Dave Rodgers once said, “The best society, the best human existence, arrives when humans most closely determine the truth, and act on the truth, and separate it from superstition, falsity, or misinformation. And there is no better system for determining the truth than free speech: Testing the validity of an idea in the waters of public discussion and debate.” It is with this in mind that I recently sat down with the man who Planned and executed this year July 26th celebrations in Minnesota.
When Mrs. Martha Sinoe, President of Organizations of Liberians in Minnesota (OLM) appointed Mr. Kamanty Diahn to chair the committee that will plan the programs, some of those critical of such appointment argued that the appointment was not in the best interest of the community because of pending financial mismanagement allegations against Mr. Diahn in the Grand Gedeh Association in Minnesota.
What impact this assessment/critique may have had on the program is not clear but many people who attended the formal indoor program have expressed their disappointments about the low turn out by the community. However, in our quest to present balance reports from each side, I asked Mr. Diahn for an interview. He agreed and granted it on tape.
BTB: Before we go into the planning and execution of the program, let’s start with the Keynote speaker, as a Liberian how do you assess the speech by Bishop Warner?
Martha and her Youngest Daughter
KD: My own assessment is that the Bishop has given the Liberian people the opportunity to know where he stands on issues in our country. It is left with us to agree with him or disagree. I do not have the moral judgment to say what is wrong with the speech but one thing we can do as Liberian is to carry on the debate.
BTB: Most of the people who attended the program have expressed their own views about the performances of Ms. Munnah Myers. Some are angry with the performance, if you agree with those people are you willing to take personal responsibility for things she did wrong?
KD: Definitely the issues of Ms Myers can be looked at from two perspectives. We were featuring Ray Charles’ daughter who is an American so we also though it was a good thing to show case the talents of a young Liberian artist. We informed her manager about the program and our expectations. The manager was fully aware that this was a formal program and as such all protocols must be observed. If we had completely cut her off while singing, it would’ve been very bad. On the other hand had we not featured her because of her attire, we would’ve received an outburst from the community. While her attire and sexually explicit lyrics came as a shock, we did everything for the community. In fact as you are aware the Vice President has apologized to the community.
Former Mayor Edward Carter
BTB: Some committee members stopped some people who were slated to participate in the program for their informal attire, why wasn’t the same thing done to Ms Myers?
KD: I wouldn’t want us to go into that. I just want to tell you that we did not endorse her lyrics and attire. She knew that before the program through her manager.
BTB: As chairman of this year celebrations, was the Ms. Liberia beauty pageant part of your planning obligations?
KD: My letter of appointment and term of reference by President Martha Sanoe did not cover the pageant. I do not want to dwell on who was appointed and why things happened but since it was not a part of my plan, it was not in our budget.
BTB: As a Liberian, do you think OLM should host the Pageant for fund raising purposes?
U. S Representative
KD: I would hope so, but we have to look at the business side of it. The question is whether the pageant is a private entity or an OLM obligation. I hope the press can do some investigation.
BTB: Looking at the program, what do you say to those who say the poor turn out was due to poor publicity?
KD: Well, when you are in the public eye you become vulnerable for criticisms from both sides. Be it positive or negative, all the views have to be taken into consideration. I know that there are people who will compare this program to past July 26th programs. In my view there is no comparing because this program had a better turn out. For publicity, we did all we could, we used OLM website, we distributed posters to various churches, we use community News Medias-in fact I want to thank Bush chicken for all the publicity. It was impractical for us to write the more then 25 thousand Liberian in this state individual letters. As a Liberian, my hope is we will get involved by asking questions because the program was geared towards our Independence Day Celebrations. People who expected to receive personal invitations; my only question to them is where is your sense of national pride is? My hope is we all can be proactive when it comes to our national and community issues.
BTB: It is alleged that some executives of OLM and some county heads stay away from the program intentionally, what do you think is the reason?
KD: My appointment and mandate came from the executives; there is nothing I can do about their absence. I do not know their individual reasons.
BTB: I am told that the county heads were not officially invited to the program, if this is true, why?
KD: Invitations were sent out to all county heads. We even invited other people from different countries and they showed up. As a Liberian do you even need an invitation before you celebrate your national day? When it is national day for other countries, their citizens get involved without waiting for invitations, why can’t we do the same?
BTB: Will you say you achieved your financial goals for this program?
KD: We will be making our formal reports to the executives soon, until then; I won’t want to preempt anything.
BTB: If you were asked to compare your program to the inauguration program, what will you say was different?
KD: I was not present for the inauguration program therefore I am not in the right position to compare. However, all these programs are OLM programs.
BTB: Do you agree that there were some failures in your program?
KD: Looking at the program there was no failure. The objectives were achieved. As you may be aware, when our Independence Day falls on a weekday we normally celebrate it over the weekend but this year we thought it was wise to change that so we started the program on the main day, which was a weekday. We achieve that.
We organized four nations’ tournament that was very successful. We recognized our young Liberian soccer players at the program, something that has never been done before. We brought together Liberians from different backgrounds to discuss issues about our identity. During that discussion, you saw Hon. Gbai M. Gbala, former advisor to the late President Doe and the daughter of the late President Tolbert sitting on the same panel. You saw the Mandingos and Gio/Mano and the Youth all discussing the future of Liberia. This, in my view was an achievement.
At the formal indoor program, we had the only surviving Vice President of the first Republic shared his views on the issues in Liberia in his speech. People may agree or disagree with his views but he got his message to the people. Lastly, Liberians came together at a formal thanks giving service. Some people, who had never been to the program, attended it for the first time. Above all, the program was very successful.
BTB: What will you say was the level of support you received from the leadership of OLM?
KD: The President trusted our judgment and gave us an opportunity to carry out a task. All the executive members and the Board supported us. Our only problem was we had less time to plan and execute the program.
BTB: If asked in the future to serve in the same capacity, what will you do differently?
KD: I will wish I have more time but I will take the same bold steps we took to give variety to the celebrations.
BTB: What will you say was your weakness or strength during the planning process?
KD: I respect the few people who had sleepless nights planning and executing the program. Looking back, I wish we had enough time. The experience was a challenge that many would’ve shied away from because of criticism, but someone needed to take the steps and I am glad we did and it was successful.
BTB: Some say most parts of the program was a failure, you say the entire programs was a success because you achieved your goals, what next for Kamanty Diahn?
KD: I hope to take a well deserved vacation. I look forward to working with the community when ever called upon.
BTB: What is your last word to the community?
KD: I just want to say thanks to all those who played a role, attended, and contributed. I want to thank the executives of OLM for their confidence. I want to thank Bush Chicken and the entire community for every thing.
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