Liberia’s main opposition Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) has accused the Boakai administration of orchestrating a plot to inflict fatal injury on former President George Manneh Weah during his July 13 arrival at the Roberts International Airport.
The government detests the tagging, insisting it was crowd control measure..
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, the Secretary General of the CDC, Jefferson Tamba Koijee, stated that the government’s decision to deploy the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) against the former president and his supporters was a ploy to endanger Weah’s life and plunge the country into chaos.
“It is unthinkable that a government will call the Army out on armless civilians who posed no danger to the security of the state. The army is supposed to respond to external threats. The Government of Liberia under the Unity Party and President Joseph Nyumah Boakai intended to kill our political leader akin to the Donald Trump scenario in the United States of America recently,” Koijee said.
The CDC Secretary General dismissed the government’s claim that the CDC had gone to the airport with the intention of burning it down, calling it a “travesty of reality” and associating it with the “loose talking posture of the Minister of Information.”
In addition to the alleged plot against Weah, Koijee also accused the Boakai administration of building a “tribal army” reminiscent of the Liberian civil war era, where the dominance of one tribal group in the AFL led to wanton killings.
“It is not wise to have a Kissi President and a Kissi Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia. The optics is bad and this is not what our international partners invested their taxpayers’ monies into to build a force for good. President Boakai is undermining the sacredness of the AFL and building a tribal militia that would be subject to personal instructions from non-military officials of the government and their families,” Koijee said.
The CDC Chief scribe warned that the party will not tolerate the Boakai administration’s attempt to take the country back to the ugly days of the past, and he thanked the CDC supporters for their bravery and uncompromising willingness to protect the party and its political leaders.
Army Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Davidson Fayiah Forleh, said the deployment of AFL soldiers during the former President’s arrival was unauthorized by the AFL high command. The army chief made the clarification today at the Capitol Building, fueling a growing controversy over the incident.
Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah defended the government’s actions, claiming that members of the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) allegedly threatened to burn down the airport if they were not allowed to welcome former President George Weah.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Ministry of Information, Culture Affairs, and Tourism (MICAT) on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, Minister Piah said that a crowd of CDC supporters attempted to force their way onto the runway to greet Weah. Due to these threats, AFL officers, along with the Police and Emergency Response Unit (ERU), intervened to manage the situation.