for us to analyze. In dissenting, we looked at the facts as we understood them from the arguments made by our colleagues.

We dissented for the lack of a deliberative process and the political gamesmanship at play, and on the basis of upholding the chartered principles of ULAA. History and mankind will judge our dissenting action as taken in the best and long-term interests of ULAA; take note that it will be sooner rather than later.

We confirm that the ULAA Eminent Persons Council (UCEP) voted Sunday, March 8, 2009 to recognize Mr. Anthony Kesselly as the President of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA). UCEP also accepted as final and binding all other decisions made by the 34^th ULAA National Assembly held at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 4, 2008.

Voting for the decision was Tom Jucontee Woewiyu, Bai Gbala, Arthur K. Watson, Siahyonkron Nyanseor, Jesse Cooper, and Mydea Reeves- Karpeh.
Voting against the decision was Leslie Norman Cole, Sr., Al Gbi Toe, Sr. and Mohammed S. Kromah.
Absent from the decision-making vote was Joseph Woah-Tee, Nicholas Refell, and J. Ivan Gueh.

UCEP is an organization comprising of former ULAA National Presidents and Chairmen of the National Board of Directors. It currently has twelve (12) participating members. Our colleagues in the majority expressed their individual opinions and collective vote based on the following propositions:

To halt the prevailing disagreements, conflicts and factionalism within ULAA and stop the organization of a parallel administration;
To promote reconciliation and peaceful reunion;
To foster and build consensus on finding solutions to the issues of good governance in ULAA;
To place in perspectives the interpretations/misinterpretations and representations/ misrepresentations surrounding issues of transparency and accountability involving the ULAA Presidential and General Elections held in Pittsburgh; and

Finally, our majority colleagues voted to accept the decisions reached in Pittsburgh, PA since the National General Assembly is the highest decision making body in the Union. We, in the minority, opined, dissented and voted our conscience on the following grounds:

Dissenters Cole, Toe and Kromah empathically state that UCEP cannot make any reasonable, just and fair decision about the ULAA leadership crisis because it did not review any legal and other evidentiary material; did not interview the various parties in conflict; did not conduct any investigation to establish truthful and factual accounts ; did not seek out legal counsel or opinion; did not embark on a fact-finding mission; and, did not spearhead any mediation talks or offer terms of a negotiated settlement to the parties.
Dissenters Cole, Toe and Kromah uphold the fundamental rights of ULAA chapters as free and independent member-organizations, which rights are enshrined in the Union Constitution. Consequently, ULAA is not a body of individuals, but a compass of organizations. The dissenters, being members of LCA-North Jersey and LCA-Maryland respectively, acted to uphold the resolutions of their various chapters not to participate in the 2008 Pittsburgh Assembly due to electoral, constitutional and other unresolved issues stated in those resolutions; and statements/resolutions issued by the ULAA Board of Directors.
Dissenters Cole and Toe consistently informed the UCEP about the four (4) lawsuits within the New Jersey Superior Court involving the Liberian Community Association of North Jersey (LCANJ). Ruling(s) by the Judge or a Jury of our peers will certainly affect the ULAA leadership situation, one way or the other: 1) a candidate on the Kesselly Team did not acquire the proper certification from the legitimate LCANJ as required by the ULAA Elections Law, and 2) ULAA President Emmanuel Wettee illegally seated a breakaway faction of LCANJ at the Pittsburgh Assembly, which factional delegation participated in placing the entire Kesselly Team into the national offices of ULAA. Note that EPC member Arthur Watson is a member of the unelected leadership of the breakaway faction which filed the original lawsuit against the elected President (Robert Smallwood). And, further note that Cole and Toe support the one counterclaim lawsuit and two lawsuits filed by Robert Smallwood against the leaders of the breakaway faction.
Dissenters Kromah and Cole specifically stated that the ULAA electoral process was poorly organized, and conducted in a manner neither free and fair nor transparent and accountable. Until such time that a fact-finding mission is commissioned to determine the root causes of what went wrong, ULAA is bound to be engulfed in crisis.
Dissenters Cole, Toe and Kromah believe that the ULAA leadership conflict could have been avoided if the constitutional, electoral and oversight processes were thorough, deliberated, organized and conducted in consonance with existing ULAA laws, policies, procedures and practices, and free of political interferences from all sides of the conflict. The Dissenters believe, individually and collectively, that Anthony Kesselly had the experience, campaign organization and financial and material resources to defeat Abraham Massaelly and Mariah Seton in a free, fair, transparent and accountable presidential election. We lament how the rush to elections and to take power has now destroyed the name of ULAA; factionalized its national institutions; broken up many of its chapters into pieces; flamed anger and character assassinations among families and friends; and triggered the wasteful and scandalous expending of monies and time.

Now, therefore, we, the minority voters, wish to make the following pronouncements:

· Mr. Leslie N. Cole, Sr. hereby exercise the right to recuse himself from the activities of the ULAA Council of Eminent Persons (UCEP) as of March 13, 2009, until at such time when the LCA-North Jersey litigation can be decided by a judge or jury of the New Jersey Superior Court

.· Mr. Mohammed S. Kromah hereby suspend his membership in the ULAA Council of Eminent Persons (UCEP) as of March 13, 2009, and until at such time a genuine, fair and just solution to the ULAA national leadership crisis is processed through negotiated settlement or by a court of competent jurisdiction

.· Mr. Al Gbi Toe, Sr. hereby act upon the right to terminate his membership in the ULAA Council of Eminent Persons (UCEP) as of March 13, 2009 with cause: within the EPC rank and file, the unnecessary rush to judgment is apt to comatose the vision, mission, objectives and goals of UCEP. In the court of public opinion, the majority decision will render asunder the moral responsibility of UCEP in upholding, defending and protecting the organizations, laws, and institutions of ULAA.Given under our names and signatures this 13^th day of March, 2009: Leslie Norman Cole, Sr. Al Gbi Toe, Sr. a/k/a Toe Blamo Gbi, Mohammed S. Kromah ____________________________________________________________________________Some of you may read this statement and quote Edmund Burke: “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Enter subhead content here