By Samuel D. Tweah, Jr.
The birth-death conundrum continues its defiance of the human grasp. One a certain day we are born into an unknown world amid jubilation. Subsequently, on the most fated of days, we depart this unfathomable world amid ululation. The troubled space of time that bridges our coming and our going illuminates the human story- a story of smiles and frowns, of mirth and gloom, of triumphs and tragedies.
And so, it is with me and my beloved comrade Cletus T. Noah. Today, May 6, 54 years ago in 1971, I was born amid the celebration of long deceased father and mother. My life cycles of ups and downs, joys and sorrows continue, barreling inevitably day by day toward that fateful end that I pray may not come soon.
But today my beloved friend cannot, most regretfully, say the same. His fateful end has come far too soon! In the evening of May 3, 2025, he shockingly answered the roll call from up yonder, finally extinguishing the fires of joy and sorrow that we define as human life.
Cletus T. Noah is dead. Bob Cle is gone. Skip is no more. Busted Bearing has ended his journey.
We, family, friends, comrades, associates among so many who made up his social universe, are now bequeathed the veritable spectacle of remembrances of a life well and fully lived with love, character, humility, kindness and loyalty. Bob Cle exemplified these varied values, but he excelled in his humility, in his kindness and in his loyalty.
Cletus was loyal to his family. Whether he was the struggling student at the University of Liberia in the late nineties, with his broke busted bearing, as we jokingly dubbed one another, the unemployed university graduate in the early 2000s or the passionate teacher at St. Theresa’s Convent, Cletus took care of his family and children. Money was hard to come by, but a father has a congenital duty to provide for family whether in penury or in affluence. He was the father of four– Cletus Nuchee Noah, Wedtus Noah-Nelson, Natus Noah and Sean Noah. He was also father to other adopted children. With a robust Catholic rearing, Cletus nourished his children the in the fear and things of our Lord and instilled in them values of sacrifice and hard work.
Devotion and loyalty to faith and church were the crown jewels in his suite of loyalties. It was through Cletus I became aware that Catholics hold mass daily for in our nearly 30-year relationship, I don’t believe he missed a day to say mass. I once asked whether it was mandatory that he attended mass daily and he answered in the negative, saying this is something he chose to do as a commitment to his faith. I remember saying to him that a man with that kind of commitment is endowed with a super-human force to change the world.
A force for change he truly was and he invested this force into so many social and political causes. He was loyal to his political convictions and was never a by-stander, or a disinterested political passerby watching the convulsions of history wreak their havocs and imprints from afar. Bob Cle was always as close to the inroads of history, movements or causes as was possible. As a student, he was a prolific militant of the Student Democratic Alliance, sustaining STUDA’s surge of “historical gradualism” in attempting to overturn what was dubbed “the massescratic decadence of the moribund Student Unification Party.” On the national stage he flirted with the aspiration of Cllr. Winston Tubman under the canopy of LIBWIN, a movement led by the indefatigable Nathaniel Farlo McGill. Cletus eventually reached the zenith of his personal philosophical quest for national transformation when he aligned his skills, energies, and convictions with the ambition of the Popular People’s Struggle under the aegis of the Congress for Democratic Change!
And lastly, Cletus T. Noah wove about him a loyal cocoon of friendship. He was either a catalyst in nudging friends into desired directions or was himself the human magnet. Not oblivious of his own penury, he was always willing to share his last meal or his last dime. Cletus had so many friends. Many called him skip and there may be other names I cannot conjure up at the moment. But a few called him Bob Cle and it was with those few that he largely shared an outlook of Liberian political life.
I met Cletus while I was a student leader at the University of Liberia and he formed my circle of the most trusted comrades and militants. We spent countless, famished days together ruminating on how to change the world. Other members of our intimate circle included: Thomas Doe Nah, Varfolay M. Tulay, Norris L. Tweah, Nathaniel Farlo McGill, Isaac W. Jackson (this is the one who placed the ‘Bob’ before our names), Michael I. Diggs, Jefferson Tamba Koijee, Mark Akwena Nyeamene, Barsee L. Kpangbai and Jesse B. Korboi. All these men would subsequently move on to greater heights, building on values imbibed and retained from this coterie of friendship and ideology.
When in 2018 I had to choose who my chief of staff of would be at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning that choice would naturally fall to Cletus T. Noah. He was a lynchpin of my MFDP universe. I saw his force for change in action daily. Driving every morning from distant White-Plain Caldwell, he would arrive early after attending daily mass, and we would spend many mornings discussing a smorgasbord of things, from the affairs at the Ministry, through the development challenges of the country, through political propaganda being deployed by the opposition against me personally and more generally the CDC administration, to international missions fielding at the Ministry among so many issues. Cletus usually handed me my first dose of advice on many of these long before the senior ministers could come.
I vividly remember a deep and moving conversation in the morning following the day protesting students blocked the vehicle of President George M. Weah around the Monrovia City Hall. Cletus was troubled about events in the country and worried about me at the center. He asked, “DTweah, is there something different we could do? The President was almost attacked by students yesterday.” I felt the ponderous weight of the probing question and took my time to respond, “Bob Cle, the President showed to the students that he, like them, is a human being by stopping and by not harming them. That’s what great presidents do. Second, it’s to find more money for teachers that we are doing wage reform and making other cuts. But we need some time to get this going. We have to continue to fix the broken systems we inherited. Our choice is between immediate collapse in not solving the inherited problem or long-term survival. Given those choices, what would you do?” “Fix the system and deal with the consequences,” he blurted out immediately. And I said to him, “that’s why you and I are here Cletus.”
We had several different conversations of this nature but the memorable ones would always stand out. He deeply cared about the success of the Government and about solving national issues and was the mainstay of numerous forays into policy reforms at the Ministry. He was never shy of proffering ideas or nudging senior management to think outside the box on vexed and thorny questions. His amiable personality was always a cushion assuaging contentious situations. He was adept at finding solutions and solving problems. Humility was his strength, kindness a gift and loyalty a weapon.
Now lies he dead, the monstrosity of the super-human force that was his, subdued by the disabling squeeze of death. His wild, loud almost guttural chuckle would be heard no more, to draw attention to something funny was just said or that had just happened. The kindness and grace meted out to so many would be no more but would even endear him more to countless others. The futility and weakness of death is that while powerful in discontinuing life it is impotent, impuissant in annulling the impact of life on earth. Kind and great souls like Cletus who depart us live on through their deeds, memories of which enable us to see them forever.
So, while Cletus is not able to see another birthday like me, I dedicate my day today to reflecting on his wonderful memories and accomplishments in life. To his wife and children, I say thank you for sharing a kindred soul with so many. The warm army of friends and colleagues he built will keep their arms around you all.
May his blessed soul rest in blissful peace!
