MONROVIA, Oct. 26 -- C. Clarence Massaquoi once commanded Liberia's national police and led the unit that guarded the head of state. On Friday, he stood before a group of young cadets holding trumpets and drums and described himself as something else: a father who had come home.

By Jaheim T Tumu

"I stand before you today not just as a Guest Speaker, but as a proud father returning home," Massaquoi told the pioneer graduating class of the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) Basic Military Band Training. The Armed Forces of Liberia Band Unit ran the program.

For Massaquoi, the day closed something he had left unfinished. He had first proposed a marching band for the immigration service years earlier, when he was Commissioner of what was th...