By Lincoln G. Peters
Former Information Minister Amb. Lewis G. Brown appears resolute in leading a planned protest here on December 17, despite attempts by the Government of Liberia to stop such gatherings.
Ambassador Brown, who heads Team Cummings, the campaign team of the leader of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) Mr. Alexander B. Cummings, told a news conference in Monrovia last week that the CPP had since paid an initial cast of US$2,000 against a total fee of US$3,500 to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, after it wrote Minister D. Zoegar Wilson, requesting for permit, that was granted, to peacefully assemble at the Samuel Kenyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville on Dember 17, 2022 to protest against ills of the Weah administration, characterized untold sufferings on the Liberian people.
He displayed official receipt from Minister Wilson, granting said permit to allow the scheduled protest to be held.
However, it appears that despite said approval, the government is having a second thought, and seems hesitant or unwilling to allow the protest to go ahead as planned, for obvious political reasons
Ambassador Brown and Monrovia City Mayor, Mayor Jefferson Koijee, recently elected as secretary general of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change, are going back and forth on whether or not, to have the protest as announced.
Mayor Koijee has alarmed that the scheduled protest is an attempt by the opposition to cause chaos and so it should be annulled or scratched by the government.
“Write it and report it, let him hear me clearly. I dare him. There is a reason [why] they are afraid of me, and on that day, we will assemble peacefully,’’ Amb. Brown said during a press conference Thursday, 1 December 2022 in Sinkor.
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The comments by Amb. Brown come against accusations levied by Monrovia Mayor Jefferson Koijee that the opposition official is planning chaos in reference to a planned December 17 political rally by the opposition.
“Tell that little boy, there will be a rally, a peaceful rally on December 17 and he has no capacity to threaten anyone or disrupt it. I dare him,” he said further.
Amb. Brown, who once served as Liberia’s Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations, is now the chairperson for Team Alexander B. Cummings presidential campaign.
Cummings is a consistent critic of incumbent President George Manneh Weah and the CDC regime, and he is seeking the nation’s highest office at the pools due in the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
During a press conference held Wednesday, 30 November 2022 at the CDC headquarters in Congo Town, Mr. Koijee accused Amb. Brown of planning chaos.
The Monrovia City Mayor told reporters his informers told him that Ambassador Brown allegedly held a secret meeting on the very day of the press conference to plan for a protest due on 17 December.
Koijee said the protest is allegedly planned under the caption “The Suffering Must End.”
He alleged that the gathering will not be peaceful and is allegedly meant to undermine the country’s peace.
Based on these allegations, Koijee warned Amb. Brown, saying gone are the days when the latter and his likes used those tactics to cause conflict in the country.
According to Koijee, Liberians are not prepared anymore to go back to the dark days of conflict that brought untold suffering upon the citizens.
He alleged that the CDC maintained the peace of this country for 12 years while it was in the opposition.
He, therefore, called on Mr. Cummings’ party, the Alternative National Congress (ANC) to also maintain the peace.
But responding to Mr. Koijee’s statement, Amb. Brown explained that the planned rally will be very peaceful.
He also warned the CDC regime that what its supporters did to peaceful students from the University of Liberia will not happen this time.
“Tell little Koijee that the foolishness they did on July 26 against peaceful students to move others to go assault young Liberians that were protesting, not this time, not this rally,” Amb. Brown warned.
“You can call it all kinds of names, but we will move across the streets of Monrovia and gather outside the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex and speak loudly and clearly for Koijee and others to hear because they have been deaf too long,’’ Amb. Brown continued.
He detailed that on 17 December 2022, they will hold a peaceful rally to call the attention of the government to the high cost of living and alarming poverty in the country.
Amb Brown said the rally is organized under the caption “We Tired Suffering’’ because it’s unfair to see what people are living through every day.
“I don’t need little Koijee to tell me how to organize a peaceful rally. Little Koijee has no pedigree, experience and capacity to tell anyone,” Brown noted.
“What little Koijee has proven that he has is the capacity to disrupt and I dare him on that day.”
Amb. Brown alleged that the CDC tries to spread fear and intimidation, accusing the party of being allegedly deceptive.
“Little Koijee should look [at] his own bodyguards that he is walking with. They are tired of suffering and if they are not afraid, they will be in the rally,’’ Amb. Brown alleged.
He said he owes Koijee no explanation, neither any apology, adding that he doesn’t expect Koijee to be happy that Liberians are suffering, and they want to come out and express their pains.
He indicated also that he doesn’t expect Koijee to be happy when he is also allegedly responsible for the suffering of Liberians.
The opposition official said those who have privileges and are abusing power are afraid when people want to speak about such abuses.
“Little Koijee does not know what leads to chaos. What leads to chaos is when citizens don’t exercise their rights to express themselves,” Amb. Brown admonished the Monrovia Mayor.
He contended that when people don’t express their pains it becomes troubling for democracy, not the peaceful rally.
“The rally is for all Liberians who are tired of suffering, and we want them to come out. You hear my repeated emphasis that this is going to be a peaceful rally,” he noted.
