Monrovia – Members of the Council of Patriots remain defiant Friday as the visiting ECOWAS delegation pleaded for organizers of the June 7 Save-the-State Protest for the gathering to be restricted to just one day.
Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
“We said we can’t promise unless President George Manneh Weah delivers on issues that can be immediately addressed and commits to act on ones that require time to address,” a member of the COP told FrontPageAfrica shortly after meeting with the delegation headed by its President Jean Claude Kassi Brou.
Concerned About Security
The ECOWAS Commission President indicated to the COP that the organization has spent a lot in restoring and maintaining peace in Liberia & they don’t want the country to slip back into conflict. “They are also concerned about the context of the regional security June 7 will have,” the source privy to the meeting told FrontPageAfrica.
Mr. Kassi Brou remarked that many countries in the region still remain fragile to include Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Benin and more and that the regional body is currently assessing the risk in terms of security the protest will have and certainly there are risks and they want things to get out of hand.
“We are man enough and are organizing the protest on our own. So if the president wants to destroy his VP, he can do that without implicating the COP. We are not controlled by any external force as it is being rumored. So yes it was raised.”
A Member of the COP, privy to meeting the ECOWAS Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity
Mr. Kassi Brou reportedly told the COP members that ECOWAS remain concerned about the number of days the protest will last for and appeal to COP for the protest to be for only one day but COP members are said to be expressing reservations about President Weah’s ability to deliver or live on to his end of the bargain regarding the list of demands which include the public declaration of his assets, the dismissals of key figures in his administration linked to the missing LD 16 billion and US$25 million mop up money saga and implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission among others.
In response, COP members expressed concerns about the prevailing economic, governance and rule of law situations which have prompted the protest. “We have a president who thinks that he is president only for his partisans and doesn’t listen to the complains of other Liberians, and refers to us as enemies of the state when we critique the government,” COP noted.
The protest organizers said their sole aim is to protect the peace. “That is why we want Liberians to express themselves, infringement of the freedom of the press like jamming the Costa Show and revoking Punch FM license is unacceptable. We want the president to make public his assets and indicate where he got the millions from to acquire properties in the short period he became president, we want war and economic crimes Court, prosecution of those responsible for the mismanagement of the USD 25 million including the heads of the TEMT. The protest will last as long as the government doesn’t come to receive our petition and give clear timeline on when they will be acted on.”
Meanwhile members of the delegation are currently convening with security officials to further assess the security situation.
The regional body, according to Kassi Brou has been following the security situation in Liberia and know exactly what is happening. They understand that the fundamental issues need to be addressed.
Friday’s developments have been compounded by attempts by a summons to members of the COP by the presiding justice on the Supreme Court Bench Justice Joseph N. Nagbe.
The summons stems from a Petition for the Writ of Mandamus filed on Tuesday, May 28, to Justice in-Chamber Joseph Nagbe by the Citizens United to Sustain Peace and Democracy by and thru the Center for the Protection of Human Rights against the Attorney General of the Republic of Liberia and Chairman of the Joint Security and Council of Patriots and those working under the scope of their authority.
Cllr. Dempster Brown, the lead lawyer for the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change, who is representing the group this week filed a petition for an alternative Writ of Mandamus to the Justice-in-Chamber.
Mandamus is a judicial writ issued as a command to an inferior court or ordering a person to perform a public or statutory duty. Alternative Writ is a common law writ issued by the court commanding the person against whom it is issued either to do a specific thing or to show cause why he or she should not be compelled to do it.
High Court ‘Compromised’, COP Says
In meeting with the ECOWAS delegation Friday, COP told the Commission’s President that the Supreme Court has been compromised and politicized hence we won’t honor the citation from illegal Associate Justice Nagbe.
Ironically, President Weah has repeatedly expressed his administration’s readiness to allow the protest to go on.
In a nationwide address Wednesday, the President pledge his absolute commitment to the protection of each and every right and freedom granted to each and every one of you under our Constitution.
“It is the use of these freedoms, that will define us as a people. It is our toleration of political opposition and opposing ideas, that will enrich our national dialogue and discourse. It is our ability to manage this culture of freedom and tolerance for criticism, that can sustain our peace.
The President reiterated to the ECOWAS Commission President Thursday his commitment to allowing a the protest to go on. “Since we took over the leadership of the country, we have placed no objection on anyone’s right to exercise their rights under the laws,” the President, adding, “We have all been advocating for that. “Those who want to exercise whatever right can go ahead to do so. Our hope is that it is done responsibly. Government has the right to defend and protect everyone’s right.”
The President’s expression has also been contradicted by statements attributed to him Friday by Senator Sando Johnson(NPP, Bomi) who told the Henry Costa Morning Show that the President had informed the visiting ECOWAS delegation that his vice president was behind the protest.
VP Jewel Howard-Taylor’s Support Chatter Squashed
Asked whether the COP raised the issue with the ECOWAS delegation, the source answered in the affirmative.
The source said Senator Johnson indirectly told the meeting with the visiting ECOWAS delegation that the vice president was not part of the organization of the protest. “We are man enough and are organizing the protest on our own. So if the president wants to destroy his VP, he can do that without implicating the COP. We are not controlled by any external force as it is being rumored. So yes it was raised.”