Govt. Takes Control of E. J. Roye

The dilapidated E.J. Roye Building might not remain a sore-spot for long

 The Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Administration has been accused of using a defunct PRC Decree from 1980 to confiscate the E. J. Roye Building, which belongs to the True Whig Party (TWP). The government has also been accused by the TWP of secretly bribing two of the Party’s former officials to sanction its (the party’s) illegal action.

The Ministry of Information could neither confirm nor deny these claims when contacted yesterday for government’s reaction. The Ministry’s Director of Press and Public Affairs, Abel Plackie, simply told the Observer, “I will get back to you”. No other information was received from the Ministry.

Party hierarchs have recently been negotiating the building’s takeover with the government. But other TWP members, apparently not pleased with the manner of the negotiations, have since sought to fight back. The latest bout was evidence by the release of a statement by Mr. Reginald Goodridge, also a former official of former President Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Party (NPP).

 In a statement issued Saturday in Monrovia by a former official of the True Whig Party, E. Reginald Goodridge, the Ministry of Finance was accused of paying an unspecified amount to Peter Vuku and Othello Mason – both officials of the party –  as “gratuity “ to help the party relocate its offices.

When contacted, the Ministry of Finance said it did not process any money to any official outside of the deal reached by government and the True Whig Party. Minister Amara Konneh was clear when he said his Ministry was only mandated to act in accordance with the agreement, dispelling any suggestions of a fishy transaction or anything of sort.

Mr. Goodridge in his statement, on behalf of the party, recalled that for “the past eight years since Madam Sirleaf came to office, she has made several attempts to lay her hands on the True Whig Party property. She first tried the process of eminent domain which did not succeed. Then the government made the offer of six hundred thousand United States to purchase the building, but the party refused the offer. Later the government claimed that it owned the building but failed to produce any legitimate document.

“Now, the President has gone back 33 years to use the unpopular PRC Degree to fulfill her dream of finally killing off the True Whig Party by seizing its national headquarters. The rank and file of the National True Whig Party is using every means at its disposal to stop this latest attempts by the Unity Party government to create [a] one-party state by killing off opposition political parties.”

No Deal

When contacted, Deputy Justice Minister Benedict Sannor vehemently rejected that there was a deal reached between this government and the True Whig Party.  “There was NO deal, in the first place,” he stressed.

He recalled that the E. J. Roye Building was among properties confiscated by the PRC government; adding that the building has never been returned to the TWP since. “It has never gone back to them since then. Some of the properties that were seized by the PRC by decree were returned. The E. J. Roye Building was never returned to them and they have absolutely NO records to show that the property has been returned to them,” he emphasized.

According to Minister Sannor, all actions that were taken by the PRC government, either by way of a decree or confiscation were legitimatized by the 1986 constitution. “And so, there is nothing for this government to negotiate. We just took what had already been appropriated for government,” he added.

He said this government did not confiscate the E. J. Roye Building from the TWP; it only took what had been returned to it by a previous government; an action that has been legitimized by the constitution.

“Overtime, the TWP has managed to come back to the building even after it had been confiscated by the PRC and returned to government. Now when this government decided to exercise its right to the building, we found that the TWP was there and to facilitate their relocation, government elected to assist them to move from the building,” he explained.

He declined to mention any figures involved in that settlement. “I don’t have the figures. You asked for facts, I gave you figures. You called me at my house on a Sunday evening and you expect me to give you facts?” he queried me.

The Wrangling

It may be recalled that back in May 2012, government’s bid to take over the abandoned E.J. Roye Building, again ran into trouble with party officials and members embroiled in squabbles of their own. Although erected from taxpayers’ money, E.J. Roye Building on Ashmun Street had been with the TWP for decades when the country was run under a one-party system.

But TWP officials by then, led by national chairman Peter Vuku, made it clear that Mr. Goodridge was neither an executive nor an official of the party; as such, he had no authority whatsoever to speak on any issue concerning the Party. He said no individual has the authority to reverse the decision for the government to access the building.