Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
Monrovia – Four collaborating political parties, the immediate former ruling party, Unity Party (UP); Liberty Party (LP); Alternative National Congress (ANC); and the All Liberian Party (ALP), have declared support for the planned June 7th protest, which organizers say is intended to “Save The State” from bad governance.
At a joint press conference in Sinkor early Wednesday, Unity Party National Chairman Wilmot Paye, reading the parties’ statement announced that the UP, LP, ANC, and ALP are unflinchingly, resoundingly, unapologetically and unequivocally supporting efforts by organizers of series of protest actions slated to begin in June, under the auspices of a group of Liberians known as the Council of Patriots (CoP).
Paye said not only that the collaborating parties are in support of the planned protest, but the UP, LP, ANC, and ALP, in accordance with the country’s 1986 Constitution which guarantees peaceful assembly, the parties were also announcing their direct involvement and participation in the planning, execution and management of all peaceful conduct and actions geared toward achieving what he calls the noble objective of drawing the attention of President George M. Weah and his administration to issues of governance, which he said the Liberian leader’s administration has woefully ignored despite growing outcries from Liberians.
He announced that the parties were therefore, presenting and placing at the disposal of the Council of Patriots and for the sole purpose of peacefully rallying the citizenry to save the Liberian State, their various organizational machineries across the country.
“By this we mean that our national, county, district and zonal organs as well as vast pools of human and material resources will be marshalled for this noble goal,” Paye stressed.
He then called on all members, supporters, sympathizers and friends of the All Liberian Party, Alternative National Congress, Liberty Party and Unity Party throughout the length and breadth of the country and those in the diaspora to lend maximum support to the Council of Patriots.
As further proof of their resounding disapproval for what Paye calls Liberia’s deteriorating economy, he said the parties want their members and supporters turn out in their hundreds of thousands beginning in June to draw the Weah-led government’s attention to their concerns.
He clarified that there will be no violence, at least from the perspective of the four collaborating political parties and the Council of Patriots, adding, “No one should instill fear in you. There is a huge difference between 2019 and 1979, to which some unqualified comparisons have been made in order to discourage [you] from speaking out. The Council of Patriots is a democratic movement that our four Political Parties are part of.”
Paye continued: “June 2019 is the time for you to speak to those on Capitol Hill who have shown no interest in your plight. Their contemptible behavior is the reason for us to unite under a single banner.”
“This will be the time for you the forgotten doctors, nurses and health workers to be heard. This will be the time for you teachers and professors and education workers to speak out. It will be the time for you civil servants, who may soon lose 25% of your salaries as part of a fake solution to problems you did not create, to stand up for your rights as guaranteed by the Liberian constitution,” Paye added.
He intoned that the protest will be good for rubber tappers and plantation workers across the country, including those in Margibi, Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Grand Bassa, Maryland, Sinoe, Grand Kru, Nimba, and Bong Counties.
“This day will unite your voice with marketers, taxi drivers, motorcyclists, teachers and health workers to speak to the three (3) Branches of your Government seated on Capitol Hill,” he said.
Said Paye: “Indeed, June is your time to make history; to speak truth to power, and to put into practice the power that the constitution gives to you when it says, “All power is inherent in the people…”
He warned that if the majority of Liberians faced with challenging circumstances under the Weah administration do not act now, prices which are already shooting up through the roof will climb to the skies, and the hardships they are experiencing will get worse as predicted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He also informed Liberian students that “June is for you students whose parents are unsure of the next school year because tuitions are likely to shoot up, there can be no better way to express your views, especially as schools must pay teachers and workers who cannot afford the soaring prices of basic commodities.”
He reiterated that the planned protest action in June is not about violence, and so it cannot be violent, but he asserted that there are some on Capitol Hill, Monrovia, apparent in government positions, who are working to discourage Liberians, put fear in them, so that they do not be a part of the “Save The Sate” protest.
“They are the looters, you are the looted; the cheaters, you the cheated. You work, they pay themselves. You sow, they reap. You study hard, they get the pass. You trek, they fly. June 7 will be the one chance you have to make them know “Enough is enough”! They must place you on the agenda,” Paye said.
Paye says businesses are breaking down in the country, while the Weah administration has placed on hold discussion of a new budget for whole two months, and for what he terms no good reason too.
“That alone should tell you that the economy is not their concern at all. Even if the economy gets worse than it is, they can afford because they pay themselves,” Paye lamented.
He said there is a conspiracy on Capitol Hill, the seat of the Liberian governance system, between the three Branches of Government, terming same as being serious.
“It will not end if we do not stop it! That is why, without a doubt, a peaceful action by all of us, irrespective of our political, religious and ethnic differences, has become necessary,” he pointed out.
“For us, we see no tribes. We see one group of people with one destiny by GOD’s command. In fact, bad governance knows no tribe, no religion, no big or small, no rich or poor,” he said.
He noted that Liberians are one people tied to a common homeland, saying, “Our People are always one. That is why unlike many parts of the world where after a civil war the people live separately, our story has been different. We live together in UNITY, even as we suffer.”
He averred that bad governance is bad governance, adding, “No tribe, ethnic group, religious group or region is responsible for the failure or success of any government. Those who govern take responsibility for their conduct, and not any language-group.”
