Prison Fellowship urges Liberia to increase police budget

By Kruah Thompson

Prison Fellowship Liberia Country Director Mr. Francis S. Kollie has called on the Government of Liberia to increase the Liberia National Police (LNP) budget in order to fight and minimize crimes in the country.

Speaking to reporters in Monrovia on Wednesday, 13 October 2021, Mr. Kollie said crimes are on the increase in Liberia, and prison facilities are overcrowded, posting dark clouds on Liberia’s images around the globe.

Mr. Kollie pointed out that based on the several human rights violations reports by the United Nations on Liberia, Liberians at home and abroad are under serious molestation and humiliation with less or no confidence by foreign investors to invest in Liberia, neither to encourage tourists’ activities here.

“Over the years, Liberian human rights records remained tainted. We want to work and make sure we advance and clean the record,” he said.

Prison Fellowship Country Director said his organization engages in training inmates, giving them basic skills, and providing them legal solutions for sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) survivors.

According to Kollie, the government and the public here must contribute to sponsoring the police in their fight against crimes and violations, adding that the Ministries of Justice and Gender should fight human rights abuses or expect them to flag again in the United Nations human rights report on Liberia.

Kollie suggested that the resistance of duty-bearers to accept change is undermining the country’s recovery from human rights violations reported by the United Nations against Liberia, warning that there will be no change in such reports except leaders here accept the positive change.

“We  have just introduced an  ODIKAY software  system  to be able to track SGBV cases across the country,  reduce manual court records that cause errors or manipulation, minimize corruptions and ill – practices in the judicial system,” he stated.–Edited by Winston W. Parley