Monrovia – Former deputy minister of Information in the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf regime, Mr. Robert Moncio Wilmot Kpadeh, has slammed President George Weah for what the vocal ex-official of government terms the president and his followers’ machinations designed to at all cost, subvert the livelihood of revered broadcast journalist Patrick Honnah.
Punch FM/TV online service has reliably learned that with the alleged backing of President Weah, scores of officials of the CDC-led government are pressurizing the management of Firestone-Liberia to sack Honnah, who the president and his operatives are peeved with due to what they call his constant social media critiquing of the regime, and his support for candidates of the opposition bloc in the recent Montserrado senatorial and District #15 Representative by-elections.
Sources divulged that as a result of a meeting some officials of Weah’s administration held with Firestone management on Tuesday, formally requesting that the company fires Honnah for being vocal on excesses of President Weah and his government, Firestone management is about now contemplating terminating Honnah’s service as a Public Relations Manager for the company.
Honnah has also incessantly accused Weah and some officials of his administration of stifling the operation of his media house, ONE MEDIA INCORPORATED, owner of Punch FM/TV.
After making huge investments in his private business; Punch FM radio and TV station, and acquiring all legal documents, President Weah reportedly instructed his Minister of Information, Lenn Eugene Nagbe to prevent the station from broadcasting, due to his (Honnah’s) decision to support the presidential bid of former Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai over Weah’s during the country’s elections in 2017.
Government announced in June last year that it was reviewing the country’s media sector for alleged anomalies – hence, Honnah’s station could not be permitted to broadcast until the review exercise was concluded.
But it’s over a year now and the Weah-led government is supposedly still reviewing Honnah station’s operational license and broadcast permit, while the administration continues to issue licenses and permits to several other new media entities including Independent Inquirer and Spoon FM.
Howbeit, Kpadeh terms as brazen travesty Weah’s regime’s maneuverings against the operation of a media institution in the country by Honnah, adding that the CDC-led government has even gone a step further to hatch a “diabolical ploy” aimed at purging the experienced broadcaster from the employ of Firestone.
Kpadeh, who is of the belief that President Weah and his followers are desperately seeking to subvert the livelihood of Honnah at all cost, averred that ‘crimes’ committed by the award-winning journalist for which he’s being witch-hunted by the regime is because he did not support Weah’s presidential bid, and that he’s being vocal on the excesses of the CDC-led government.
“He didn’t support Weah’s presidential bid. He also disagrees with the unbridled debauchery of his homeland by the Weah-led government,” Kpadeh quipped.
He then encouraged his longtime friend to remain resolute in the face of the harassment and intimidation from Weah and some of his officials, stating “Pat, my friend and dear brother, on your last birthday, I penned an epistle with the caption: “Remain Standing, Patriot Patrick Honnah”. Today, I reecho these words to you with every emphasis at my command, Remain Standing, comrade patriot, for in the end, we shall emerge victorious. We have seen leaders come and go, we have seen powerful men stumbled to the ground on their foreheads in utter shame, and we have seen eras faded away. Fear nothing, for on the fateful Monday judgement will be served, justice shall win and travesty shall be crushed down. History has the last say, brother. Redemption is on horizon! Samora, Uhuru!”
