Montserrado County District#10 Representative Yekeh Kolubah, currently being investigated in the House along with two other lawmakers for criticizing Speaker Bhofa Chambers, falls from the frying pan into the fire, this time around, he is being invited before the Ministry of Justice for interrogation.
The Ministry of Justice has written the House of Representatives, asking that body to ensure Representative Kulubah cooperates in an impending investigation for allegations of unprofessional conduct made against the Liberia National Police, including Inspector General of Police Patrick Sudue after Sunday’s violence at a children party organized by the lawmaker in Smythe Road community, a Monrovia suburb, which led to several persons sustaining injuries among them, a police officer.
But a group of lawmakers have issued a press release here, condemning acts of violence meted against innocent children in the Smythe Road community, and the gun firing attack on Representative Kolubah’s residence.
“…Such act threatens the security and protection of the peaceful people of Liberia, and requires serious attention. Let this claim the attention of the Liberian Government, ECOWAS, African Union, the United Nations, and our traditional partner, the United States of America, as we are in the stage of consolidating the peace and the gain made by all of us”, the lawmakers remind.
In his communication to Speaker Chambers, the Minister of Justice Cllr. Frank Musa Dean draws the Speaker’s attention to the incident that occurred on Sunday, January 20, 2019 at a children party in the Old Road area organized by Representative Yekeh Kolubah of District#10, Montserrado County.
The communication signed by the Minister himself, details that following the violence, Rep. Kolubah made a number of allegations against the Liberia National Police, including accusing the LNP and the Inspector General of Police of unprofessional conduct.
“Given the gravity of the incident, we have referred the matter to
the Liberia National Police Civilian Complaints Review Board (the
Board), consistent with Section 22.85 of the Liberia National Police
Act (2015), for a thorough investigation into the entire incident,
including the allegations made by Rep. Kolubah. We wish to assure you
that at the conclusion of the investigation, the Ministry of Justice
will take appropriate action(s) to ensure that this incident is not
repeated.’’
In their press release, jointly signed by River Gee County District#3 Representative Francis S. Dopoh, Sinoe County District#5 Representative Jay Nagbe Sloh, Lofa County District#5 Representative Beyan D. Howard, monterrado County District#15 representative Adolph A. Lawrence, Grand Bassa County District#5 representative Thomas A. Goshua, Representative Vincent S.T. Willie of Gand Bassa District#4, and Margibi County District#2 Representative Ivar K. Jones, The call on President George Manneh Weah, senate President Pro-tempore Albert Chie, Speaker Chambers and the entire Leadership of the 54th National Legislature to see this as a threat to national security and the consolidation of peace in the country.
They also seek collaboration with the Liberian senate in ensuring that the security of lawmakers and their families are placed on special considerations.
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“We wish to state here very clearly that there can be no amount of justification to these violent acts, even if the voices and tunes of citizens are not palatable. The use of guns and stones at these separate instances on the Oldroad must be contained and disposed of so as not to have a contagious effect on our democracy”, the lawmakers warn in their joint press release.
Meanwhile, after reading of the communication from the Ministry of Justice, a motion was taken by Rep. Matthew Zarzar of Sinoe County that Rep. Kolubah should go and face the investigation and should be accompanied by two of his colleagues to watch the process.
According to eyewitnesses, Rep. Kolubah had organized the occasion to entertain children from his district and provide them book bags, copybooks and other school materials when a guy identified as Mohammed Bah arrived on the scene and began videotaping, but was prevented by an aide of the lawmaker only identified as Keita, who allegedly attacked Mohammed, biting off a piece of the victim’s ear. Keita is reportedly being investigated by the Police.
But angry crowd suspected to be CDCians instantaneously demanding the living body of Keita to maim him to death, retaliated with hails of stones, wounding a PSU officer and creating a serious stampede that left several others, including some of the children reportedly sustaining injuries.
The violence disrupted the occasion as residents, most of them parents, including bystanders ran helter-skelter to rescue their children and for their own lives.
Rep. Kolubah claims Police Inspector General Col Patrick Sudue informed him that President George Manneh Weah had instructed the Police to arrest only his (Kolubah’s) private security, and not people believed to be CDCians who were at the protest.
He accuses the Liberia National Police (LNP) of being a partisan force, and that Director Sudue has become private security to President Weah.
But Police IG Patrick Sudue denies, terming Kolubah’s claims as a “malicious lie.”
By Bridgett Milton –Editing by Jonathan Browne
