Broadcast facilities of Roots FM, owned and operated by popular Radio
talk-show host Henry Costa was on today, barricaded by officers of the
Emergency Response Unit of the Liberia National Police-ERU.
Minutes after the incident, Henry Costa in a live video on the social
media-Facebook, informed viewers that staff of this institution had
been prevented by officers to refuel the generators which supply
electricity to the main broadcast complex.
He said following the police resistance , there were several contacts made with police authorities including the Minister of State Hon.
Nathaniel McGill to have the generators refuel proof fruitless as he
was told that ‘Roots FM was a crime scene and the police was still
carrying out investigation into circumstances leading to recent
attacks at the ration station’.
Mr. Costa question the sincerity of the police action and statement of the place
being a crime scene in the interest of the radio station whereas
employees of the station were being prevented entry into the broadcast
facilities.
“This is a nothing as conducting investigation into circumstances
surrounding recent attack on Roots FM,”
“ What we see here is a political plan to have Roots FM off the
airwaves by senior members of the government .”
Henry Costa furthermore questioned why was the police interested in
barricading the broadcast facilities when it has taken nearly a four days
since the attack occurred.
But less than a hour after Mr. Costa took to the social media, the
Liberia National Police (LNP) clarifies that it has not shutdown Roots
FM 102.7 FM as claimed by Henry Costa.
In a press statement issued in Monrovia late this evening, the LNP
stated that based on standard investigation procedures, the Lone Star
Communication Corporation (Lonestar Cell) transmission site on Johnson
Street, where an armed robbery incident allegedly occurred has been
cordoned off by officers since Friday, February 15,2019, to prevent
the tempering of evidence and in furtherance of the investigation.
“Let it be make categorically clear that no LNP Officer has visited
nor been deployed at the premises of Roots FM 102.7 as alleged by its
Management,”
“ Lonestar Cell management, the owner of the facility where the armed
robbery is alleged to have occurred, has been called in and are
assisting the police with the ongoing investigation.” The statement
read.
The LNP release under the signature of its spokesman, H. Moses Carter,
stated that Police is pursuing additional persons of interest in
connection with the alleged armed robbery and assures the general
public that it wll release it investigation report on the incident in
the soonest possible time.
“ The public can be assured of an impartial investigation into
circumstances surrounding the alleged armed robbery.” The LNP
statement concludes. –
It may be recalled, The Committee to Protect Journalists last week
called on the government of Liberia to ensure that those responsible
for two recent attacks on the independent broadcaster ‘Roots FM’ are
swiftly arrested and prosecuted.
Roots FM owner Henry Costa, who is also the host of the station’s
popular Costa Show and an outspoken critic of President George Weah,
told CPJ via WhatsApp that the station’s transmitter and other
broadcast equipment were stolen by armed men in the early hours of
February 11. It was the second incident at the stations’ premises on
Ashmu Street according to Costa.
“We urge the Liberian government to send a strong message that it is
committed to freedom of the press by moving speedily to arrest those
behind the attacks on Roots FM,”
“Ensuring that the culprits are identified, prosecuted, and convicted
will signal to those who want to silence the media that they will find
no ally in President Weah’s administration.” Angela Quintal, CPJ
Africa program coordinator, in New York said.
Costa told CPJ that workers were doing regular maintenance on the
Roots FM transmitter at about 3 a.m. on February 11 when they were
overpowered by two armed men who stole the transmitter and other
equipment. The station was off the air until February 13, when it was
able to borrow a transmitter from another station, Costa said; Roots
FM was also able to purchase a new transmitter through a GoFundMe
campaign.
It may also be recalled that on January 31, Roots FM was unable to
broadcast for 13 hours after armed men overpowered the station’s
security guards and cut its transmitter cables.
That attack came as Roots FM was covering a controversial government
fishing deal that the Liberian government was forging with Senegal.
Henry Costa further explained to the CPJ that, before the attacks,
Roots FM had experienced a large number of threats on social media
from supporters of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change party.
He mentioned that on February 11, Information Minister Lenn Nagbe said
in a statement published on ‘Facebook’ that the “government strongly
condemns this and all acts of violence which target the fundamental
tenet of our democracy, the press.” The statement said that an
investigation has been opened into the attacks.
A letter dated February 14 from Inspector General Patrick Sudue to
Roots FM station manager Fidel Saydee, seen by CPJ, confirmed that the
Liberian National Police are investigating the matter. Saydee told CPJ
that his statement was taken by the police anti-robbery unit.
“The only motive that could provoke such an attack would be our
critical stance on national issues,” Saydee told CPJ.