Do Something Practical About Rising Crime Rate

LIKE ANY DULY constituted authority before it, the administration of George Manneh Weah, including those in the National Legislature and Judiciary, licked or kissed the Holy Bible, some the Holy Koran, in solemn affirmation of their full powers bequeathed unto them by the people. The Contract Theory principle from which most governance concepts are dovetailed provides that in exchange for popular suffrage (collective sovereignties) of the governed, the governors are required to reciprocate with the protection and safety of the life, property and the pursuit of happiness of the people. The Liberian Constitution, which powers Liberia’s Republican Government, is copiously clear on this, leaving untold number of Articles fully specifically devoted to guaranteeing Liberian people’s right to life, safety and happiness. Thus, the current government therefore has got absolutely no excuse to shy away, evade and romanticize with national security, particularly the right of the people to life and property—something a band criminals and hoodlums continue to wantonly attack and annihilate.

THERE IS NO gainsaying about the fact that Liberia has degenerated to criminals’ paradise in the last 24 months, the recent four being the worst. Citizens wake up almost daily not just to news of gruesome killings around the country but also with their own eyes on dead bodies littering in their communities and neighborhoods. Citizens are weeping all over the place for attacks on their persons and their valuables: money, phones and other things, taken away. Armed robbers keep communities restless, firing at random, breaking into homes, raping women and girls, gushing people, and commandeering valuable properties. Amid the orgy of criminality, where no community is immune, the Government is seemingly nonchalant and carefree. Liberia has thus become a complete haven for bad men, drug addicts, marauding felons.

CLEARLY, THERE IS a breach, and field day for criminals. The government is not acting consistent with its cardinal responsibility. Consequently, citizens are wailing. Our people are shedding tears of hopelessness. People are asking if there is a government in place. And if there is one, whether the consciousness level of those in authority has got some life in it. Because, from what victims and potential victims see, those dictating the Liberian social space are criminals—drug addicts, pickpockets, armed robbers and assassins who walked to people and in their comfort of impunity maim, rob and kill.

IT’S TIME GOVERNMENT acted more vigorously, decisively and purposely to live up to its political and moral responsibility, the solemn oath it has taken—to protect and defend the people of Liberia, their life, their rights, their dignities, their properties and their happiness. Failure on the part of this government to act as obliged and expected, it only leaves critics right that it the government is either careless about the safety and happiness of the people or it is simply not up to the task of being a government in the first place.

IT IS TRUE that criminals are everywhere in the world unleashing their fangs upon innocent people. Even in powerful countries, there are vicious people, wicked people, making life nauseating for citizens. It is true that in Liberia’s past, there were times when criminals increased their onslaughts on the country and its people. However, no responsible government would resign itself from pursuing criminals to their logical end, or at least providing a space for the people to breathe a sigh of relief. With determination and commitment to their governmental responsibility, they fought criminals and put them on their knees.

WE KNOWLEDGE THAT the Weah government has got a lot of challenges. We knowledge that it is the first political administration since late 1980s to tot exclusively this country’s primary security responsibility. For 37 years, we know, Liberia’s national security responsibility rested on foreign powers and their own resources. But even at that, Liberia, as we all claim and know it rightly, is a sovereign nation that must bear its own responsibility. Liberia was not founded to be subservient to its counterparts or to be micromanaged by others. That fact is, it has been long since the civil war ended, and we must keep our own peace, protect our people and our borders and fight to maintain the security and happiness of our people.

AND CERTAINLY, THIS government which is preoccupied with its pro-poor development programs cannot afford to let Liberia turn to a Sodom and Gomorrah as others are already insinuating. Let it do the right thing, and now: protect the people from aggressing criminals. Period!

Comments are closed.