Paynesville – The Liberia National Police Wednesday conducted a one-day dialogue with civil societies with the aim of mitigating potential conflict during the upcoming October elections.
Report by Augustine T. Tweh – [email protected]
The dialogue was held at Paynesville City Hall.
The Inspector General of the Liberia National Police (LNP), Col. Gregory Coleman informed members of the civil society organizations present that the dialogue was intended to bring CSOs and youth groups together for the promotion of peace and unity ahead of the crucial elections.
Col. Coleman assured his audience that the LNP is prepared to provide a safe and secured environment for the conduct of the 2017 Presidential and general elections, reminding them of their roles and responsibilities in ensuring the success of the elections.
He added that the dialogue was also organized by the LNP to reach out to major stakeholders in the Liberian electoral sector and to strengthen the Police relationship with public.
The dialogue was held under the theme: “Peace has no substitute”.
According to Col. Coleman, the LNP is looking forward to working with international and local institutions that are responsible for electoral processes.
“The need for us to hold and support each other is not the proof for our democracy, but the pride of peace.
There are a lot of other things that have to be put in place. The lives that have been lost here to get us where we are today, we can never ever compensate for it.
As such, the peace we are enjoying and what we have done must be retained, sustained and preserved, it’s my responsibility and is your responsibility as well,” he said.
The Inspector General used the occasion to call on every Liberian to take advantage of the Police hotline (911) to report crimes in the communities, something he said will boost the strength of the LNP to be more robust in tackling crimes and prosecuting violators of the law.
“Our hotlines are active, I want you all to make use of it, but please advise your children not to abuse these lines, they are meant for emergency, so please do not misuse or abuse these lines,” he averred.
At the same time, the Director of the Civil Society Organizations, Frances Greaves said the civil societies have the responsibility to ensuring that the laws of Liberia are protected and respected through its advocacy role.
“When we decided to bring the war to an end, it was the civil societies that got involved, so if we want to have peaceful elections the civil society can make it, but it depends on how we make that decision, how we can engage and how we manage the process to go on,” she averred.
Madam Greaves used the occasion to call on all civil societies, youth groups and all well-meaning Liberians to get involved in the peace building process of Liberia, especially as the elections draw closer.
“We need to get involved in the peace building process of Liberia, civil societies were key players in the fight against Ebola and because of that, we saw Ebola being eradicated, so it is our involvement, how we play our roles and how we see Liberia in our context will help maintain the peace we are enjoying,” Madam Greaves said.
For his part, the Executive Director of the National Youth Movement for Transparent Elections (NAYMOTE), Eddie Jarwolo thanked the Liberia National Police for organizing the dialogue.
He said it was the first of its kind to see a government institution organizing such a program to invite citizens to discuss critical national issues.
Eddie Jarwolo used the occasion to call on all Liberians, civil society organizations and youth groups to help support the LNP decentralize the dialogue forum across the 15 sub divisions of the country.
“If anybody thinks that the war in Liberia was troublesome, or if anybody thinks that Ebola was wicked, look at election violence. Election violence is not training somebody; it is just one person organizing himself to speak for 30 minutes to bring the whole country down.”
“So we need to take election violence very serious and very important,” he said.
Director Jarwolo added that the LNP is not fully capacitated to combat crimes and electoral violence, and as such there is a need for every Liberians to rally support and work along with the Police to maintain the peace, adding that maintaining peace in Liberia is every citizen’s priority.
“We have to stand for this country, we have to help the Police by giving them the spirit of patriotism, and they are working for nothing.”
“No one will want to know the salary of a Police officer and want to know the salary of one UNMIL Police officer, but these are people who sacrifice every day for us.”
“We as Liberians have to take the mantle of authority serious, because we have less than 200 days to elections,” he said.