UP Stalwart rubbishes media report

Former Representative Worlea Saywah Dunah has condemned a media report against him and some former ruling Unity Party (UP’s) National Executive Committee (NEC) members regarding partisans’ peaceful rally on 18 January, saying it is a calculated character assassination deeply injurious to the accused.

Mr. Dunah is demanding the Daily Observer newspaper to withdraw statements contained in its report over claims that they are not in line with the principles and ethics of journalism.

He argues that the Daily Observer’s story is vastly different from all other media institutions that were present at UP’s national headquarters in Congo Town when he and other national leaders addressed [protesters].

Mr. Dunah says the paper has never contacted any of UP’s officials on the matter, nor has it quoted a simple line from a public statement that was made and circulated to the media on the same day at the party headquarters.

“We are calling on the Daily Observer to retract those injurious and defamatory statements,” Mr. Dunah says, adding that the UP’s rally which was carried live on Fabric FM 101.1 and covered by over dozen media houses was peaceful and attended by only partisans of the Unity Party, including senior party officials.

He warns that the paper risks facing the full weight of the laws of the land, failure to retract the story.

According to him, a simple fact widely reported by numerous media institutions is that on January 18, 2018, thousands of concerned partisans of the Unity Party including National Executive Committee members held a peaceful rally and called on the Standard Bearer Joseph Nyumah Boakai to unite the party.

“The Observer failed to see us deliver a message of peace that called on Standard Bearer Boakai to unite the party as we go into opposition,” Mr. Dunah continues.

He expresses regret to note that while newer media entities gave the public a comprehensive reportage of the rally, Liberia’s oldest daily has allegedly been occupied in a smear campaign as if it were a propaganda arm of the UP leadership.

He alleges that the paper has never made reference to the infamous resolution of expulsion [of some UP stalwarts] which was voted for by 16 members, and also did not also allegedly bother to inform the public of what the Unity Party’s Constitution says about expulsion.

E.J. Nathaniel Daygbor–Edited by Winston W. Parley