𝑩𝒚 𝑲. 𝑬𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒆 & 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒍𝒚𝒏𝒆 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒔

𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐀, 𝐀𝐮𝐠. 𝟐𝟐 (𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐀)) – Information Minister Jerolinmek M. Piah has sounded a caveat to the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) to refrain from its continued actions that are intended to undermine the peace of the country.

"You will not be allowed to unleash anarchy here because you are no longer in power. You have to stop and if you don't stop, the government will do exactly what it has to do. But we will not allow you to throw this country back to chaos", the Information Minister said, during the MICAT regular press briefing on Thursday, August 22, 2024, in Monrovia.

According to Minister Piah, former President George Weah and his party was given six years by the people of Liberia to serve and address the grave issues or concerns of the country, but he chose to "squander" the opportunity given him.

The MICAT boss cautioned the former Liberian leader to take charge of the trend of chaos his people have taken; to talk to them or else the government will decisively act as a way of protecting the peace of the country.

"The people of this country elected you for six years, all you did here was to squander all of the opportunities that you had to address the perennial problems of this country", he reminded the former Liberian leader.

He added: “As a statesman, it is time to get involved in preserving the peace and stability because this action of his partisans has the propensity to also hamper the economic prosperity of this country.”

Recounting the genesis of the feared tensions that erupted between the Liberia National Police and partisans of the CDC, the Minister narrated that on the early morning of Thursday, August 22, 2024, agents of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency(LDEA) went on an operation around the party's headquarters to execute their operation and then they got attacked by partisans of the CDC, which led to the LNP dispatching some of its officers to calm the situation as a means of protecting lives and properties.

"When the high command of the Liberia National Police was alerted, they had to be deployed because prior to that, after attacking those officers, the individuals involved blocked the road, put tires on the road, put it on fire and created a sense of chaos and anarchy around that environment," Minister Piah narrated.

He disclosed that during the violent protest, about three police officers were wounded, some employees of the GSA were attacked while en route to their destination on their bus, leading to severe injuries of those employees, another bus belonging to the LTA was attacked and individuals were also wounded, amongst others.

The Government's mouthpiece stated that since leaving power, the CDC has been using its political party's compound as a shield to instigate violence, throwing stones, wounding innocent citizens, including journalists, describing their actions as being lawless and a disregard of peace and security.

The MICAT boss accused the ex-president and top officials of the party as the masterminds of the actions of the party, stating that "The fact that activities are emerging from their headquarters, it will suggest to us that their actions are being sanctioned by the leadership of the institution, including the former president".

Minister Piah averred that it baffles him to see young people who were the direct victims of the looting that was done by ex-officials of the CDC administration to be the ones to be chanting slogans for those who were indicted and sanctioned and even people that are called by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) and Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) for questioning.

"The GAC, LACC, as independent institutions of government, not dictated to by anybody, operating straightly by their mandate, is conducting series of investigations and audits to address this long-term issue of impunity that has been placed over our country for decades upon decades", the minister expressed.

Minister Piah assured the public that the government is doing all it can to make sure that the country remains peaceful and that there is an on-going meeting by the National Security Council of Liberia to handle the situation being created by the CDC.