Monrovia – The Coalition of Political Parties’ Women in Liberia (COPPWIL) has warned against the holding of the much-publicized planned December 30, 2019 protest by the Council of Patriots (COP).
COPPWIL is a conglomeration of women from the 28 political parties in Liberia.
At a news conference in Monrovia on Wednesday, the Vice President for Political Affairs of COPPWIL, Nuwoe A.D. Scott described the planned protest as an “illegal” and an “undemocratic” process that has the propensity to threaten the peace and security of the country.
Madam Scott said while the country is faced with numerous challenges, any action of this kind has the tendency to track the country back to its ugly past.
The COPPWIL’s VP, who is also the Assistant Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Transport, stated that those issues of national concern must be discussed at a round-table dialogue, rather than through violence.
“We are sounding this warning because we don’t want to go back to our ugly past. While there are issues, any group or individual having problem with the government should go through the proper channel, which is through a dialogue process or the ballot box,” she said.
According to her, when sensitive issues like a protest calling for a democratically elected president to step down, it sometimes results to violence, and in most cases the vulnerable population including women and children suffer the most.
The ‘Weah Step Down’ campaign that is being planned by the Council of Patriots (COP) is seeking the resignation of President George Weah over organizers say ineptitude to lead the nation.
There have been mixed reactions from the public sphere over the announcement of the campaign by COP.
While a large segment of the public including opposition political parties and some independent media outlets have condemned the move, others are in support of the planned protest.
Of recent, support for the protest has been garnering momentum in the wake of the prevailing economic hardship grappling the population: increasing prices of commodities, shortage of the local currency and government employees not getting paid on time, among others.
But Madam Scott said despite these many challenges, dialogue is the best option.
We can come together to find solution and not to destabilize our stabled environment. We, the women, condemn this government step down campaign in the strongest term. Let’s dialogue these issues and not use violence, because violence has never given us the result that we wanted,” she noted.
“We understand that there are challenges all over the country. Yes, we understand that civil servants have not taken pay for several months, but December 30 is not the solution to peace.”
While calling on the protest’s planners to abandon their quest, Madam Scott also called on President George Manneh Weah to give listening ears to their concerns in order to find amicable solution.
“The President must listen to those who are raising some of these issues with the government, because together, these can be handled through dialogue,” she added.