PHOTO: L-R Bishop Kortu Brown, US envoy Alyson Grunder
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
The Liberia Council of Churches (LCC) has appealed to the United States government to continue to work with the religious community in sustaining the fragile peace in the country.
LCC’s President, Bishop Kortu Brown, said the number one objective of the religious community in the country is to sustain the peace and to prevent the Liberians from returning to the ugly past.
Speaking at the program marking the launch of a nosemasks project by the Liberia Council of Churches, Bishop Brown pointed out that tension has been mounting as Liberia heads towards the midterm senatorial elections scheduled for December 8th, 2020.
He called on Liberians to stop provoking one another and have respect for the rule of law in order to erase skepticism over the Liberia’s stability. “We want to encourage all Liberians to combine forces just as we are doing in fighting against the corona virus; so, we should work together in sustaining the fragile peace in the country,” he said ; adding : “the religious community has no interest in support any side of the political divide in the country.”
According to him, the only side of the religious community is peace and for the ordinary people to be able to go about their normal lives, void out of intimidation, harassment and fear.
“The biggest dividend for Liberia is unity, peace and stability because once these conditions exist; every Liberian will be able to try to contribute their quotas to the national reconstruction programs and improving their lives.”
“Based on this back ground”, he went on, “we need a viable partnership with the United States government to be able to ensure peace exist especially in the wake of the leading to the senatorial midterm elections,”
“There are too many temptations; Liberians need to follow the rule of law; and we need to stop provoking one another unnecessarily because these altitudes endanger the peace in our country.”
He pointed out that this country is not for the Japanese, the Americans and Chinese;” but it is for us and anything happens here , we will be the first to suffer the most.”
“We should be cognizant of that and we need to make the ultimate sacrifice by sustaining the peace, have respect for the rule of law and the rights of one another.”
In remarks, the Charge’ D’ Affairs at the United States Embassy , Alyson Grunder, stressed the need for Liberians to continue to wear nose masks because of the devastating effects the corona virus is making over the world.
She praised the working relationship between the US Embassy and the religious community and assured the LCC of the US government continuous support towards maintenance of peace in the country.
Madam Grunder said: “We have the strong believe and conviction that faith communities everywhere are so important because of their leadership and integrity that their people look up to.”
She expressed appreciation for the role of the LCC in spreading the messages and awareness against the corona virus and welcomed the production of nose masks by the Ecumenical Women Organization of the council.
The President of the Ecumenical Women Organization of the LCC, Mrs. Gloria Hage, disclosed that it is plan of the EWO to produce 15,000 nose masks to be distributed among member organizations of the council for on-distribution to their members.
“At present” she explained, “the EWO has secured five sewing machines which some female members of the organization are producing nose masks .”
According to her, about 4,000 nose marks have been produced thus far and they are currently been distributed among members of the LCC.
In remarks, the LCC Secretary General, Reverend Christopher Toe, who gave an over view of the council’s covid-19 intervention, disclosed that initially about 250 contact tracers were deployed alongside with the Inter Religious Council of Liberia.
He explained that the only challenge is from the Church of Saint ,whose members absolutely believe that they are protected by God and corona virus can never do them anything.
The project, which is been undertaken by the Ecumenical Women Organization of the LCC, is aimed at producing 15,000 nose masks for people throughout the country.