-CoP urges Senate
A Liberian pro-advocacy group the Council of Patriots (CoP) that led the June 7, 2019 mass protest against the Weah administration has called on the Liberian Senate to rescind the election of Senator Prince Y. Johnson to head its committee on Defense and Intelligence. CoP says Senator Johnson’s continued occupancy undermines calls for the establishment of war and economic crimes court in Liberia.
Senator Johnson was recently elected as chair of the Senate committee on Defense and Intelligence, a decision heavily criticized by the U.S. Government through its embassy near Monrovia.
CoP notes that to have Senators Prince Y. Johnson and Varney Sherman to chair the two key committees (Defense and Intelligence, and Judiciary) of the Senate is sufficient reason to rollback process that could lead to the establishment of the court, while emphasizing that the removal of the pair from their respective committees could save what is left of the credibility of the Senate.
National Secretary General Mulbah K. Yorgbor says Sen. Johnson, like many others named in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) final report, is encouraged to work with all state and non-state actors to ensure that Liberia’s healing begins with the establishment of the war and economic crimes court rather seeing it as targeting him.
He advised PYJ to desist from making inflammatory comments that tend to undermine the establishment of the court or else, the CoP would be constrained to order citizens’ arrest for him and any other persons with known and documented history of participation in Liberia’s brutal war years.
In a related development, the CoP, which claims to be Liberia’s biggest pressure group, excepts to characterization of its Chairman Henry Pedro Costa, as a fugitive from justice.
‘This statement issued by the Government of Liberia in the wake of the appearance of Dr. Alan White on the Costa show and relayed by a few local radio stations is not only insensitive but clearly shows the lack of spine, courage and direction of a government that has clearly lost sight of its purpose,” the CoP reacts.
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It added: “That the government would attempt to silence voices from speaking to end the culture of impunity in Liberia is indicative of its complicity in many acts of extra judicial killings, public corruption and large scale looting of the state coffers.” By Bridgett Milton–Editing by Jonathan Browne
