WHAT WAS meant to be a solemn farewell for Liberia’s former First Woman, Nancy B. Doe, has changed into a nationwide flashpoint — not over the funeral itself, however over a daughter’s choice to reject a condolence gesture rooted in Liberian custom. That call, made by Veronica “Mamie” Doe, has sparked an emotional and divisive debate if her protest an act of non-public precept or considered one of pleasure?
THE CONTROVERSY facilities on a condolence donation from former President George Manneh Weah — two cows, 50 luggage of rice, drinks, and different objects — despatched to the Doe household compound in Monrovia shortly after Nancy Doe’s demise on Could 21.
THE OFFERING adopted a private go to by Weah and his spouse to the household. Video circulating on-line confirmed members of the family making a heartfelt plea for assist, particularly requesting a cow. Such requests are frequent in Liberian funeral tradition, the place symbolic donations from nationwide figures are each anticipated and revered as gestures of unity and assist.
YET WHEN the donation arrived, Mamie Doe intervened decisively. “I don’t need this stuff. Allow them to take it again to CDC,” she was quoted as saying, referencing Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change social gathering. Her order to return the objects — not as soon as, however twice — shocked many.
IN LIBERIA, funerals are sacred communal ceremonies, and rejecting a condolence present is culturally taboo. The gesture isn’t just materials; it carries the burden of collective solidarity.
HER REJECTION ignited fast and really public backlash. Movies from the Doe residence confirmed members of the family scolding Mamie Doe in open frustration. One aged relative captured the temper of the household — and the nation — in a viral outburst: “If she desires to behave like she alone personal Ma Nancy, then your one will bury your ma!” It was a bitter cry, born out of each cultural dismay and emotional damage.
THE FALLOUT didn’t finish there. Conventional elders from Tuzon, the Doe household’s ancestral residence in Grand Gedeh County, shortly stepped in. Led by seasoned diplomat and former senator Isaac Nyenebo, they paid a proper go to to Weah to apologize for what they known as an “unacceptable” act by Mamie. They assured the previous president that her views didn’t mirror these of the Grand Gedeh individuals, they usually accepted the donation within the county’s identify.
STILL, the deeper query persists why did Mamie refuse the gesture so vehemently — and what does it say about Liberia’s wrestle with its previous?
THOSE WHO know Mamie Doe nicely say her choice was not made frivolously. It’s rooted in years of watching her mom, as soon as the nation’s First Woman, undergo what the household sees as deliberate neglect. Nancy Doe spent many years largely deserted by the political institution, repeatedly voicing her frustrations over lack of assist from successive governments, together with Weah’s. Regardless of her function because the widow of President Samuel Kanyon Doe — a traditionally pivotal determine — she was denied entry to her husband’s properties, monetary entitlements, and any significant state recognition.
TO MAMIE DOE, Weah’s donation was not a peace providing — it was political theater. A gesture too late, too hole, and too symbolic of the identical political hypocrisy that had haunted her household for many years. Accepting it, in her view, would have meant endorsing the very constructions that had ignored her mom’s struggling. It was, by her measure, a matter of precept.
BUT IN turning away that present, Mamie Doe additionally turned her again on cultural expectations deeply held by many Liberians. Funerals should not simply private ceremonies — they’re nationwide rituals. The useless should not solely mourned however honored by shared acts of respect, and symbolic choices are seen as sacred contributions to therapeutic. By rejecting Weah’s cows, Mamie successfully rejected the group’s function in her mom’s burial — and that, to many, was an act not of precept, however of pleasure.
FROM TUZON in Grand Gedeh County to Monrovia, the nation is now break up. Some hail Mamie Doe as a brave lady who dared to talk uncomfortable truths, even in a second of grief. Others imagine she let private anger cloud a nationwide second, hijacking what ought to have been a unifying farewell with unresolved household ache.
PERHAPS BOTH views maintain reality. Mamie Doe’s protest is undeniably born of reputable grievance. It has compelled a nationwide dialog on how Liberia treats the legacies of controversial leaders and their households. It has uncovered, in uncooked element, how wounds from the previous nonetheless bleed into the current. However her timing — throughout a second of mourning, when unity was most wanted — has drawn criticism that can not be ignored.
THE SITUATION escalated as soon as extra when Ambassador Nyenebo returned to the compound throughout the second rejection. Because the objects had been once more being ready for return, he ordered them to be offloaded and declared that the ladies of Grand Gedeh would assume duty. Regardless of Mamie’s seen frustration, his choice stood, underscoring that Nancy Doe, no matter else she could have been, was nonetheless a daughter of the county.
MEANWHILE, the nationwide authorities has tried to ease the tensions. President Joseph Boakai and Vice President Jeremiah Koung each visited the household. Boakai even proposed reuniting Nancy Doe and her husband in a symbolic reburial — a gesture geared toward nationwide therapeutic. However the Doe household has but to formally reply, and consensus throughout the household stays elusive.
IN THE finish, this controversy isn’t merely a few cow. It’s about historical past, grief, dignity, and the boundaries of protest. Mamie Doe’s stand has introduced hidden ache into public view. Whether or not her actions are remembered as brave or divisive will depend upon how the nation — and her family — chooses to reply.
WAS MAMIE Doe’s rejection principled or prideful? Maybe it was each. Maybe in Liberia’s advanced postwar panorama, the road between precept and pleasure is usually too skinny to tell apart. However what is for certain is that this in refusing a present meant to consolation, Mamie Doe has supplied the nation one thing else — an invite to reckon, as soon as once more, with the ghosts of its previous.
