DOWUL wants MD at NPA

The President of the Dock Workers Union of Liberia or DOWUL, calls on President George Weah to speedily appoint a new Managing Director for the National Port Authority (NPA) to ensure effective operations of the entity.

DOWUL President Jackie N. Doe made the call over the weekend in a strongly worded press statement issued in Monrovia. She says the Union’s attention has been drawn to several publications in three local dailies, including The Inquirer, In Profile Daily and Pilot, among others a story under the caption: “Dock workers praise new NPA leadership.”

The statement quotes the story as saying that the leadership of the Dock Workers Union of Liberia (DOWUL) see the new management team of the NPA as open blessing from God for dockers and all stakeholders of the ports of Liberia.

It disclosed that the story published did not state the name of any official of DOWUL, and lacks concrete source claimed the DOWUL frowns on all past administrations of the NPA for alleged sustained policy of total neglect of workers, including casual laborers, contractors and permanent employees that praised Madam Celia Cuffy Brown and her team for their transformation of the NPA.

The DOWUL statement terms as false, misleading and a mere propaganda intended to gain favor from President George M. Weah.The statement also denies that at no time the leadership of DOWUL had spoken to the press since the appointment of Madam Celia Cuffy Brown as Deputy Managing Director for Administration and Acting Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA).

It says Madam Brown, who was a strong supporter of the Unity Party (UP) before somersaulting to the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) to satisfy her selfish motive claim to be more CDCian than any other Liberian in the Freeport of Monrovia.

The document furthered that on 19 February, Madam Brown ordered the closure of the DOWUL office in the port and informed its leadership through a communication not to enter their own office, something that the Ministry of Labor and the Liberia Labour Congress strongly condemned and asked her to reconsider her decision immediately.

“How can a union responsible for workers be asked to vacate the promises of the port for no concrete reasons and in return praise the management, who is asking them to leave? This does not make any logic. Therefore, we are calling on the public and well-meaning Liberians not to give credence to the publication as we are not praising the current management.”

The statement notes that if the government Pro-Poor Agenda must be achieved, President Weah should listen to recommendations, calling for the appointment of sincere individuals to positions of public trust, including the NPA.

The statement calls on publishers of the local dailies that published the erroneous stories to retract them, while at the same time calling on Dockers to be focused and committed in the discharge of their duties.

By Emmanuel Mondaye-Editing by Jonathan Browne