STATE OF INSECURITY

Brumskine Takes on Ellen, following Bloody Tuesday Saga

   “The attributes of a failed state are fast emerging under a leader whom Liberians had mandated to bring about a change that was long desired; unfortunately she has formed part of the problem instead of solving it. We cannot afford to sit and watch this drama anymore; we must therefore come together in the opposition work along with the international community and offer President Sirleaf an easy ride and a soft landing out of the Presidency.”    Charles Brumskine, Standard Bearer Liberty Party   

 David B. Kolleh, david.kolleh@frontpageafricaonline.com, (231 631 0032)

Opposition Politician, and standard Bearer of the Liberty Party, Cllr. Charles Brumskine says he now feels strongly insecure living in the new Liberia under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

 Cllr. Brumskine’s comments were in reference to the infamous, “Bloody Tuesday” Saga in which students of the G.W. Gibson High school were brutalized by officers of the Liberia National Police.

Returning home from a working visit to the United States where he held talks with U.S. State Department officials, the opposition politician said: “We thought we had gotten rid of a tyrant when Mr. Taylor was taken from Liberia, we thought we would were getting rid of bad governance by asking Taylor to leave, but from what is currently unfolding in Liberia clearly suggests to me that is no different from past regimes it succeeded.”  Cllr. Brumskine told partisans following his return Wednesday to Liberia.

De ja vu

Brumskine noted that people in the police force are what he calls the same criminal elements of the past.

Cllr. Brumskine said the same criminal elements in the Police force yesterday are the same ones there now. Don’t be surprised, he continued “if they start visiting opposition politicians at night and say to us that they are armed robbers. Don’t be surprised that things in Liberia begin to take an even more downturn, because President Sirleaf knows, even the people around her, are aware that she cannot be re-elected, that is why they are playing this game, so that the temptation of rigging the elections becomes more evident.”      

Lost mandate

Continued Brumskine: “The attributes of a failed state are fast emerging under a leader whom Liberians had mandated to bring about a change that was long desired; unfortunately she has formed part of the problem instead of solving it. We cannot afford to sit and watch this drama anymore; we must therefore come together in the opposition, work along with the international community and offer President Sirleaf an easy ride and a soft landing out of the Presidency.”      

Brumskine whose party came third in the 2005 general and Presidential elections maintained that President Sirleaf has lost the mandate of the Liberian people to govern, adding “Sirleaf is unable to continue to run this country, because when you get to the place where the children are beaten and brutalized, it means your end has come.”     

The opposition politician said the extreme brutality meted out against ‘harmless, and defenseless’ students who had gone out to protest for increase in the salaries of their teachers, suggests that Liberia was not only unsafe for women and children who were without guns but also for Politicians who are always bringing the government to check for by bad governance, break down in the rule of law and other ills in the society.

The Liberty Party Standard Bearer, who also delivered a paper at the Colombia state University, during his U.S. visit, said it was time for him and other opposition Politicians to begin putting stringent security measures to ensure their personal safety.

Brumskine further commenting on the infamous ‘Bloody Tuesday’ saga said, this is the not the first time under the Unity Party-led government that students were beaten by state security forces. He made reference to the 2010 LINSU elections when police again brutalized students and the government did nothing to address the matter.

Cllr. Brumskine said what troubles him most is how that students were beaten on their various campuses. School campuses, according to him supposed to be sanctity; therefore, the police further pursuit of the students should have ended and gave way for the school’s administration to carry on its duty.   

Also commenting on the opposition security, Brumskine said the recent news of a pending arrest for Mr. Simeon Freeman of the Movement of Progressive Change (MPC) that was later termed as an “April Fool’s Joke” should send a message to the opposition that Liberia is state of insecurity for all.

It can be recalled that on March 22, 2011 students of the G.W Gibson and the William V.S Tubman High Schools staging what was termed a peaceful demonstration meet an unprecedented onslaught from state security forces, resulting into 27 of them being injured and five landing in jail.

 Among the injured taken to several hospitals including, the John F. Kennedy Memorial hospital: Veronica Saydee 11-1, Isaac Williams 12-1, Oratus Nyenpan 10-3, Umaru Sillah 11-2, Mary Karpeh 10-5, George Wombo 11-1, Winston Jeh 11-3, Rebecca N. Goerge 11-4, Jestina M.Myers 12-1, Musu Dukully 11-2 and Cecelia Pokor 12-4.  At the JFK one of the injured students had a hunch back.

‘Mockery to Democracy’

The students were seen to have felt the wrath of an angry police force for attempting to get into the streets to protests without obtaining a permit from the ministry of justice.

Police Director Mac Amblard, responding to the incident, recently said the action of the Police was not regrettable and that students had elected to take responsibilities for the damage of properties incurred during the violence, something that civil societies have described a mockery to democracy and good governance.

The Executive Director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) Dan Sayeh said government must immediately call for the set up of an independent body to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators of the action against the students to book. The president has since announced the formation of a committee to look into the fracas.