PHOTO: Information Min. Ledgerhood Rennie
SOURCE: Liberian News Agency
By Rancy S. Teewia
MONROVIA (LINA) – The Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT), Ledgerhood J. Rennie, has said that the Government of Liberia welcomes the 2021 Human Rights Report on Liberia released by the US State Department, noting that it serves as an alarm to government working over the year and also indicates the progress made by the Government.
Minister Rennie said it doesn’t necessarily mean that the government agrees with everything that is being said in the report, but in the spirit of dialoguing and understanding, it is welcoming the report “as a way of affirming its willingness to work collectively to solve some of the problems.”
The MICAT official noted that as a responsible government, if there is any dissatisfaction it will approach the US embassy to have a diplomatic dialogue.
Min. Rennie made the comments on Thursday at the Ministry of Information regular press briefing on Capitol Hill in Monrovia.
“This country did not start with President George M. Weah and will not end with President Weah, all the predicament the country is going through started way back but as a government we take responsibility and that is why we are trying our best to fix the country,” Min. Rennie added.
He said the US Human Rights report has also recognized the progress that the government has made over the year and also outlines numerous challenges that the country is going through.
According to Min. Rennie, the report also outlined the demonstrable strive that “we are making to solve these problems.”
Meanwhile, the MICAT boss has rubbished media reports claiming that the US Human Rights Report indicated that the government of Liberia has killed people during the period under review.
He said there is nowhere in the report where it was stated that the government of Liberia killed people.
“The headline that I saw in one of the local dailies was a disgrace to journalism because the report did not say the government killed people,” Rennie lamented.
The annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements.
The U.S. Department of State submits reports on all countries receiving US assistance and all United Nations member states to the U.S. Congress in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Trade Act of 1974.
LINA RST/WSG/PTK