Renford: We have just received your allegation against Kehleboe, FOCUS Program Officer. The information you have placed needs some clarification immediately, because we think it is part and parcel of a larger campaign to destroy our institution. Other than this, the allegation itself cannot stand a test of time.

We have also spoken to Kehleboe and will be sending his respond appropriately. But this much we know about Kehleboe and his entire family. Kehleboe is the fifth child of an eight children family. Even though, Kehleboe comes from a region where many young people joined the NPFL, not one member of his family joined the war on either side.

My contact with him dates from 1992 while still a student at the University of Liberia. Unlike many science students, Kehleboe was active in campus politics and earned himself a reputation of mathematical politician, a fact [you] can attest to. Not only that, [Kehleboe] served as co-chairman for the Vanguard Student Unification Party (SUP) and is currently working for the University as a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Mathematics. The basis I am trying to set is for others who do not know Kehleboe personally can appreciate the fact that he is not hidden in Liberia. If there was truth in [your] allegation, is it not possible that someone other than [you] would have raised this same issue with him since?

Our experience in Liberia is that people who perceive our activities as being directed against the government soon call us names. In 1998 and 1999, FOCUS called for the setting up of the Truth Commission so that the truth about our civil war can be told, but the President sharply reacted to that. Such a situation only give the likes of [you] the opportunity to lie on others with impunity.

According to you, Kehleboe remains your "friend" and [you] have spent considerable time together at the University before leaving for the States, but [you] never raised such issue with him one day. Can we then take you serious? Because during those war years, Kehleboe was never a part of any government, and therefore didn’t have that leverage to be harmful to you. In fact, on the contrary Kehleboe is openly known in many circles as someone opposed to the war and those that spearheaded it.

The problem in Liberia is the failure of many educated people to go beyond class interest. You (Walsh), an ardent supporter of the then NPFL cannot still see beyond your personal interest. Every close associate of [yours] will attest to the fact that [you are] prepared to go at great length to destroy those you perceived as opponents of the NPFL and its subsidiary institutions. For you, Mr. Walsh, to believe that the current sedition charge is warranted only exposes your class mentality. Even the Legal Counselor at American Embassy, Cllr. William Wagner, disagrees with the sedition charge.

We want to encourage everybody (including you) to get involved in the upcoming fundraising activity in support of the Legal Defense for the sedition case to continue such support and not to be discouraged by your comment. Our activities in Liberia are geared towards creating the enabling environment for everybody (including you) to feel free and be protected to express their opinion without fear. I hope this little piece will help others not to be misled by [you] and [your] likes. As a "friend" of Kehleboe’s, I hope [you] will muster the courage to write directly to Kehleboe through Tccliberia@aol.com to ask him for clarification.