In its drive to assist the security apparatus maintain peace during the conduct of the October 10, 2023 presidential and legislative elections, the Community Watch Forum of Liberia (CWFL) has set up a taskforce in the fifteen political subdivision of the country.
Prior to the setting up of the taskforce, the national leadership of the CWFL conducted a massive awareness on non-violence with its members and citizens within the fifteen counties to ensure that the pending elections are conducted void of violence confrontation among opposing political party supporters.
The group, which is said to comprise of over 150,000 members across the country, almost a month ago activated all of its structures in the 15 political subdivisions of the country, followed by the setting up of the taskforce for the pending national elections.
“The CWFL national leadership used its three weeks assessment tour of rural Liberia to visit border points around the country, at which time it discovered that out of the 162 borders points only 60 are being manned by joint security personnel, recommending that the unmanned or porous borders be tightened by Liberian security personnel and CWFL in order to prevent entry of intruders on election day,” a CWFL statement said.
The CWFL is a civil society security-alert and monitoring organization established by the defunct United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), with the collaboration of the Liberia National Police (LNP), over ten years ago to assist various national security apparatus to prevent crimes in communities and track down wanted criminals absconding justice.
According to the National Chairman of the CWFL, I. Nyenati Kaffey, refresher training for members of the CWFL taskforce and other members of the group in proactive community policing to deter criminality as well as curbing violence and riot prevention are regularly conducted at the LNP Academy in Paynesville, noting that his taskforce is fully equipped with the skills and techniques to abort any unforeseen eventuality.
The taskforce, he opined, will be deployed alongside other national security agents at every polling center across the country as agreed by LNP authorities. According to him, the mandate is to preserve the peace at the centers as well as apprehend troublemakers and turn them over to the requisite government security agencies for further action.
The initiative for the conduct of the non-violence forum and the setting up of the CWFL taskforce, Kaffey mentioned, was solely handled by his organization, with no financial assistance from the LNP as was envisaged. He however expressed optimism that, with the renewed commitment from the LNP leadership, hope is alive as his organization will become more vibrant as financial support starts filtering in sooner.
In acknowledgement of the LNP’s renewed commitment to collaborate with the CWFL, a letter dated July 27, 2023 under the signature of Police Inspector General, Col. Patrick Sudue, indicates, “We present our compliments and expressed our profound gratitude to members and leaders of the Community Watch Forum of Liberia for your unwavering support towards the works of the Liberia National Police (LNP) in sustaining the peace and sanity of our beloved country, Liberia.”
The letter further stated, “As we are geared towards the commencement of the campaign activities for the 2023 general and presidential elections, the LNP has envisaged to embark on a nationwide stakeholders’ dialogue aimed at raising awareness and sensitization among key stakeholders and the citizenry for the conduct of non-violence and peaceful elections come October 10, 2023.”
The letter highlighted that the LNP invited the CWFL to a one-day dialogue on July 31, 2023 at the LNP headquarters, Capitol Hill, to brainstorm on holding a successful election on October 10, 2023.