BY: Peter Massaquoi for Ceasefire Liberia
Bong County Senator Jewel Taylor has described as laughable reports that she insulted the president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
It has been reported in some quarters in Monrovia that the Bong County senator rained insults on the Liberian leader during the heat of the Montserrado County by-election campaign in which Sirleaf’s party was massively defeated, a defeat the governing party is nursing at the moment.
Senator Taylor said the rumors were being disseminated by people she described as her political opponents and are intended to divert the public attention from chronic problems facing Liberian women.
Speaking in Monrovia the Bong County Senior senator said she was not in the habit of issuing unpleasant words at people, least of all the president of Liberia. Madam Taylor said while she differs with the president on some of her policies it will not amount to her disrespecting the office of the president.
Jewel Taylor, an ex-wife of the now jailed former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is on trial at the Hague on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the West African state of Sierra Leone, vigorously campaigned in the 2005 general and presidential elections for Madam Sirleaf against the main opposition Congress for Democratic Change of Ambassador George Weah, describing her at the time as the lesser of the two evils.
But the relationship between the two soon began to sour when Sirleaf’s government turned over Mr. Taylor to the court to answer to charges brought against him by the international criminal court for Sierra Leone, something senator Taylor felt was a complete breach of confidence on the part of president Sirleaf.
The Bong County lawmaker told reporters in the Liberian capital that she supported president Sirleaf because she promised the Taylor family that Charles Taylor would not be turned over by her regime, but later changed her mind following international pressure from the West. President Sirleaf said she never entered any agreement with the Taylor family about turning over Taylor.
Sen.Taylor was among many opposition politicians that ganged up against the ruling party candidate Clemenceau Urey in the second round of the Montserrado County by-election. It was at this point that the ruling party is alleging that the president of Liberia was insulted by Senator Taylor at one of the opposition campaign rallies.
Women’s groups have been meeting at the Gender and Development Ministry to find out the facts surrounding the allegations.
Our reporter, who visited the offices of the senator, saw group of rural women meeting with the Senator to get her side of story.
Article originally published onwww.ceasefireliberia.com
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