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The Agony of Building a Unified Community
The Case of Felmausa
By: Brother Abe Kromah, Board Chairman of Felmausa

The Agony of Building a Unified Community- the case of FELMAUSA

We bear no ill felling towards anyone, even those that have convicted us without hearing our side of the story on
several issues; including the reported inaction of the Board under our leadership. As Abe Lincoln stated in his
second inaugural address in March of 1865 "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the
right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds;
to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." I don’t pen this piece to seek
retribution, but to rather provide clarity in the midst of confusion. Felmausa is a young organization striving for a
staging ground, where we can be a voice for peace and unification for our community, and in the process,
serves as a beacon of hope for our dear Liberia. Therefore, what I hope to explain in this piece is to set the
record straight, to provide information that might enlighten or strengthen our resolves in the agony of building a
unified federation like FELMAUSA.

When we set to piece together a forum where the aspiration of our people would be addressed in the face of
daunting task of disunity, we went in the arrangement with open minds, imbued with the spirit of heroes and
heroines that have come before our time, and in the most recent history of our community.

We evaluated every effort and initiatives that were employed by our forbearers, whose only fault were lack of
structure, even after they employed every effort they could find. While the present structure might not be perfect,
we have succeeded in formulating a structure that has not only worked, but has provided a blue print to some
other communities with similar diverse background. Moreover, the constitution, while not perfect has also
provided a lead way for check and balance in the structure. So please bear with me as I take you through the
tedious task of discussing some internal transaction for your information. I am not in the business of discussing
issues publicly, but as stressed by Mr. Lincoln in an 1861 speech, "that while one will rather inclined to silence,
and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than
to find one who cannot. We have tried to hold our tongue and be silence, but again Abe reminded us that Public
sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed." So because I
respect public sentiment, I will share my views on these issues with you.

Election of the Chairman of the Board of Directors -
Let's look at the issue of the chairman of the Board of Director; an issue that tend to captivate the attention of
some folks on the various website during conventions, but has not propelled most of them to avail themselves for
discussion at the conventions halls.

The Position of the Chairman of the Board was discussed and argued by the organizing member and deliberated
by the delegate to the various conventions. The structure of Felmausa like many others is distinct and different.
There are some organizations without executive leadership and some without a Board. To arrive at the present
structure, a lot of assessments and analysis were employed. We examined the attempts at this endeavor by our
forebearers. To have a functioning arrangement that would have embraced the aspiration of all member state in
this union, we accepted that all state coming in to the union will come in with their leadership and the president of
the various member state will be an automatic member of the Board and that president could appoint additional
member of the board depending on the size of the membership of that state. The constitution has detail on the
requirement per the size of the state. Please note that Felmausa has no control or input as to how the president
and member of individual member state are elected. To fashion a more balance and broader system with the
hope of accentuating the process of accommodation, accountability and neutrality, it was agreed that the
chairman of the board be elected by the board (heads of the various member state) and the rest of the delegate
to the convention, making it the total decision of the entire convention. Moreover, the fact that the composition of
the Board are not elected by the entire membership of Felmausa, it was decided that the Chairman be that
fulcrum upon which the Federation seek direct linkage to the full membership of the union. This arrangement
exposes the candidate to a tedious process of evaluation and subjects him or her to the same process as all
elected position in Felmausa. The position of board chair was considered too important of a position to be left
only to the selected few on the board. The inclusion of the entire convention, in my view provided for due
diligence on the part of the framer. Considering the nature of the structure of the federation, I think this was a
sincere and practical approach that will protect the integrity of our union. To reverse this arrangement, then, we
must be prepare to go back to finding a new structure, or have the member state become chapters and a host of
other changes that might transform the present working arrangement.

Now to the question of the function of the board as it relates to the perceived mortality.
The constitution proscribed specific cardinal responsibilities for the board to perform. Amongst the
responsibilities of the Board as defined by the constitution are:

1) to develop and promulgate policy for the federation

2- hold confirmation hearings for nominees to various position in the Federation by the president-

3 ensures the adherence to the provision of the constitution by all.

4- Approve and monitor spending and budgetary allotments and

5-certified new member state, reconcile, and resolve conflict amongst member sates on one hand, and amongst
individual members on the other.

The question of the dead Board-

After the July 2007 convention, we have submitted several policies; including the website, finance and the
conflict resolution policies to the president for approval. The first sets of policies were sent in March of 2008. The
Policies were returned to the Board 3 weeks ago with appendix by the Secretary General of the administration,
claiming that the document was returned to a bad address couple of months prior. We have confirmed the
president’s entire nominees to the steering-committee and have adopted new committee proposed by the
President. See attached copy of the letter to the president regarding the nominees and the policies submitted for
the president’s approval.
The Board participated in inducting and launching ceremony of the gradual program and the women wing in
Newark, New Jersey, sometime in March of this year; one of the new committee adopted by the board per the
president’s recommendation.

We have participated in conflict resolutions in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Texas. We have had discussion with
the Illinois Mandingo association, and subsequently accepted them as member state pending the president
acknowledgment. Prior to this present request to the president for financial update, we have made inquiries
before for update in reliance on our constitution obligation. Letters to the president attached. We have received
and investigated a request from the brothers and sisters in New York and concluded that amidst the
unsuccessful efforts to resolve the conflict in LIMANY, it was in the interest of community development that we
accept the membership request from the association in New York. Prior to their request for member state, we
have had several discussions with the brothers and sisters in New York, but those discussions did not make it to
the public eyes.

The confirmation process-

The perception of inaction is understandable, because the actions of the Board did not get such notoriety prior
to the last confirmation hearing when the co-chairman of the publicity committee who is also in charged of the
website, was rejected by the board.
Again in the interest of clarity I will address some of the questions that have been raised rightly so, by some
brothers in our community regarding the recent confirmation hearing. To the rejection of the name of Hon.
Gasumu Syllah and Hon. Sidiki Trawally, the board exercised its right to confirm the five nominees to the election
commission as it was done in the case of the previous nominees, including Mr. Trawally, when he was nominated
as co-chairman of the publicity committee. During those occasions the Chairman of the Board entertained motion
and the motion was seconded for discussion on the nominee and an up and down vote was conducted based on
the information provided by the President and Board members with some knowledge of the nominee character
and commitments to the Federation. Customarily, the Board can decide to not confirm a particular nominee on
variety of reasons; as in the case of Hon. Gasumu Syllah, several reasons were provided by individual Board
members; included his protracted absence from the working of the FEDERATION and his membership on the
Board. His membership on the Board became paramount because there was precedent established on
rejections of Board members who were appointed by the president and confirmed by the board, even though the
president was aware of their membership on the Board prior to their appointments. His membership on the Board
superseded most of the issues raised by some member of the Board. During this period, he was not contacted
because the board had no working number for him prior to the confirmation hearing. But when the president
resubmitted his name for consideration Hon. Syllah made contact with us and was invited to the Board meeting
as was done in the case of Hon. Ngafin Swaray; another Board member appointed to the election commission by
the president. Hon. Syllah opted to resign his membership on the Board as was done by many before him. He
was given the opportunity to answer question as was done with Hon. Swaray, and managed to convince the
Board memberships to reconsider their decision to reject his nomination. In the case of Hon. Sidiki Trawally it was
determined by the board memberships that his role as co-chairman of the publicity committee and the acting
webmaster in charge of the website was too important to add or trade for another responsibility, thus his
nomination was rejected. Just like his previous confirmation hearing, where he was confirmed to his present
position as co-chairman of the publicity committee- (see the attached letter to the president), Hon. Trawally like
most of the president nominees was confirmed in his absence, a decision that is left to the Board members
discretion. I believe the Board decision to reject Hon. Trawally was his huge responsibility on the website, not out
of incompetence. The institution of the National Board is a consensus oriented arrangement, where the ultimate
decision making process is derived through negotiation and consensus building. From the inception of the
Board, decisions regarding the policy formation, confirmation of all of the standing committees, to name a few,
have been reached through consensus. Before the recent structuring of the board leadership, we had delegated
responsibility to dedicated Board member, when the need arises.

Without giving much credibility to the sensationalism surrounding most headlines of late: including the headlines
posted by the Co-chairman of the Publicity committee on March 27, 2009 Captioned “FELMAUSA Board
Resurrects, Throws Setback in Electoral Process," and the question with an answer headline captioned:" where
is the Dead Board,” I believe all of what we have discussed here, debunk and contradict those rush to judgment
commentaries. I am a proponent of free speech and do encourage people to exercise them by all means
necessary. We should however, research our topics and have some understanding on issues before we indict
others. We all have limitations, but we must respect others reputation in exemplifying our own naivety.
The way forward -

Ladies and gentlemen of this vibrant community, we have and will continue to provide the adequate leadership
for a unified community. We are not going to complain, because as stated by Sojourner Truth, the truth is
powerful and it prevails. We can be guilty of many things, but inaction can not be amongst them. We are not
dwelling in our times of yore, but please judge us fairly. We have discussed our deportment as defined by the
Federation’s constitution. The community history is replete with our involvement at all level. While we will not be
perturbed by these commentaries, we are with the strong conviction that if people are asking questions, those
questions should not come with concluding analysis. If we are to ask questions and conclude with an answer at
the same time, them we are being disingenuous which is counterproductive to our goal. As we strive to strike an
adequate balance in our quest to ensure accountability, we will do it without fear or favor.
I hope you join our campaign for a better community, as we endeavor to build consensus in our quest to ensure
a more unified union, and in the process unify our dear Liberia. Building a Unify Community can be achieved
through agony and devotion to the cause of community development.

LET’S GO TO THIS YEAR CONVENTION AND CHANGE OUR COMMUNITY FOR THE BETTER.