As public outcry continues to mount in the wake of an unprovoked attack on some members of the University of Liberia (UL)-based Student Unification Party (SUP) by a group, CDC-COP, a representative-hopeful in the ensuing 2023 elections for district #8, Montserrado County, has categorically condemned the act as uncivilized and barbaric and called on the Government of Liberia (GoL) to launch a full-scale probe into the circumstances.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Hot Pepper a day after the incident, Alvin Pennue, who blamed the GoL for allegedly instigating the violent act, asserted that the government has reduced running the affairs of the state to running a “table market”, where everyone can determine their own price. He said this amounts to a country without national character and proper leadership, as well as a lack of problem solving approaches, which has resulted into partisans of the ruling establishment engaging into violent activities.
“At this juncture, it is incumbent on every rightful thinking Liberian to condemn this act; it is a clear violation of the fundamental rights of the people to freely assemble and express their grievances against what they felt was wrong with how the government was proceeding with governance and the management of the country’s resources. So sending thugs after the students with the view of suppressing them was something mind blowing,” Representative-aspirant Pennue pointed out.
Representative-aspirant Pennue further asserted that the frequent appearance of ugly scenes from Liberia in the outside world does not help the country and its people, as it drives away investment opportunities and puts fear in development partners which, by extension, provide reasons why they put holds on funding projects in the country.
Pennue, who is passionate about youth empowerment, said he was taken aback when he saw young people who should be organizing themselves into working groups to help each other being used by politicians and trouble makers to destroy themselves and, at the same time, endangering their communities.
“I can’t believe that at this time when the young people should be putting themselves together as serious groups to help themselves they are all over the place destroying themselves, calling themselves militants and all sorts of names that are associated with violence and destruction. Of course they are hurting themselves and not the politicians that are fooling them for selfish gain,” he stated.
He said the acts exhibited against the students are a clear indication of the broken society the country has to confront because the government, whose responsibility is to provide solutions to the problem, is the same institution actively instigating these kinds of violent attitudes, thereby aggravating the situation.
When asked what could be the solution to the frequent recourse to violent acts in the society, especially being perpetuated by young people, the young entrepreneur and security expert intoned that education and skill acquisition are two areas as viable options because they are the surest ways of combating joblessness and poverty, the two evils that disrupt the mindset of idle youths in the community.
“Rising unemployment due to the lack of proper education and skills among the young people has been a bane of progress among the young people. We have to find a way of addressing this menace, otherwise it will hit us all of the time. That is one of my thematic areas, for which I am offering my service to the good people of district #8 during the general elections, next year, 2023,’’ the Representative hopeful accentuated.
“What we want to do for our people has to do with a strong government representation at the level of the Liberian Legislature to make the transformation to succeed. Successful governments for a very long time have all ignored the danger of rising rates of unemployment among the young people, and it must come to an end in 2023. Our people are passionate to get us to the Capitol Building, the seat of the Liberian Legislature, next year to change the narrative for the better,” the young Liberian humanitarian added.
