MONROVIA – A fresh public confrontation between state officials and the independent press erupted at what should have been a purely ceremonial occasion. Publishers Association of Liberia President Alphonso Toweh used the Reporters Association of Liberia’s inauguration to demand a retraction from Mo Ali. The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation managing director had branded journalists corrupt blackmailers on Facebook only hours earlier. Ali’s post went further, daring critics to produce evidence or “shut the heck up.” The exchange lays bare the deteriorating relationship between government officials and the media they accuse. It also tests whether peace overtures between press and government can survive officials who, in Toweh’s words, “want to rock the boat.” THE ANALYST reports.
The President of the Publishers Association of Liberia (PAL), Alphonso Toweh, has demanded that the Managing Director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC), Mo Ali, immediately retract a Facebook post branding journalists as corrupt blackmailers, warning of “serious consequences” if he fails to do so.
Toweh issued the demand at the inauguration of the newly elected officers of the Reporters Association of Liberia (RAL) in Monrovia. He extended the sincere greetings of PAL’s leadership and members and congratulated the new RAL corps of officers.
Match Words with Action
The PAL president encouraged the incoming leadership to be steadfast in its work. “Don’t just talk, talk. But work, work and work. Your talking should match your actions in all that you do,” he urged.
Toweh commended the RAL president for extending the hand of peace to the government. He acknowledged that the administration of the president is doing well in some areas, stating, “We should commend them.”
Officials Who Rock the Boat
He cautioned, however, that some officials “want to rock the boat.” Toweh singled out Ali, noting that the LWSC managing director had, a few hours earlier, posted on his Facebook page an indictment of the media alleging that journalists are corrupt and go around blackmailing people.
“I am calling on him to retract his statement immediately or there will be serious consequences,” Toweh declared.
Ali’s Facebook Post
In the post referenced by Toweh, Ali declared that officials “will pay no attention to bribe seeking and corrupt people pretending to be journalists.” He claimed that most “so-called big journalists” thrive on gossip to seek attention, and suggested that critics were targeting the Vice President with drug-scandal insinuations because their “favorite people were rocked by drug scandals.”
Ali issued what he described as an open challenge to anyone circulating “flimsy and unsubstantiated allegations” to present their evidence. “If not, then shut the heck up and find place to sit. This is exactly why your papers have lost relevance,” he wrote.