Monrovia – The Disbanded Armed Forces of Liberia (DAFOL) is calling on the Government of Liberia under the leadership of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) to settle their (former soldiers’) arrears owed them by previous administrations.
Report by Augustine T. Tweh, [email protected]
Speaking at a press conference in Monrovia, Monday, September 24, Major Alexander S. Geor, Doyen for All Battalion Commanders of DAFOL, noted that during the 12-year regime of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, they as members of DAFOL, were abandoned and not much attention was paid to their welfare.
According to him, they tried to seek the intervention of the Legislature but it is dragging.
“Our problem is before the Legislature; the Chairman on Defense and National Security and the House Speaker have promised to address our issues before them. You can’t play with soldier man’s money. If you do, you will die,” he emphasized.
Touching on the latest news of the day, DAFOL said they are carefully watching the investigation that is ongoing in the alleged missing containers and bags of L$15 billion.
The former soldiers also expressed dismay that this amount is said to be missing amid a terrible economic hardship on ordinary Liberians. They urged the government to speedily investigate the issue and bring those responsible to face the full weight of the law.
Major Geor sounded a caveat to the CDC-led administration not to take the missing billions saga lightly; adding: “It is cardinal to the economic stability of this country.” The Mayor added that DAFOL takes the alleged missing money business very seriously and admonished President Weah to retrieve the money if it is missing and use portion of it to settle the arrears the Liberian Government owes them.
“People are just playing with this money and every time they say ‘no money no money.’ This army that served this country for 30 or 40 years was disbanded by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf through [Chairman] Gyude Bryant, when she was serving at the Good Governance Commission. From the time we started engaging her, she always used to say no money. Here we are now money business has come up,” he further stated.
He continued: “I believe this was the same money that Ellen printed and promised to give each of us US$3,000 and she refused. She said we killed her people. When [President] Weah returns, let him make sure to get that money to settle us. Our women, too, need put something on the fire. The government is young so when the President returns let the government makes sure to settle us.”
The Mayor thanked the editors of the Hot Pepper and the FrontpageAfrica newspapers for exposing the alleged missing moneys.
For his part, the Chairman of the Disbanded Armed Forces of Liberia, Colonel Wolo Nagbe, he described the two editors, Mssrs Philibert Brown and Rodney Sieh as whistleblowers. He urged other media institutions to join the fight for a corruption-free Liberia.