THE VIOLENCE THAT marked the 175th Independence Anniversary on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, must be considered a clear signal and reminder of the administration of President George Weah and his Coalition for Democratic Change that unless the security, rights to freedom of speech and expression of the citizens are guaranteed under the law, Liberia is sitting on a time bomb.
THE VIOLENT DISPERSION on Independence Day of peaceful protesters, who as Liberians, were exercising their constitutional rights, absolutely amounts to an act of repression and persecution.
THE PROTESTERS, UNDER the banner of the UL Vanguard Student Unification Party, SUP, who had peacefully assembled outside the United States Embassy near Monrovia, were exercising their constitutional rights and did nothing wrong to have deserved such brutality that was well planned and orchestrated by individuals, who branded themselves, ‘Council of Patriots of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change’. Whether or not they are a legitimate group under the CDC arrangement, is a different argument for another day.
BUT WHAT BAFFLED us most was the failure of the Liberia National Police (LNP) to have ensured the security of the peaceful protesters. Officers of the LNP were nowhere to be seen for the length of time the student protesters stood near the premises of the US Embassy until the violent group showed up and stoned them away. And guess what, in less than five minutes after the stoning subsided, officers of the National Police came in pickups and began to protect the stone throwers, while they read their statement in which they outlined the achievements of President Weah as President of Liberia and petitioned him to seek a second term of office in 2023. We can say this emphatically because our reporters were on the scene when the ‘supists’ and peacefully chanting their anti-GOL slogans.
- PRESIDENT AND fellow Liberians, this is what the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed El Baradei, said on Twitter on January 13, 2011, when North Africa and the Middle East were being rocked by the “Arab Spring” started by the so-called Jasmine Revolution, which was initially ignited by public outrage over the self-immolation of a street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, on December 17, 2010. “Repression plus the absence of social justice, plus denial of channels for peaceful change, equals a ticking bomb.”
TO PUT IT in the Liberian context Mr. President, ‘insecurity plus economic hardship, plus denial of citizens’ constitutional rights, equals a ticking bomb’.
PRESIDENT, IN the wake up the Independence Day violent incident that occurred near the premises of United States Embassy, we have begun to sense that unless the Government institutes the requisite security measures, the 2023 Presidential and General Elections which is about 16 months from now, is likely to become chaotic and won’t be free, fair and transparent.
THIS IS WHY Mr. President, that the individuals, who organized and perpetrated the Tuesday, July 26, 2022 violent incidence be brought before the law and if found guilty of the crime, must be severely punished to serve as a deterrence to others and to also prevent the ‘ticking bomb’ from exploding.
A HINT TO the wise, is quite sufficient.
