Monrovia – With less two months to the October elections in Liberia, FrontPageAfrica has been reliably informed that the international community is growing increasingly worried over the Government of Liberia’s delay in making funding available for the security sector for the upcoming elections. The funding delay could undermine security of the pending elections.
By Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
The funding set at US$4 million must be provided by the Government of Liberia as no member of the international community will step in and foot the bill. “The promised funding should be provided as quickly as possible,” a senior diplomatic official told FrontPageAfrica Monday.
Rivals Fight Amid Security Concerns
The concerns over the funding for election security come just days after rival supporters of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change and the opposition Unity Party clashed during campaign rallies of the two leading parties UP and CDC. The melee left several UP supporters injured prompting accusations of foul play. The incident occurred as a convoy of UP supporters headed to the party’s campaign headquarters on the Airfield in District 9, aiming to kick off an event to announce their final campaign team. The UP alleges that a group of individuals wearing CDC insignia attacked some of their supporters, leading to a violent altercation that injured some of them. At least four people were seriously injured.
The UP condemned the actions of the CDC and labeled them a “recipe for chaos.” They accused the ruling party of contravening the Farmington River Declaration, a pact signed by presidential candidates to ensure peaceful campaigning.
In response, the Weah-Taylor 2023 National Campaign Committee, representing the CDC, issued a statement denying the allegations. The committee clarified that their campaign activities had been pre-announced and were underway in other districts, well before the Unity Party’s event was planned.
The committee accused the Unity Party of deliberately scheduling their rally to provoke conflict and claimed they had adjusted their own campaign schedule to avoid clashes. They called on national and international bodies to intervene and ensure peaceful election proceedings.
The scene was reminiscent of the 2011 elections when a deadly chaos led to the death of at least one person shot during volatile scenes outside the headquarters of the then opposition Coalition for Democratic Change.
President’s Motorcade Attacked
The funding issue also comes amid an incident last week when rival campaigners threw stones at President Weah’s vehicle, prompting the head of the Executive Protective Agency, Mr. Trokon Roberts, to issue a stern warning against individuals who attempt to throw missiles or stones at President Weah’s motorcade.
The EPS firmly reiterated that such actions are against the law and those caught engaging in such behavior will face severe consequences. The agency highlighted, “The Executive Protection Service (EPS) hereby warns the public of the danger or risk of throwing stones at the President or his motorcade during this campaign period. Throwing missiles at the President or his motorcade is criminal, which is punishable by law.”
The EPS strongly urged individuals to refrain from this hazardous conduct and emphasized its readiness to apprehend and hand over anyone involved in throwing stones or missiles at President Weah or his motorcade to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution in accordance with Liberian law.
Elections across sub-Saharan Africa are frequently accompanied electoral violence and shrill calls for peace from civil society, journalists, governments, and international actors.
According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a Think Tank dedicated to the exchange of ideas with the aim of enhancing citizens’ security by strengthening the effectiveness and accountability of African institutions, electoral violence has been on the rise of late in Africa, despite more than 20 years of adopting democratic governance. The center notes that democratic indicators are unchanged over the course of 20 years; and electoral violence has a detrimental effect on citizens’ view of democracy. “Working toward the prevention of electoral violence and resolution of the underlying conflicts leading to its recurrence will help to build democratic institutions, broaden the concept of security beyond regime protection, and further development in newly democratizing African states,” according to the ACSS.
USAID: Liberia Struggling with Security
Ahead of the 2023 Presidential and legislative elections, a USAID assessment report of December 2022 highlighted that in the aftermath of a lengthy and debilitating war, Liberia is still struggling to overcome political, security, institutional, and social deficits.
The assessment team conducted surveys more than one year before the October elections and found the process leading to the elections both positive and challenging. “Positively, parties and candidates had already begun pre-campaigning activities and these dynamics gave an early indication of future events.
However, some respondents said they could not yet predict whether the elections would be peaceful without nominated candidates having officially been nominated and individual contests taking shape.”
Like the buildup to the upcoming elections, much of the challenges remain with officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) lacking sufficient resources and manpower to provide robust state security and are often seen as ineffectual or corrupt.
The USAID survey noted that despite some progress with respect to peacebuilding, reconstruction and economic recovery and democratic governance since the end of the war in 2003, remaining economic, social, and political challenges have the potential to undermine post-war recovery, notably an incomplete national reconciliation and peacebuilding process as seen by many Liberians and human rights advocates, and remaining deep socioeconomic inequalities.
Additionally, the report highlighted that despite President Weah’s campaign promises in 2017 of championing the poor and redistributing resources for the benefit of the less fortunate, most Liberians have not seen a notable change to their economic situations, which has created frustrations, a key recipe for potential issues that may arise. “The Weah administration offered a large share of state employment to Indigenous Liberians, but this has accentuated behind-the-scenes struggles between Liberian elites associated with previous governments, and newer, indigenous elites with ties to Weah. Young people have seen few improvements in access to education and employment. Divisions such as between the poor and well-off elites and between rural and urban populations have the potential to become more salient.”
The USAID assessment report notes that discerning trends from previous elections, without a reliable database on election-related violent incidents makes it difficult. Thus, there is a strong chance that violent incidents could have been underreported, but there is a clear perception that elections have become more contested and the use of illegal means to influence elections has been increasing. “The use of arson attacks is a disturbing trend that has become been common, usually against material property, not individuals.”
Report Cites Potential for Violence
The report also raised the possibility of violence during the campaign period. “The campaign period is rife with potential for violent clashes between supporters of different candidates. Often clashes are spontaneous and due either to uncoordinated campaign events or to candidates and parties ignoring the approved schedules. In more recent instances in Grand Cape Mount or Gbarpolu, incidents are more deliberate and planned to intimidate candidates. Campaign events may get more heated closer to election day. Violent incidents on election day are rare, mostly because security forces are deployed across the county and there is significant national and international attention.”
The report also laid emphasis on the fact that certain triggers could fuel violence. These include perceived biases of key institutions that skew electoral participation in favor of the ruling party and its affiliated candidates. “These perceptions of bias may provoke a counter reaction, such as protests by opposition candidate supporters or attempts to force access to venues or areas for campaign purposes.”
Additionally, the report notes that violence may be caused by acts of coercion to intimidate opposing candidates, their supporters, or certain voter categories. “Coercion may include the use of force by security forces against peaceful protesters, verbal or physical threats, or intimidation of the opposition.”
According to the report, most of these triggers will lead to small-scale violence, but many also carry the potential for an escalation to larger scale violence across the country.
The USAID report notes that if there is a perceived continued and systematic bias by key institutions that influence the electoral security context, such as the NEC, the Supreme Court, the LNP and other security forces, opposition supporters may resort to violent protests or vigilante actions to rectify those perceived biases.
Failure on the part of NEC or security forces to respond effectively to localized, isolated violent incidents and serious transgressions of electoral rules early in the electoral cycle, those violating campaign rules may feel encouraged to continue using those means and potentially escalate to use of violence. “Once violence and intimidation become more brazen (e.g., if party militants commit open acts of violence against opposition candidates and supporters) and are used across multiple locations, security forces may not have the capacity to respond, leading to a further mobilization of party militants and an escalation of violence across the country.”
ECOWAS Flagged Issue for Months
In July, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) deployed a Joint Pre-election Fact-finding Mission to Liberia to assess the country’s state of preparedness for the polls.
The joint delegation held working sessions with various stakeholders in the electoral process in Liberia, including the Government, National Elections Commission, the Judiciary, Parliament, Political Parties, Civil Society Organizations, Security Agencies, and International Development Partners.
Quietly, FrontPageAfrica has learned that both the ECOWAS and AU missions in Liberia have been flagging the issue for months amongst stakeholders and representations to Abuja. Additionally, political parties contesting the elections have also raised concerns.
The funding issue is being compounded amid the recent signing of a comprehensive declaration in April, dubbed, the Farmington River Declaration 2023, in which political parties united and pledge commitments to peace. However, in the absence of a strong financial obligation from the Government of Liberia, political observers fear the security of the elections could be in peril, particularly since a joint exercise that should have been signed between the Armed Forces of Liberia and the Liberian National Police is yet to be implemented, leaving the October elections vulnerable to potential violence.