The Liberian People’s Party (LPP) has condemned in the strongest term the unwarranted brutal attack on Senator Prince Yormie Johnson on Sunday, 21 May while he was on the pulpit at his church, by people believed to be members of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC).
LPP stated that it undermines the fragile peace in Liberia and clearly violates Article 14 of the Liberian Constitution which guarantees freedom of religion.
Article 14 provides, “All persons shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment thereof except as may be required by law to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or in the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.”
According to the political group, this action reminds Liberians of the brutal attacks by former President Charles Taylor’s Police Director, the late Joseph Tate when he launched an attack on the Dominion Christian Fellowship located or adjacent the Saint Catholic Hospital Junction on the Sinkor Old Road on the Tubman Boulevard in Monrovia.
“Such uncivilized and criminal conduct by the ruling party must be condemned by all Liberians. Liberians are entitled to peace of mind even in the face of the hardship being experienced by them as a result of the high-level of corruption that is being perpetrated by this government,” the statement noted.
The party is therefore calling upon the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union, the United Nations, the United States of America and the European Union to intervene immediately and stop the CDC from also meting violence against peaceful citizens as the country gets closer to the Presidential and Legislative elections.
It can be recalled that it was this same lack of respect for human rights and the rule of law that led Liberia to a fratricidal civil conflict stating that the world must not ignore this clear early warning sign of civil conflict by brutal attack on Senator Johnson and members of his congregation last Sunday, 21 May.
But at the same time, the party warned Johnson to be mindful with his public utterances which has the potential of derailing the peace and stability of the country whether before, during and after the electioneering period mainly from the Senator’s recent statement made against the people of the southeast that “power is not good” for them should equally be condemned by all well-meaning Liberians.
The party believed that such statement does not augur well as southeasterners are Liberians who cannot and should not be discriminated against in any form and manner whether it is doing electioneering processes or not by any political party for that matter.
LPP’s Presidential aspirant, Tiawan Saye Gongloe, speaking to the media from the United States yesterday on Truth FM Radio Station in Monrovia, said Johnson should be careful with his public statements as a leader because spoken words whether negative or positive once out of one mouth can never and ever be withdrawn.
He said Johnson’s statement against southeasters is detrimental; whosoever they are, they are God’s creation and Liberians therefore nobody should discriminate against them as by doing so is also an act of preaching divisive politics and that too must be condemned.
“Not only leaders but human beings made from the image of our Lord, do not discriminate against fellow human beings. Because leaders are there to unite people and not to divide them because one does not know what tomorrow will bring,” Gongloe noted
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