The Ministry of Justice has re-echoed the olive branch of peace recently extended to talk-show host, Henry Pedro Costa, by the President of Liberia, George Manneh Weah, urging Costa to return to Liberia and live freely like any other citizen.
The Ministry of Justice press release, issued yesterday, announced with immediate effect that in line with the President’s olive branch of peace, all criminal charges, including but not limited to any and all formal criminal investigations against Costa, are hereby dropped, and Costa is free, like any other Liberian citizen, to return home anytime he wishes.
The release reminded Costa that the seizure of his broadcast equipment through the appropriate court process was due to his willful and deliberate violation of the Constitutional freedom of expression, and therefore called on him to use the presidential olive branch of peace to live and operate within the confines of the law by upgrading the standards of his advocacy beyond the borders of recrimination and misinformation for the progressive development of the country.
Accordingly, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Cllr. Frank Musa Dean Jr., has mandated the Department of Prosecution to work with the court and ensure that Costa gets back his broadcast equipment, which was seized upon orders of the court based on an application made by the Liberian State.
The release however clarifies that the question of acquiring and operating a radio frequency squarely lies within the operational provinces of other agencies of the Liberian government, which, as part of their own statutory rules, procedures and responsibilities have put in place the requisite requirements and processes on radio frequencies acquisitions and managements by individuals and institutions.
The release called on other social commentators and political advocates using various platforms to market their views to bear in mind the solemn policy of the government to reconcile and re-unite the people and develop the country for the good of all Liberians, and urged them to be more critical but responsible in holding to account public officials on issues rather than using their various platforms to sow seeds of discord and disunity, at the detriment of the state.
The release said the Ministry of Justice will continue to exercise restraint and tolerance in dealing with the frank exchanges of views, ideas and objective criticisms by Liberian citizens, but will not compromise any egregious violation of the law by anyone, and has therefore indicated that it welcomes proficiency in developing new progressive ideas that will help to complement government’s national development agenda on their various information platforms but not proficiency in profanity, lies and vulgarity.
The release warned all and sundry that the Ministry of Justice will not sit idly by and allow anyone to hijack or swamp the democratic space with lies, invectives and misinformation for selfish reasons.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice has reiterated that the dissemination of obscene material is absolutely forbidden by law, and indicated that the ministry shall not hesitate to invite and question anyone, where necessary, and charge and prosecute in open court anyone caught in the dissemination obscene material irrespective of his/her status.