By James Lehmer Hiama Jr; hiamajames@gmail.com; 0770334857/0888270604
Amid many condemnations from Liberians, including some opposition political parties and political pundits concerning the elite presidential guard force – Executive Protection Service (EPS) officers wearing the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) party paraphernalia, that made the Government of Liberia to publicly apologize through the Ministry of Justice, a stalwart and Secretary General of the CDC, Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee diluted and undermined the government’s apology, when he said on Monday, February 6, 2023 that by the EPS officers wearing CDC’s regalia does not mean that “they will kill human beings.”
Addressing a news conference to pay homage of CDC partisans, sympathizers, supporters and well-wishers who thronged the Antoinette Tubman Stadium (ATS) in central Monrovia on Saturday, February 4, 2023 to attend the party’s “One Million Citizen Rally” to petition President George Weah to seek reelection for a second six-year term, Koijee stated the public is taking things out of context regarding the EPS officers wearing the party’s paraphernalia.
“As I speak to you, the party chairperson have written the EPS Director, and we know sometimes they get overly zealous, but we do not encourage armed men to parade with our paraphernalia. We have condemned those officers’ action in the strongest possible term. The EPS are personal security of the presidency as we would not encourage them to do that. We do not support any politician to politicize the secretary, we do not support that. The chairperson have written the EPS Director and telling him in good fate that his men should refrain and disengage from embarrassing the party, the party do not enjoy that. No armed carrying man should ever in our location should be attire in our regalia but, again, let us stop saying things here, “wearing that T-shirt does not mean you kill human being,” Major Koijee said.
According to Major Koijee, while it is true that the EPS officers reserved their rights to affiliate and support the CDC or any politically quietly, we are not questioning their constitutional rights and duty, but at the same time we do not want at this given point in time for them to wear our paraphernalia to be misjudged because “all the good things that happened on Saturday the only thing they want to tell us is that somebody wore our paraphernalia.”
At the media briefing, Major Koijee noted that those EPS officers who CDC’s party regalia were neither intentional nor meant to harm other citizens and opposition parties.
The CDC Secretary General also stressed that the party will not accept any act of unprofessionalism by any state security, and at the same time dispelled the public rumors that the CDC is losing its support base on the grounds that citizens are no longer printing their own T-shirts as was done from the onset of the blue revolution in 2005, 2011 and 2017 respectively.
Meanwhile, political pundits and Liberians have criticized the CDC Secretary General’s statement which they say has undermined the good intention of the government to apologize to Liberians and international partners regarding EPS officers wearing the ruling party’s t-shirts and caps, when they were protecting President Weah at the party’s petition program on Saturday, February 4, 2023.
“Koijee’s statement is a complete contradiction, while his CDC party is condemning the EPS officers’ act, he is at the same time saying it means no harm, but he has failed to recognize the ramification of their action, by failure to adhere to their own Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), which calls for being loyal to only the state and not to individuals,” one pundit told IPNEWS.
Other political commentators said Koijee has shot the government in the leg regarding its apology when he issued a contradictory statement on Monday, February 6, 2023 at CDC headquarters that made the government’s previous apology immaterial.
