The Liberia People Democratic Party (LPDP) has condemned what appears to be a retrogressive tendency in the democratic forward march speedily taking root in the governance of the state under the ruling Unity Party-led government.
Speaking with reporters Friday, August 16, 2024, in Monrovia, LPDP National Chairperson D. Wa Hne, Jr. stated that if this tendency is not checkmated and halted, it would have the proclivity to land the country into uncontrollable chaos with the magnitude of paralyzing normal activities nationwide. According to him, President Boakai needs to wake up and arrest the situation with vigor.
“As Liberians, particularly political and civic organizations are yet to comprehend the shocking wave of missteps in policy decisions and encroachments on the Rule of Law, the infringement on fundamental rights to free speech which was upheld by former Presidents Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and George Manneh Weah seems to be a new dimension added to the Rescue Mission package for Liberians by some state actors,” he said.
Hne indicated that the LPDP maintains that the dismissal of nine (9) civil servants at the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), for simply expressing their opinions against the manner in which the country that they hold inherent title to is being governed, was wrong and unconstitutional and should have never been contemplated in the first place.
“The LPDP believes that well-meaning Liberians everywhere are disappointed and grieving over the deliberate and unlawful action of the CSA boss to deprive some Liberian citizens from enjoying their constitutional rights under Article 18 of the 1986 Constitution, by preferring people not on the basis of merit but purely on the basis of partisanship,” he said.
The LPDP National Chairperson said it is unacceptable and dangerous to the nascent democracy and the peaceful coexistence of the socio-political diversities; adding, “If it was wrong yesterday, it is also wrong today.”
He called on President Boakai to urgently take siege of the matter and reinstate the affected government employees who have been wrongfully dismissed for criticizing him and his officials as alleged by some agents of the Executive. Chairman Hne added that the instructions from the CSA Director General, Josiah Joekai, is extreme and could label him as intolerant to alternative views, which is an anti-democratic tenet.
“Considering the above concerns raised, the LPDP wishes to call on the Legislature to put aside partisan divides and save the state by protecting and upholding the Constitution of the Republic through the exercise of their oversight responsibility as enshrined in the 1986 Constitution,” Chairman Hne said.
