MONROVIA – The Council of Patriots, organizer of the June 7 ‘Save the State’ protest says they remain resolute to stage the demonstration despite legal and technical issues being raised by the Ministry of Justice over their request for permission and protection for the protest.
Report by Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
It is unprecedented that the Ministry of Justice would ask for legal documents like articles of incorporation before granting a group of citizens permit to protest.
A letter signed by Justice Minister Frank Musa Dean questioned the legitimacy of the group and requested their articles of incorporation or the legal documentation to show that they are a duly incorporated or unincorporated institution or association.
The Minister wrote: “The MOJ is under legal obligation to deal with institution/association registered and existing under the laws of Liberia, by and through their legal offices, as we request that you provide us legal documentation, establishing legal status as ‘Council of Patriots’, either as a duly incorporated or unincorporated association in pursuant to the requirements of the Associations Law of Liberia.”
More to that, the Justice Minister noted that under the Associations Law of Liberia, Advisors and Members do not qualify to represent an association or institution as was the case of the letter written to inform the Ministry of planned protest.
The Council of Patriots to the Justice Ministry was signed by Senator Oscar Cooper, Advisor, Senator Sando Johnson, Advisor, Sanjee A. Stepter, Member and Rufus D. Neufville, Member.
The protest organizers, taking a rather adamant posture said the letter to the Ministry of Justice was not intended to “beg” the ministry for protection or permission, rather in obedience of the law which requires that Justice Ministry be informed of any such protest.
‘Not Council of Patriots Incorporated’
Also speaking on the issue, Mr. Darius Dillon who is also a spokesman of the Council of Patriots in response to the Justice Minister’s letter told FrontPageAfrica that the Council of Patriots is not an incorporated body, neither did it portray itself as such.
According to him, “Citizens coming together under a banner do not need incorporation. Article 17 says all citizens have the right to gather, once the assembly is peaceful. We don’t need to be incorporated. The Minister either misread the law or politics have crowded his sense of reasoning”.
Justice Ministry Asks for a Meeting
However, a source at the Ministry of Justice told FrontPageAfrica that the Ministry is not refusing to grant permit for the protest, but has rather asked the organizers of June 7 to attend a meeting with the Ministry at their earliest convenience to discuss the details of their request.
“We have simply asked them to provide us with either their Articles of Incorporation; or if they are an unincorporated association, their registration documents. Alternatively, they may apply for protection in their own names, as a group of citizens. Thought we should all be law abiding citizens,” the high-ranking official of the Ministry said.
June 7 Carved in Stone
He added that, “The Minister would start to reason later on because June 7 will hold.”
Henry Costa, also a spokespersons of the Council of Patriots, on Wednesday maintained that the protest is intended to be peaceful and should not be perceived as a plan to ask President George Weah to step down. He said the protest is intended to call the attention of the President to the problems that the country is facing.
“We will do the protest; June 7 is carved in stone. There’s absolutely nobody who can stop it – nobody can stop June 7, you’re wasting your time,” Costa insisted.
He said the Council of Patriots is not willing to negotiate with any government official or its representative for a possible cancellation of the protest.
“We don’t want any meeting with George Weah, we don’t’ want any photo opportunity with George Weah, we’re not interested in any of those things. All we want to do is to come out in our tens of thousands on June 7th to exercise our fundamental and constitutional right to peacefully assemble and petition our government to do x, y, and z,” he said.
According to Costa, the protest would only be naturally called off when President Weah dismisses Samuel Tweah as Finance Minister, replaces Nathaniel Patray as Central Bank Governor, let go of Nathaniel McGill (Minister of State) and take actions that would positively impact governance and the economy.
MOJ Banned ‘Unauthorized’ Protest in 2018
It can be recalled that the Ministry of Justice on July 25, 2018 placed a ban on ‘unauthorized’ public assembly in any manner or form. The ban was instituted in the wake of public announcements by leaders of the Student Unification Party (SUP) of the University of Liberia calling on the public to participate in a protest demonstration against the failure of Government officials, including President Weah, to declare their assets as required by law enshrined in the Code of Conduct.
The students had noted that President Weah, since his assumption of office and, in apparent violation of the Code of Conduct, commenced renovation on some of his private properties without having declared his assets, leaving the public to speculate, rightly or wrongly, that the President was indeed dipping into the nation’s coffers to underwrite these ongoing personal projects.
However, the Justice Ministry issued a stern warning to any group of people who wanted to demonstrate to abandon their quest, “because the ministry will not issue permit to any Liberians, be they students and or a political organization to implement such desire, which has the undertone to disrupt the country’s peace.”
The MoJ’s statement, “The general public is warned that, consistent with the Act Requiring the Obtaining of Permits for Public Marches and Demonstrations, approved February 10, 1975, and Section 22 of the Liberia National Police Act of 2015, any person or group of persons wishing to stage a march or demonstration must first obtain a permit from the Ministry of Justice before staging such a demonstration.
CDC Staged Ellen Step Down Protest
In late, the Mulbah Morlu, then Vice Chairman for Operations of the CDC, led a campaign for a major protest calling on the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to step down as President. The campaign was designed to begin during the month of January 2014 and onward.
Speaking from the US and syndicated over some radio stations in Monrovia, George Solo, the National Chairman of the CDC said that the party will lead a series of popular political rallies and protests to demand the resignation of the president if “she continues to fail in providing the kind of leadership Liberians are desirous of”.
Nathaniel McGill who was then National Secretary General distanced the party from the campaign, disclosing that the Morlu was acting on his own and not on behalf of the party.