By Wilmot Kief Jackson, Diplomatic Correspondent

IPNews-Monrovia: Founded in 1945 after the Second World War, the United Nations (UN) is dedicated to promoting human rights and social protection, and maintaining international peace and security globally.

While challenges abound amid growing global disruptions, localised conflicts, and a complex international system, the UN has so far executed its mandate with the highest degree of responsibility and professionalism. As a founding member, Liberia remains a living testament and success story of the UN’s peace operations, having helped end the country’s 14-year civil crisis that claimed the lives of nearly a quarter-million innocent civilians.

Although the United Nations Mission to Liberia (UNMIL) successfully transferred security responsibilities to Liberian authorities on 30 June 2016 in accordance with Resolution 2239, and ultimately completed its mandate on 30 March 2018 , the UN maintains a representation office in the country. The international community continues to work with the Government of Liberia and the opposition community in fostering and sustaining the fragile peace in the country.

However, in an unprecedented shift from randomly insulting the President of Liberia and slandering other public officials usually without a rational basis, ex-child soldier Yekeh Kolubah, now representative of district No. 9 in Montserrado County, in an interview called on military officials in the Gambia and Republic of Mali to arrest the ECOWAS and UN senior representatives to those countries.

Speaking to local reporters, Mr. Kolubah said, “Look, let me use this medium, I know you people are going live and the whole world is watching, we are calling on the military of Gambia to arrest the ECOWAS ambassador because the ECOWAS ambassador knows what is going on, to arrest the UN Resident Coordinator in Mali”. The District 9 lawmaker, who is a senior and celebrated member of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) – the most significant opposition block in Liberia, also accused the ECOWAS and UN representatives to Liberia of involvement in bribery.

He alleges that the President of Liberia, George Manneh Weah is paying both officials for their silence, but as usual, did not provide any evidence or additional to corroborate his claim.

The lawmaker also vowed to personally arrest the ECOWAS Ambassador to Liberia in the unlikely event that the Mali scenario presents in Liberia: “God forbid, but if such situation should happen in Liberia, I will arrest the ECOWAS ambassador”. The Representative appeared to brag about his participation in the civil war that claimed the lives of thousands of Liberians.

“I want to tell my supporters, when you see me in short trouser misbehaving, that is my rebel form”, the lawmaker indicated at one point during the interview.

Representative Kolubah has become notorious for unsubstantiated allegations and vile comments against public officials in Liberia since the ascendancy of George Weah to the presidency. It is, however, the first time for the lawmaker to make such grave allegation and to publicly defame senior members of the international community. What is even more troubling is the escalation of his violent political rhetoric into regional affairs at the detriment of senior representatives of international and regional bodies.

Civil liberty is a vital component of a functioning democracy, and citizens should be encouraged to exercise their right to free speech without fear of retribution. However, the overt and unapologetic use of free speech to spread misinformation, promote violence, instil fear, abuse and defame others, and undermine peace and security is grossly unacceptable.

Article 14(a) of Liberia’s Constitution of 1986 states that “Every person shall have the right to freedom of expression, being fully responsible for the abuse thereof”.

It may be recalled that hate speech ignited years of cultivated hatred in Rwanda in 1994 and resulted in the death of an estimated one million people within 100 days. While these misguided statements, threats and the lawmaker’s incessant use of vituperation may seem isolated, without concrete and meaningful action, they could accumulate over time and potentially lead to violence on a horrifying scale.

The opposition has always supported Representative Kolubah’s actions and, regardless of his call for violence against representatives of regional and international bodies, it is unlikely they will distance themselves from him this time.

On 30 July 2020, protest against Representative Kolubah and Alexander Cummings, the Chairman of the Collaborating Political Parties, turned violent in Grand Gedeh County, Southeastern Liberia.

During the incident, which was roundly condemned by the Government of Liberia and her international partners, the representative was heard in social media video saying that he would butcher chickens – referring to citizens who were protesting against him for unabated insults on the presidency.

When asked about Yekeh’s persistent use of invectives on the presidency, Mr. Cummings responded that the representative has his style and that his actions are in the best interest of the Liberian people.

It is difficult to understand the CPP’s chairman’s reasoning of how the unbounded slander on the presidency and public officials, disinformation, and incitement of violence translates to any benefit and/or represent Liberia’s national interest. By all standards of objective reasoning, how does such war-like character meet the minimum threshold of decency for a responsible statesman?

It is yet to be seen whether the chairman will demonstrate leadership to condemn the representative’s call for violence against international partners as well as the threat of personally leading such rebellion in the future.

At the very least, individual parties within the Collaborating Political Parties, ECOWAS and the United Nations, the media, the Liberian government, the Inter-religious Council of Liberia, and various civil society organisations should decisively call out the lawmaker to put an end to such dangerous abuse of free speech.