The Western Region Alliance for Sustainable Development (WRASD) says it sees as a great show of responsible leadership the swift move by the Liberian Leader, H.E Joseph Nyumah Boakai, setting up a professional team of security experts and other officials of government, constituting a special committee, to independently probe into the recent citizens’ action in the operational area of the Bea Mountain concession company.
The group said it is particularly saddened by the death of two Liberians, and questioned the legitimacy of Grand Cape County’ district #2 Representative, Mohammed Dosi, to support the protestors. “As a lawmaker, he should be concerned about seeking the welfare of the citizens through the legal means rather than violence and the use of unorthodox means,” the group observed.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, WRASD said, “What is more disturbing is his failure to go by the legislative procedure in inviting the relevant agencies, such as the ministries of Mines, Labor, Justice, Bureau of Concession, among others, to seek an amicable way out. He should have used the law rather than using violent protest against the entity. The destruction even affected some citizen homes.”
The Alliance particularly thanked President Boakai for including the ministries of Mines and Energy, Justice, Labor, the National Bureau of Concession, and the Liberia National Police (LNP). While commending the President for his patriotic concern about the disturbance at Bea Mountain as father of the nation, the Western Region Alliance entreated the fact-finding committee to be impartial in unearthing the actual reasons behind the protest action, as espoused by the President, who wants full-scale information about the situation, including casualties, and remedial actions to prevent a recurrence.
The Alliance further says that, while it thinks that some of the citizens’ petitions are genuine, it however condemns their approach, which was not in the interest of peaceful coexistence and the overall peace of the country. The group said they believe that there were many rooms for negotiation with local authorities, the Legislative Caucus and Elder Council, as well as mainstream government, to find an amicable solution to their concern about the company’s adherence to its corporate social responsibility as agreed upon in its mineral development agreement (MDA).
The Western Region Alliance said they want the Police Inspector-General, Col. Gregory Coleman, to ensure that the new dynamism he has brought to the Liberian National Police (LNP) is reflected in this situation, which is his first landmark challenge as head of the LNP, by making sure those who released live bullets at unarmed citizens are brought to justice. “Western Region Alliance condemns this unprofessional use of government-assigned firearms and calls on all others to refrain from such acts which take away the lives of innocent people,” Western Region Alliance stated in the release.
“The Alliance is at the same time frowning on what it calls insecurity to the concession climate of the country: citizens taking the law into their own hands, destroying valuable properties of concessionaires, such as the Bea Mountain recent saga. The Alliance sees it wrong for citizens protesting to attack and allegedly brutalize some security personnel assigned to the concession company.
“The Alliance informs the special presidential investigative committee that it is seriously interested in this Bea Mountain disturbance, which is a human rights issue, and wants their findings promptly and timely submitted to the public, as envisaged by President Joseph Nyumah Boakai,” the release added.
