Monrovia – A group of protesters under the banner Youth for Progressive Action on Thursday staged a protest at the Capitol Building to petition members of the 53rd National Legislature to take immediate action against some of their members, who were linked to allegations of bribery in the Global Witness report.
Speaking to FrontPage Africa on Capitol Hill, the chairman of the Youth for Progressive Action Sekou Kalasco Damaro said their presence at Capitol Hill was to petition the both Houses of the National Legislature to take quick action against members named in the report. “We are here to render a petition to the lawmakers to take immediate action against those lawmakers in the report.
Although President Sirleaf has instituted a committee to probe the allegation, questions of credibility have been hovering over the committee, prompting some accused to reject appearing before the body.
Explaining further, Damaro said the reason conscious-minded young people assembled at the Capitol is to show that even though it is being perceived that the body is not credible; their turnout is based on a request from citizens.
The group argued that while they are calling for members of the legislature to take quick action against those accused, the committee investigating those accused must include religious grouping, students, the LACC, the American Embassy and other relevant government entity to render or conduct a proper investigation.
Damaro added: “So we can know who is the Big Boy 1 and the Big Boy 2 because that remains a mystery and only Varney Sherman who allegedly received the money from Sable Mining is a hint for Liberians to know who Big Boy 1 and Big Boy 2 are.
Arrogantly Varney Sherman has said that he will not subject himself to any committee and the responsibility is upon us as citizens to make him subject himself to the committee because we demand that he makes himself accountable to us who elected him to this very parliament”.
Mr. Isobe Gborkor Kollie, Chair of the People’s Unification Party, told the handful of protesters that although the country is not able to credibly prosecute individuals accused of corruption, the protesters should conduct their protest in a most intelligent way in a bid to bring to an end, the depressed state the country has been in for more than a century.
“We are tire of this mess; we cannot continue to have a report or continue a report of corruption in this country- it must end; everybody say it must end, it must end; we are tired of corruption in this country”, the PUP Chairman said.
Chairman Kollie added: Your fight is a genuine fight, we will not call names but if evidences are brought to bring people to justice; they must be brought to justice and this is not the only corruption report.
I want you to go back to see various other reports as young people in this country that are serving as advocates in this country to ensure that we bring an end to corruption in this country. We will have a terrible government come 2017 if our covers are empty”.
J.H. Webster Clayeh (0886729972)[email protected]