As He Tells Liberians Everything Will Be Done to Make Weah A One-Term President
By Alaskai Moore Johnson, alaskaijohnson@gmail.com
IPNEWS – Monrovia: The Political Leader of the opposition Alternative National Congress (ANC), Mr. Alexander Benedict Cummings, as usual is clearly not happy with happenings in the country.
According to Mr. Cummings, two things that have caught his attention are the every-so-often “mysterious deaths” of ordinary Liberians and the constant fights over private land ownership.
To end these menaces, the ANC Political Leader strongly urges the opposition community to work together to make President George Weah-led presidency a one-term administration at the end of his present six-year term.
“From the bottom of my heart, I promise you – we will work as hard as we can to make President Weah a one-time [term] President. And when we do, we will end this [these] mysterious deaths business in our country by going back and investigating all of these deaths, from Mr. Matthew Innis to Mr. Anthony Johnson. Anyone we find to be involved – big hand or small hand – we will arrest you, try you, and punish you severely, in keeping with the law,” he stated.
Mr. Cummings added: “Today, in many places in and around Monrovia, in the day or night, people are scared to walk the streets. Communities are unsafe. Drugs and crimes are taking over our streets and neighborhoods. The people who should be helping to protect our people are themselves helping to sell the drugs to our children. The people who should be fighting crimes are looking the other way while people are being robbed and harmed, and while armed robbers are breaking into homes terrorizing sleeping families.”
Mr. Cummings, who is a former Executive of Coca Cola International, began his Tuesday, April 27, press conference by saying that the “mysterious deaths of Liberians is [are] troubling.”
“The other day, I returned to Monrovia to news of another ‘mysterious death’. The man’s name was Mr. Anthony Johnson. From the pictures we have seen, it is hard not to believe that Mr. Johnson was killed.
“Under this government, the ‘mysterious deaths’ are plenty! We have to ask ourselves, how many times are we going to be expressing sympathies to families for the mysterious deaths of their loved ones? How can anyone in our country feel safe when the government cannot explain how people are disappearing and dying?” he emphasized.
According to the ANC leader, when a government is silent, or cannot seriously investigate and convincingly explain the deaths of people, that government is actually encouraging criminals to continue to kill people. Adding: “This threatens the lives of everyone. This is not how serious governments behave. It is not how governments show they care about the lives of their people.”
Land Crises
Mr. Cummings also used his engagement with the Press to touch on the constant fights over private land ownership all over the country.
“The other thing that worries me is the confusion over land business. Such confusion can threaten our peace. I am still trying to talk to some of the leaders and elders of the country to really understand what needs to be done so that all of our people, everywhere in Liberia, can enjoy living anywhere in Liberia.
“The day we start to feel that we cannot live together because we are not all of the same tribe or religion, that same day we will not be Liberia. Because Liberia is really the coming together of all of us. Our tribes may be different. Our religions may be different.”
His comments are apparently referencing a recent land conflict that threatened recently to ignite a tribal conflict in Nimba County.
Condemned Destruction of Properties in Maryland Protest
Meanwhile, Mr. Cummings also used his press conference to condemn the demonstration, which turned violent and led to the destruction of properties in Maryland County. He, however, blamed the government for being slow to act.
“The protest was mostly led by women. Again, our government was slow and careless to respond to the killing of a son of the county. Marylanders are peaceful people. But as is the case with these kinds of protests, some people wrongfully engaged in the destruction of properties.
We condemned the violence, called for calm and appealed to our people to wait for redress to their grievances. Our people listened.”
Read Mr. Cummings’ full speech here.
