PHOTO: Participants at the forum ICRPSD 5th Speaker Series
By Samuel G. Dweh,Liberian Writer, Author, Development Journalist (freelance) +231886618906/776583266/ samuelosophy@yahoo.com, samuelosophy1@gmail.com
Liberians’ methods of calling the Government’s attention to their plights were under heated debates at an interactive 5th Speaker Series organized by the Institute for Constitutional Research, Policy & Strategic Development (ICRPSD) headed by a top Liberian Lawyer, Cllr. Dr. Jallah A. Barbu in Monrovia.
The Speaker Series was streamed live on Facebook by KMTV.
The topic of the interactive forum was: “Does Demonstration/Protest Amount to Assembly As Provided Under the Laws of Liberia—Whose Constitutional Rights Are Affected?”, with Deputy Justice Minister for Codification, Cllr. Nyanti Tuan saying that Article 17 of the Liberian constitution only calls for assembly and not demonstration.
The Speakers were the Chairman of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR) and the Managing Editor of the Public Trust Media Group (PTMG), which runs the online news website, www.newspublictrust.com, Mr. Frank Sainworla, Jr.
Photo: (L-R) Journalist Sainworla, Cllr. Tuan and Cllr. Brown
Giving ICRPSD’s profiles, the Institution’s Executive Director, Cllr. Barbu, who served as the Moderator of the Forum, said ICRPSD is a “non-partisan organization, engaging various research and human rights-based institutions to gather and objectively discuss Liberia’s protest/demonstration issues and proffer solutions.”
The first speaker was the Chairperson of Liberian Government-supported Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR), Cllr. Dempster Brown.
“The Police can use maximum force on protesters or demonstrators only when the Police are being attacked,” Cllr. Brown said.
He expressed his fear of what may happen after Liberia’s Presidential and Legislative Elections in 2023, if the current mal-handling of civilian protesters/demonstrators by the State-empowered security is repeated during civilians’ protest against elections results. “We will run away from this place,” he said, referring to exodus of Liberians to other countries for refuge.
After the INCHR Chairperson’s speech, Moderator Cllr. Jallah A. Barbu allowed Deputy Justice Minister for Codification, Mr. Nyanti Tuan to speak as in the capacity of his being a representative of the Minister of Justice, Mr. Musa Dean.
The Ministry of Justice’s representative, Deputy Justice Minister Nyanti Tuan said that the Liberian constitution only calls for peaceful assembly, not demonstration, and added that the only way demonstration can be constitutional is when it had been debated in Referendum, with majority of citizens voted for it.
The Ministry of Justice’s representative also said, if Liberians want to exercise the right of demonstration/protest, they need to petition their lawmakers for
an amendment to include demonstration in Article 17 of the constitution.
“Government only allows demonstration because the Justice Ministry uses what he called ‘discretion’,” he added.
One of the panelist, and Liberian Journalist Frank Sainworla, Jr said, successive Liberian Governments, for the past 43 years, have been overwhelmed by what he describes as “demonstration phobia”.
Mr. Sainworla, who is Managing Editor of the Public Trust Media Group, which runs the online news website www.newspublictrust.com told the audience about his Journalistic piece published in the local dailies on April 8, 2013.
“I warned that since the April 14, 1979 bloody rice riot, Liberians have continued to be haunted by their intolerant past. It’s a contradiction, scary yet comical—my dear country, Liberia’s vicious cycle of intolerance,” he noted.
He said when his article was being discussed in many circles, in 2013, there was a standoff between the former Unity Party government of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the then opposition CDC, now the new guards in power. I said then:
“Today, still not unshackled from this hangover, a big debate for and against a planned “peaceful” street demonstration in Monrovia on April 12, 2013 being organized by opposition politicians and civil society groups to denounce corruption, injustice abuse of power and alleged rights abuses.”
During his presentation, he defined “Demonstration”.
“Demonstration is defined by Cambridge Dictionary in this way: “An occasion when a group of people march or stand together to show that they disagree with or support something or someone…” he said.
He said the Liberian Constitution talks about “demonstration” as one of the “fundamental rights, which is in consonance with basic international standards also guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights UDHR which Liberia was one of the original signatories after World War II in 1948,” he argued.
The Moderator, Cllr. Dr. Jallah Barbu allowed questions from members of the audience toward each speaker.
Attending the forum on Wednesday, August 31, 2022 were personalities from overnment, the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL), the Media Community, the National Teachers Association of Liberia (NTAL), and other human rights-focused institutions.
The representative of AFELL asked the Justice Ministry’s representative to draw a line between absence of
“no demonstration” in the Country’s constitution and the Justice Minister’s nod for “demonstration” to the Students Unification Party (SUP) of the University of Liberia for protest against ‘bad governance’ on Liberia’s Independence Day (July 26, 2022.
The representative of the National Teachers Association of Liberia, told representatives of the Government that protest affect the Country’s educational system, based on students involvement in the demonstration.
The National Teachers Association of Liberia (NTAL) was represented by Mary W. Mulbah-Nymah. AFELL was represented by Attorney Deddeh K. Zaza.