Aggrieved supporters of the Unity Party administration on Thursday, March 27, 2025 stormed the residence of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to express their frustration over their unemployment. They said the protest was intended to raise concern and bring to the President’s attention that, since his ascendancy to the presidency, they are yet to be employed.
The aggrieved protesters accused Charles Johnson, whom they referred to as their commander during the 2023 election campaign, of lying to President Boakai that they are gainfully employed and well-off, which is not the case.
According to them, after the election they were promised employment, but up to now they are yet to get any employment. They disclosed that each time they engage their leaders about the status of their employment, they only urge them to remain patient, and it has been so for the past fifteen months.
They indicated that they do not have any money to do business, as they used the little money they had to campaign for Boakai and follow him to every nook and cranny of the country to provide protection for him.
“Mr. President, we suffered for you before and after the election. Why others are now enjoying the benefits? What have we done to deserve this?” they wondered. They claimed that they protected Boakai when he was most vulnerable, and they did so without weapons; therefore, it is the time to reap what they sowed.
However, the protest, which was staged outside of the President’s Rehab residence, turned brutal when officers of the Liberia National Police (LNP) began to beat on the protestors in an attempt to dislodge them. Several individuals were wounded, but the LNP is yet to speak to the matter.
Speaking to newsmen during the protest, the aggrieved individuals expressed disappointment in President Boakai, claiming that they did not know this was how “wicked” he is.
One of the protestors, Christian Sulunteh, said, “Joseph Boakai is not really doing fine for us. This Boakai papay da wicked papay. Joseph Boakai is very wicked and ungrateful. Da today we getting the result. People been saying it, that Joseph Boakai not correh, and da true.”
Another protester, identified as Thompson, who claimed to have served as Commander of JNB’s Advanced Team during the 2023 campaign, said the main reason for their protest is disappointment.
Thompson said, “I’m disappointed in the authorities that we have in the way they handle such issue. Men who stood by you [Boakai] when they said you could not be president of this country—you’re not physically fit, you’re sleeping, you’re dead body—but we said we will go by that deadbody and stand by that body and make sure that body rise up and take over the land,” Thompson recounted.
“I, especially, am disappointed in our own brother who, today, has turned against us: Charles Jacob Johnson, for sending the Liberia National Police to attack us. We talk to the guys that there would be no protest, but they should just assemble peacefully and hold their posters to call the attention of the President so that he can know exactly the struggle that we went through,” Thompson further explained.
He continued, “Many of us are grieving; we are shedding tears. It’s not right for this nation. it’s so sad to say… Our father, who is the president of this nation, is there and people are misleading him and not telling him the truth. Those that [are] around him are not honest to him. They are lying to him everyday that they have placed his boys to various job sites, but up to present people who did not struggle with us, who did not suffer to bring you to the presidency, are the ones surviving now and enjoying. What about us who stood the ground?” Thompson decried.
“I’m an ex-secret service personnel. I’ve served the three motorcades and the two advanced team. I’ve served as senior inspector of the secret service. So why should I be treated this way?” Thompson explained in tears.