The Solidarity and Trust for a New Day (STAND) has vowed not to attend a Ministry of Justice called roundtable discussion scheduled today, Friday, November 7, 2025 if the current leadership of the Liberia Council of Churches (LCC) is in attendance, noting that the LCC leadership has compromised the council’s neutrality and moral standing, casting as more of regime collaborators than impartial clergy.
On November 3, 2025, the Ministry of Justice, through the Joint Security Coordinator, Col. Wilson W. Boe, Sr., invited STAND to a roundtable discussion on Friday, 2:00 p.m. at the Justice Ministry to coordinate the planned December 17 protest with the Liberia National Police (LNP) to ensure that appropriate arrangements are made, in order to safeguard public order and the rights of all parties.
In their response, the Chairman of STAND, Mulbah K. Morlu, Jr., accepted the invitation and said they remain open to constructive dialogue with the Ministry of Justice and the LNP. However, the group made it clear that they will be unable to attend the meeting if the current leadership of the Liberia Council of Churches is in attendance.
According to STAND, the LCC leadership has failed to exercise neutrality, noting that despite their earlier assurance of impartiality the LCC leadership failed to play any mediating or moral role following President Joseph Boakai’s public ridicule of the July 17 protest, but remained conspicuously silent while government actors dismissed the legitimate concerns of citizens, contrary to its moral and civic duty to promote reconciliation and understanding.
STAND further accused the LCC leadership of demonstrating bias toward the Boakai administration, claiming that the LCC leadership has repeatedly aligned itself with government interest, including tacit support for controversial figures and institutions accused of undermining the integrity of governance.
Additionally, the group detested the LCC leadership’s ethical misjudgment and loss of credibility. It stated that, earlier this year, the council’s decision to confer honors upon a public official whose rise to the Speakership was widely regarded as tainted by corruption and political manipulation further eroded its credibility and moral authority.
“Given these realities, it would be both impractical and inconsistent with our values to sit at the same table with individuals whose moral and institutional objectivity are deeply compromised. We therefore respectfully request that the ministry proceed with the roundtable discussion excluding the current leadership of the LCC, whose presence would undermine the sincerity and credibility of the engagement,” STAND noted in its response to the Justice Ministry’s invitation.
What remains unknown is whether the Justice Ministry has granted STAND’s request to exclude the leadership of the LCC from the roundtable discussion or it would allow for STAND to derail the interest of public safety. The Hot Pepper made attempts to contact officials of the ministry regarding the matter, but to no avail.