By Bridgett Milton
A day after President Joseph N. Boakai announced drugs as an existential threat to Liberia’s future, Margibi County District #3 Representative Ellen Attoh–Wreh, has written the House, proposing the establishment of a leadership committee on drug, rehabilitation, and reintegration.
She says in adherence to Article 58 of the Constitution of Liberia, President Joseph Boakai on Monday appeared before the bi-camera Legislature to report on the state of affairs, detailing income and expenditure while at the same time laying bare his legislative plan for the ensuing year but interestingly, he mentioned the drug epidemic which has emerged as the current generation’s greatest menace, affecting potential young men and women who have fallen prey to drug addiction thus becoming not only a burden but existential threats to society.
According to her, President Boakai also made a clarion call to everyone to stand in this fight together as it poses a national security threat and took a bold step by establishing a Multisectorial Steering Committee comprising Ministries and Agencies of Government.
“Hence, this Legislature, I believe, should support the President in every way necessary to ensure that his agenda to fight drug trafficking and abuse is met. In the 54th Legislature, we became the co-sponsor of a landmark bill that got enacted into law and is today known as the Amended Drug Law upon which H.E. Joseph Nyumah Boakai has premised his fight.”
The Margibi lawmaker says as a way of getting the 55th Legislature directly involved in tackling this national emergency, she is proposing the establishment of a leadership committee on drug, rehabilitation, and reintegration.
The female legislator says she strongly holds the belief that establishing such committee will go a long way in providing effective oversight of the Multisectoral Steering Committee established by the President with a direct mandate to fight against drug use and abuse, which could potentially achieve a positive result.
In his roughly 45 minutes Annual Message delivered before the 55th Legislature sitting in Joint Chambers at the Capitol, President Boakai elevated the country’s fight against narcotics, announcing here that he and his Vice President, Jeremiah Kpan Koung, will lead the test against use of dangerous substances, and urging all of officials to similarly go for test as part of his government’s commitment to raiding the country of drugs that is consuming the youth.
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“We must stand up and face this national security risk together. Given the need for immediate action to make good my pledge to the thousands of families burdened by this crisis, I am hereby declaring Drugs and Substance abuse as a Public Health Emergency”, the President said.
Immediately, the President named a multisectoral steering committee comprising the Ministries of Health, Justice, Youth and Sports, Gender, Children and Social Protection, Finance and Development Planning, and the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency to coordinate the drug war. Editing by Jonathan Browne
