EFFL Frowns on Nat’l Leaders For Division in COVID-19 Fight -Cites Separate Taskforces of Pres. Weah & Veep

The Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia (EFFL) has frowned on the divided fronts at which President George Manneh Weah and his Vice President Madam Jewel Howard-Taylor have engaged the fight of the scourging Coronavirus pandemic as evidenced by the fact that both have separate taskforces that have been distributing COVID-19 kits including buckets with printed stickers carrying photos of each.

Saying that they should instead be of a joint team as a government in tackling the virus, the EFF furthered that the separate taskforces they are operating and their mode of operation during this Coronavirus fight confirms the EFFL’s understanding and that of many others that President Weah and Vice President Howard-Taylor are at CONFRONTATION with each other which, they group believes is a sign of defeat to Liberia’s already challenged health sector and poor securities at all borders and entries points of Liberia.

In a press release issued yesterday, the EFF said as a revolutionary, radical but ideological and political institution, it holds the responsibility to speak to perilous national issues that has the proclivity to undermine and destabilize the joint efforts of all Liberians and non-Liberians in the fight against the Coronavirus.

Besides, the Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia said it is equally sending a strong caveat to the Ministry of Health (MOH), National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) and the Ministry of Information, Culture Affairs & Tourism (MICAT) to stop instilling panic in the population by giving conflicting information on the status of the virus.

Speaking on the division between the two national leaders during this Coronavirus disease fight, EFFL strongly describes such comportment as egotistical and unconventional and immediately call on both the President and his Vice President to put aside their individual differences and focus on the issues at hand.

“We are in a very hazardous situation and can only succeed when we all are at the barricade with one mind and agenda,” the EFFL said, stating that this is no time for politics.”

The EFFL called on President Weah to take the lead to begin identifying solutions on how the country can defeat COVID-19 in the soonest time possible. “He must muster the courage to speak to the citizenry on a daily basis on an agenda of giving hope to the least human being that exists within the walls of this republic and give account on the status of infected patients and quarantine sites in the country,” the group said.

In addition, the Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia said it is also unapologetic in condemning self-centeredness of the three branches of government; legislature, judiciary, and the executive for not providing a resolute pattern in the fight of the COVID-19. “Such a time, the governance of our country should be more practical and measureable but instead it is weak and fierce.” The EFFL observed

Similarly, the Economic Freedom Fighters of Liberia is equally sending a strong caveat to the Ministry of Health (MOH), National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) and the Ministry of Information, Culture Affairs & Tourism (MICAT) to stop instilling panic in the population by giving conflicting information on the status of the virus and its infected victims like the case with a 72-year old man, John Teah.

Mr. Teah who reportedly died at ELWA hospital from the pandemic, but later a day after there was a cartwheel by the Minister of Health, Madam Wilhelmina Jallah at what seems to be a regular COVID-19 briefing on state radio, ELBC 99.9.

This, the Economic Freedom Fighters said, was the reason for the immediate denunciation by the John Teah’s family of the government’s pronouncement of the cause of the death, which is backed by huge public discontentment over said pronouncement.

Accordingly, the EFFL is urgently requesting clarifications on such questions as: When and where the late John Yeah was tested positive of covid-19?  Where was he taken for surveillance and how long before his demise? Who are his immediate contacts since in fact it is our understanding that the late John Teah died in the southeast? Is there any surveillance center there? If yes, where specifically in the southeast?

The EFFL further wants to know how long does it take for one result to be out after testing and what are the statuses of the first three (3) confirmed cases of covid-19? Those individuals have exceeded the surveillance period. EFFL demands update with in 48hrs?

The group believes that with answers provided to the above questions, “we as a revolutionary, radical but ideological and political Institution can in one piece reassure all Liberians and the general public of our never-compromised and unremitting positions to the cause we took oaths to protect,” the EFFL’s release signed by its Deputy Secretary General for Press, Publicity & Outreach, Olushola Kim Ekunode and approved by its National Secretary General Ernest K. Moibah, Jr. concluded