Monrovia – The Inter-Religious Council of Liberia (IRCL) has strongly condemned the recent bloody primary organized by the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) in Ganta, Nimba County.
It can be recalled that the CPP primary between Taa Wongbe of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), and Madam Edith Gongloe Weh of the Liberty Party (LP) turned bloody when rival supporters clashed and threw objects, including chairs at one another.
The primary committee’s decision taken to abandoned its previous plan to allow delegates with voter’s ID cards to cast their ballots, instead of party or national ID cards, the alleged trucking of delegates from Monrovia to vote in favor of Madam Weh, the barricading of the hall to prevent Mr. Wongbe from entering, and the alleged tearing of a poster belong to Madam Weh are factors that reportedly triggered the incident.
But Bishop Brown said it is unfortunate for an electoral process organized by the biggest opposition alliance, with just a hand-full of electorates, to turn violent, leading to bloodshed during this time in the history of the country.
He made these comments in an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa at his offices in Brewerville, outside Monrovia.
He further underscored the need for the CPP to launch a timely probe into the incident and take the appropriate actions.
Bishop Brown maintained that circumstances or processes that triggered the violent act must be unearthed to help safeguard Liberia’s democratic process.
He added that the CPP is under obligation to also inform the public in a timely manner about the findings and outcome of the investigation launched.
He stated that an investigation into the matter by the CPP will also help restore confidence in not just the political alliance, but the entire democratic process of the nation.
“It’s unfortunate that a primary of less than 200 voters will end up in bloodshed. I think that the CPP needs to investigate what really happened; investigate the processes leading to what happened and let the public know. There’s a need for investigation to know what led to bloodshed or physical assaults”.
“It is a sad day for Liberia when political party goes to those kinds of activities and it ends up violently”.
Demilitarize political parties
Speaking further, Bishop Brown indicated that the latest incident points to the need for political parties to be demilitarized in Liberia.
He added that the formation of too many military brigades within political parties is immensely contributing towards political agitations and confusion in the country.
He noted that the messages being sent out by some of these alliances and brigades are uncalled for.
“Our political parties need to be demilitarized. What’s the reason for the forming of all these youth military brigades within the political parties?”
Safeguard the peace
Meanwhile, Bishop Brown has renewed calls for Liberians, regardless of political parties or affiliation to preserve the peace and stability of the country.
He said citizens should find a way of working together and avoid shunning away from launching investigations and taking actions on violent incidents.
“We should not let violent actions go like that; whether it is from political parties or in the government. We should let the public know what happened and the steps we are taking in ensuring that we don’t have a reoccurrence of what happened”.
“Let’s put violence aside and run a responsible politics. We are not enemies even though we may have different presumptions or strategies about how our country should be developed or go forward. We should not allow one election to fight or divide us. This election is turning into too much violence and the government should take the lead”.