FORUM Boss Blasts At NPP Sec. Gen.

 


Forum
Monrovia, Liberia

Distributed by

The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia

Posted February 8, 2005

The Managing Editor of The FORUM newspaper, Augustus B. Fallah, has lambasted the National Patriotic Party (NPP) Secretary-General John Whitefield for castigating him (Fallah) on recent Radio Veritas talk show in Monrovia.

Mr. Fallah, during a press briefing at his office on Carey Street over the weekend, said Mr. Whitfield was limited in cogitating the role of independent media institutions like the FORUM.
He noted that the NPP executive, due to low level acumen would be so naïve to accuse him (Fallah) of demanding US$500 from Cllr. Francis Garlawolo to deny the reading public crucial happenings which the Liberian people deserve to know.

Mr. Fallah said what Mr. Whitfield could not comprehend was that, Cllr. Garlawolo was linked to a planned trip to Calaba along with some confidants of exiled President Taylor to discuss his (Garlawolo) blunder at the Special Court in Sierra Leone where he went to defend the former President.

According to him, when the information reached The FORUM, Cllr. Garlawolo was contacted and due to the sensitive nature of the information, he decided to compromise such publication by prevailing on The FORUM management.

Cllr. Garlawolo, at this juncture, requested Mr. Fallah to work with him as he was in the race for the presidency, but he (Fallah) noted that anything of that nature could be done on the basis of public relations which must be paid for, because according to Mr. Fallah, “we are running an independent paper.”

He furthered that at this juncture, Cllr. Garlawolo asked for the cost of one production and was told that a production costs US$250. The counselor is said to have promised to pay for two productions that could amount to US$500 but “I told him that we are not here for that.”

The FORUM boss said even with this would-be offer from the counselor, “ I bluntly told him that the story could not be compromised and as such the consultation remained unresolved until he (Garlawolo) left the country and the story was later published.”

At the same time, Mr. Fallah said he was not surprised at Mr. Whitefield’s utterances simply because he is a running mate to Cllr. Garlawolo as such he must choose to be his spokesman, especially so when the citizens of Grand Bassa County are said to have vehemently rejected him to contest a senatorial seat come October for that county.

He has however called on Mr. Whitefield to clean up the “mess” he helped to create at the National Patriotic Party over the years due to his corrupt tendency characterized by self-centeredness rather than picking bones with The FORUM management.


© 2004: This article is copyrighted by the Forum newspaper (Monrovia, Liberia) and distributed by The Perspective (Atlanta, Georgia). All rights reserved.