MONROVIA – Liberia’s 21-year-old peace and political stability, and democracy, are on trial, according to experts in peace studies, who also contend that the rubbing of the thin edges of impunity-and-accountability fight on the one hand and the pursuit of partisan supremacy on the other is upping security tensions and dragging the nation on the banks of uncertainty. With the evolving of political tensions prompted by the Unity Party government’s professed crackdown on impunity and the apparent opposition rejection of the move due to what is considered selectivity and bias underpinning such an effort, many pundits say they are worry and doubtful finding the line between ongoing corruption fight and political vendetta—something bound to upset harmony and peace. The Analyst reports.
Liberians are once against enmeshed in a national debate, this time over the arrest and imprisonment of former government officials of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) by the ruling Unity Party and the spontaneous reactions coming from the CDC which view UP’s attempts a far cry from seeking an end to impunity but a political war declared against it.
In addition to the targeting of countless officials of the past government by the incumbent, including severing civil servants of the job, and torpedoing tenured officials, the Unity Party government ruffled tensions yet again with the rounding up of, arresting and jailing past key officials of the CDC, charging them for corruption and graft.
Before unsealing the multiple arrest orders, and sending the first batch of former CDC government officials to jail Tuesday, July 30, 2-24, the ruling UP had removed tenured officials from their posts with suspension sentence bordering charges for law violation.
Rising Tides of Crackdown on CDC Officials
While the nation was grappling with the tenured officials’ saga, some pundits who put the action in the same vault of political reprisals that have already consumed many, the ruling UP took the most audacious step by the “indictment” of top officials of the erstwhile CDC government this week.
In the Writ of Arrest, the Government says it is charging the former CDC officials for economic sabotage, misuse of public money, theft and illegal disbursement of public money, theft of property and criminal conspiracy.
Already the Monrovia City Court Monday July 29, 2024, has sent to jailed former Liberia Solicitor General Cllr. Nyanti Tuan, the National Security Advisor to former President George Weah, Jefferson Karmon and former Controller of the Financial Intelligence Agency D. Moses P. Cooper.
According to the Monrovia City Court, the incarceration of those already jailed and those to be arrested including former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah, Jr., was based on complaint filed by the Ministry of Justice in association with the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission for alleged crimes of Economic Sabotage in-line with section 15.80(a)(b) and (c), Misused of Public money, property or record section 15.8(c), theft and or illegal disbursement and expenditure of public money (section 18.52) theft of property, Criminal conspiracy and Criminal facilitation.
It is an understatement to mention that the whirlwind of arrests and imprisoning of the former CDC officials borders on the profession of the UP to fight corruption and impunity, which they the power-that-be consider to be in the interest of the country.
Because, sending out the arrest orders, the Monrovia City stated: “You are hereby commanded to arrest the living bodies of Samuel D. Tweah, former Minister of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), Cllr. Nyenati Tuan, former Acting Minister of Justice, Stanley S. Ford, former Director General of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA), D. Moses P. Cooper, former Comptroller of the Financial Intelligence Agency, and Jefferson Karmoh, former National Security Advisor, and forthwith bring them to the Monrovia City Court, Temple of Justice Building, Montserrado County to answer the charges of Economic Sabotage, Theft and/or Illegal Disbursement and Expenditure of Public Money, Theft of Property, Criminal Facilitation and Criminal Conspiracy based upon the oath and complaint of the Republic of Liberia by and thru the Ministry of Justice and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), Plaintiff, in which it is substantially alleged as follows to wit:
“That in an elaborate scheme and conspiracy to defraud the Government of Liberia, in July 2023, Defendants conspired with Co-Defendant Stanley S. Ford, and made him a member of the National Security Council of Liberia, in total violation and contravention of the National Security Act of Liberia. Subsequently thereafter, at various times in September, 2023, the Defendants, in carrying out their diabolical scheme and conspiracy and under the false pretense of discharging their duties as officials of the Joint Security of Liberia, unauthorizedly, criminally, willfully, illegally, knowingly and maliciously, with the intent to defraud the Government of Liberia, stole and converted to their own use and benefit and did conspire, collude and made to be transferred, from the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) to the of L$1,055,1 52, 540 the amounts of the FIA US$5,000, 000.00 million”
The Court further added: “The amounts ofL$1,055,145,040 and US$5,000, 000.00 million were subsequently withdrawn either on the same day of the transfers or days thereafter, without any indication or record of how the amounts were disbursed or utilized by the Joint Security of Liberia, in complete and total violations of the New Penal Law of Liberia.
“The alleged act of the Defendants being unlawful, wicked, illegal and intentional is a violation of the New Penal Law of Liberia, there and then the crimes herein the Defendants did do and commit. Hence, this writ of arrest.”
CDC Feels Targeted
While many former officials of the CDC are bracing themselves, expecting to be the ones next for arrest and prosecution, the Standard Bearer of the former ruling party, George Manneh Weah, took the national podium on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, to amplify what many of his partisans have been saying: that the governing UP has embarked on a systemic campaign of annihilation and decapitation of their party.
In a short and powerful statement, Weah outlined a couple of “vindictive” actions on the party of President Boakai and his administration, calling on the government to stop and to stop immediately.
The former President, speaking to the nation, spoke of the harassment and removal of civil servants from the system based purely along party lines; the excessive use of force against citizens results in several deaths, and the non-prosecution of Election-related deaths that occurred on camera.
He also condemned the total disregard for the tenure laws of the country even in the face of the Liberia Supreme Court’s rulings; the broad day violations of the procurement laws of the country, and the disgraced and denial of benefits of duly commissioned Foreign Service officials.
Weah promised that the CDC would resist the actions by the Unity Party government, as they will use the laws of Liberia while continuing to take the matters to international organizations, including ECOWAS.
Pundits Toil with Opposing Viewpoints
While the two major political parties and its members are involved with struggles of attrition, independent Liberians are as well divided between two viewpoints—an emergence of fortitude to quell corruption and impunity on the one hand and the strive for political supremacy and vendetta on the other.
“I hear people talk about witch-hunt, reprisal and all the stuff, yet everyone agrees that there is a need to fight corruption and end impunity,” said Hayes G. Mentor, who claims to be Executive Director of Liberia Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (LAFRED), a local advocacy group.
“There just have to be a cut off period in what I will call a national complacency in ending impunity and crimes, be it economic and war crimes. If we continue to take every action of calling someone to book for corruption as a witch-hunt, then when will there be answers to the question of when this country will begin a serious fight against impunity and corruption?”
While Mentor’s arguments seem valid, there are others who disagree on grounds of the methods being used by the current administration.
- Karmonkai Wilson, a student leader spoke to The Analyst: “There is nothing wrong with fighting corruption and curtailing the wanton loot of our nation’s coffers at the painful detriment of the masses. But here is the point: when you fight corruption or crimes, fight it like you mean it, like you are serious, like you are unbiased. But when you fight corruption and crimes by cherry-picking, shielding your kith and kin while cracking down on others, or perceived foes, then you are in error; then you are not serious; then you are looking to trouble—serious trouble. And we don’t want that. If you are not ready, do not try to plunk your finger in the honeybee.”
Nation in Trepidation
As the debate continues, as opposition figures are being rounded up, jailed and charged, and those who are feeling targeted are rising up to voice their condemnation and rejection of their “harassment and intimation”, the nation is submerged in the seas of uncertainty, many fearing the unthinkable—spontaneous uprising.
“Our peace is fragile,” says Timothy Karteh, Jr., a community leader. “Our country is divided in half, politically and socially as far as the 2023 elections show. With many poor people in the slums and communities, untold number of citizens turning the drugs and crimes, our leaders have to be careful – very careful indeed how they conduct the affairs of state.”