Many Citizens Express Fear, 9 Months To October Presidential And Legislative Elections
PHOTO: Just of the EPS officers who turned wearing CDC party T-shirt and cap
By Our Staff Writer
Monrovia, Liberia- Many observing the CDC 2nd term nomination of its Standard Bearer, President George Weah have been taken aback to see some of his presidential guards, Executive Protection Service (EPS) officer dressed in CDC party T-shirts and cap carrying automatic weapons.
It was on Saturday February 4,2023 at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium (ATS), when the thousands of party stalwarts petition the President to contest the October 10 polls for a second term.
The Security Sector Reform (SSR) efforts after the civil war were clearly intended to make the state security forces including the Liberia National Police (LNP), the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and the Executive Protection Service (EPS) apolitical, in view of the politicizing of the state security forces in the past, something that led to the collapse of the state. By the time the civil war erupted in December 1990, a large portion of the state security forces had become partisan so much so that their allegiance was to the leader(s) and not to the state.
For example, the National Security Strategy paper said: “The National Security Strategy of Liberia identifies the causes and consequences of the collapse of the Liberian state. In order to address the pitfalls of the past, it places the citizens at the center of a new arrangement that focuses on human rights as the cardinal ingredient for national security.”
Therefore, this was what made the specter of seeing some of the President’s EPS bodyguard all dressed in party paraphernalia at the venue of the “one million citizens’ rally, just nine months to elections.
One political observer was quick to assert over the weekend that “this is just a sign of what to come as we move closer to elections.”
The T-shirt seen on the state security had both the President Weah and Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor’s photo at both the front and at the back. It is also common knowledge here that some state security officers in many cases don’t hide their political loyalty to Weah and his CDC party.
Last Saturday’s spectacle of armed state security forces wearing the ruling CDC party’s pre-campaign T-shirt has become a major discussion point in various communities, on local radio stations and Social Media platforms, with many citizens expressing fear.
All of this is happening in the wake of growing tension being built up amid incidents of insecurity around the country in recent time.
Seeing an EPS who is carrying gun and wearing the ruling party T-shirt is worrisome, some citizens said, while many said, ‘state security forces are no longer trusted because they have taken side’.