On Friday, December 31, 2021 several citizens of Montserrado County’s district #6, with euphoria, assembled at the Liberia Girls Guide Facility, Baptist Field, Du-Port Road, to participate in the district’s annual report, but Representative Rustolyn Suacoco Dennis restricted them due to alleged fear of being critique by critical voices.
The district is one of largest ones in Liberia and it has 42 communities. This year’s national census will divide it into two districts due to its size and population.
The district, which is over 60,000 in population, needs a large hall for its annual report presentation, which Representative Dennis failed to execute. She rented the Liberia Girls Guide’s facility, which holds less than 50 people. As a result, people entered by invitation, a situation that provoked the Intellectual Class of Paynesville (ICP) and other advocacy groups, which protested during the presentation and were allegedly arrested and incarcerated at the Joe Bar Police Station.
“You cannot have a district sitting in a little hall like this,” Forkpayea Mulbah, ICP out-going Chairman said, with disdain. “She is hiding and does not want to be accountable to the people she’s representing.”
The invitation allowed one person from the ICP and other grouping to enter and participate in the annual report delivery by Representative Dennis. The ICP insisted that, since it has over 1,000 followers, one person’s entry in the hall was un-Constitutional; 50 persons were acceptable. With this restriction, the ICP and others jeered Representative Dennis, saying that she has lost political grip.
“Today’s sitting is a clear manifestation that Rustolyn has reached the epic of unpopularity. She is unpopular with the people, and even in the House there, she does not have more than ten persons,” Mulbah said with frowned face.
Riot police officers barricaded the meeting hall and prevented people who were entering without invitation. The situation fueled resentment between the police and the angry crowd.
“The majority of the masses, ordinary people who are angry, are the ones outside here, and the police are ready to brutalize them. This speaks to the level of ineptitude and under-representation of our representative,” Mulbah said in an angry tone.
The December 31 report was the district’s second report since Representative Dennis came to power.
“The last report she ever gave was a stage-managed report in 2018. Since that report was made, there has been no single report until today,” Mulbah said.
With the outcry of the people that Representative Dennis has made herself unpopular with the people, she does not move freely. In fact, she is not permanent in the district; rather, allegedly flirts from place to place because she feels insecure being in the district.
“She will never move freely in this district. The mass citizens of district #4 who are aggrieved will boo her whenever she moves about. She is insecure, and we got information that she is in 15-Gate,” Mulbah said.
“So right after here, we suggest that she goes to 15-gate and lie down there, or we will make this district uneasy for her. She has no substantive achievement over three years; just a fact that a representative will give report after three years is indicative that she is a failure.”
The citizens vowed to critique her report, saying it lacks credibility. They added that every district meeting held by her colleagues had been peaceful, except hers, which is a clear indication that she is not governing well.
“We had attended several district sittings in Paynesville, and there is no district sitting that is ungovernable like the one we have here. There is no district sitting where we have PSU officers lined up and ready to brutalize peaceful citizens,” the angry citizens said.
“There is no district sitting where mass citizens boo their representative. This is a clear indication that Rustolyn has lost grip in her district.”
Due to the intensity of throwing stones on the roof of the building and protest, several citizens, including members of the ICP, were allegedly arrested and detained at the Joe Bar Police Station, but later released.
In her report, Representative Dennis outlined several achievements, including scholarships, construction of bridges, markets, road rehabilitation, passage of the robust narcotic drug law by the House of Representative, among others.
She however promised to address the plight of the communities of the district where her development initiative did not reach.