As ECOWAS, Others Support The Program
By Alfred Kollie, alfredkolliejr92@gmail.com
Measures are being put in place by the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) Liberia to swiftly respond to cases of electoral violence that may emerge before, during and after the upcoming October 10 presidential and legislative election in this country.
In this vein, WANEP has officially launched the National Election Response Group or NERG in the country.
The initiative focuses on electoral violence monitoring, analysis, and mitigation or E- MAM 2023-2026 project.
The project which is funded by the European Union is a regional project but first of its kind in Liberia.
The launching ceremony brought together both local and international partners, the government, the National Elections Commission, the media, Civil Society Organizations, and the join security including the Armed Forces of Liberia and the Liberia National Police.
Speaking earlier this week (Wednesday, August 23, 2023) at a local Hotel in Monrovia, ECOWAS Resident Representative to Liberia Madam Josephine Nkrumah expressed ECOWAS’ commitment to work with Liberia to ensure a peaceful and democratic electoral process.
According to Nkrumah, different tools, structures, and mechanisms have been adopted to mitigate the risk associated with electrical violence in the country noting that it has been adopted to consulate Liberia peace.
She observed that it is important to engage relevant stakeholders or actors whenever there is misinformation and disinformation in the electoral process.
She explained that the group needs fact checkers to quickly respond to misinformation and disinformation to the public to avoid further crises.
She however called for a collaborative effort aimed at helping to reduce election disputes in the country.
In remarks, WANEP Liberia National Coordinator Philip M. Kollie noted that the project is intended to incorporate comments and contributions to improve the functioning of the entire response group.
According to Kollie, the group is composed of twenty members including ten Civil Society Organizations and NGOs that were recruited and led by the Network, key individuals, and National stakeholders in society who continue to contribute to peace and human security in the country.
He maintains that the Network has conducted capacity-building training for its community monitors that will be deployed in the fifteenth counties before, during, and after the election.
The community monitors will be deployed in Liberia’s fifteen countries to monitor the entire process of the elections including campaign activities, voting processes, and after-voting process, and report all activities through its system called the National Early Warning System to help design response action of accidents coming from communities across Liberia.
“This initiative is not in any way to duplicate ongoing activities but to complement the ongoing activities and that is the reason why we are in partnership with the Liberia Peace Building Office, Election Coordinating Committee and we are also in partnership with the National Center for the Coordination of Response. So our collective effort in ensuring that we have peaceful and credible elections is our very automated goal” He ended.
Speaking on behalf of the NEC, Commissioner Boakai Dukuly promised the National Elections Commission’s commitment to conduct free, fair, transparent, and inclusive elections in the country.
He however called on all parties to regularly monitor and check out on the Commission.
“We promise you that we will do nothing that will lead to violence and this is our promise to you because we will conduct free, fair, transparent, and exclusive elections in the country,” said the NEC official.
For her part, the EU Delegation, Maric-Paule Neuville stressed the need for violence-free elections in the country.
She noted that it is a collective effort and responsibility to address the issue of electrical violence.
Violence-free elections and security are key to strengthening democracy, she said.