By Neywon Mengonfia-mmenginfia@gmail.com
The office of President George Manneh Weah has been reacting to the decision by some family members to boycott the recent autopsies on the bodies of some auditors who mysteriously died in Monrovia.
Recently, Liberians woke-up to the deaths of four auditors from the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) and the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) who mysteriously died at different locations.
With these mysterious deaths, many Liberians have started laying the causes at the feet of the government while others are given different accounts with many different stories. In this direction, President Weah made a plea to his partners to have an autopsy done on the remains of the four Liberian audit experts.
The process started on Monday, October 19, 2020, but family members, who should have been a part of the process did not show up on grounds that the process will not be transparent. They described the exercise as a “kangaroo” process only intended to cover up for the Liberian government.
The boycott by the family members of the auditors has not gone done well with the Liberian leader’s office.
Addressing the Tuesday’s press briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (temporary home of the President), Deputy Presidential Press Secretary, Smith Toby said the best thing any government can do is what this government is doing.
Mr. Toby said the autopsy invited the Media, the family members, Civil Society Organizations, adding, “The purpose is to be transparent as the word transparent is.”
He also said: “We are hoping that in the greaves and pains, the family members, well-wishers, friends and sympathizers, will allow the professional do their professional work.”
Mr. Toby stressed that to back off is stabbing the process in the back. The President, too, is has many concerns and also like any other Liberian wants to know what happened to four of his citizens, Smith said.
He added that to place a doubt on an ongoing process out of fear or out of interest is not a good thing to do. Giving some confidences to the process, Smith said, ‘we heard that the American had some investigators on the field when they started the process.’
The office of the President during the briefing promised that the Weah’s led administration is determined to see the process done adding that, “The Government will not abandon the process because people are unsatisfied. Government will always wants to play her part because the government itself needs to answer to the public, the government needs to tell the public what happened, according to the Mr. Toby.
He indicated that the only way mixed views and different stories about the deaths will be lay to rest is for government to conduct the ongoing processes.
“If you thought that people died here in the pass in the pass, reports were allegedly being tempered with and based on that perception or assumptions you think seminal thing will happen because this government is investigating and conducting an autopsy, you need to give the people the chance to do their work because the same questions you are asking we are asking the same questions,” the Deputy Presidential Press Secretary said.
According to the deputy presidential spokesman, they too are in sympathy with the bereaved families members.
Whichever way the outcome of the going investigation ends up, he said that the government needs to do all in its powers to establish the real causes of the deaths of the four audit specialists. He said this will lay to rest all mixed views, different stories and concocted stories in the public about those deaths, members of the Liberian public has said.