Amid security and international pressure, the Council of Patriots, (COP), an advocacy group headed by popular Liberian Talk show host Henry Costa has postponed the much-publicized December 30, 2019 mass protest to a later date.
The COP was planning to host a massive protest on Monday December 30, 2019 to call on the government of President George Manneh Weah to “step down” due to bad governance which includes corruption and nepotism.
Addressing a news conference Monday in the Liberian capital Monrovia, COP leader Henry Costa said after series of consultations involving representatives from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations (UN), European Union (EU) and the United States Embassy near Monrovia they were postponing the protest to a later date preferably on January 6, 2020.
He said based on the advice from the international community that December 30 was not feasible for protest, the COP deemed it prudent to listen because the international has invested so much into Liberia and it was necessary to do so.
“We were given January 5, 2020 to stage our protest, but because on Sunday our Christian brothers and sisters go to worship we decided to choose Monday January 6, 2020”, Costa told a packed press conference.
The government had earlier said it lacks logistics and cannot guarantee security for the December 30 protesters and warned the COP to choose another date at which time it will be fully prepared to provide security for the protesters.
Many were also concerned about the security implications of the protest on December 30, 2019
Mr. Costa promised that the protest was not totally cutoff as may be perceived by many as weakness on the part of the Council Patriot or being bribed by the Weah led government.
Bribery claim
In the wake of the Council of Patriots postponement, another group, the Independent Council of Patriots late Monday afternoon accused the government of president Weah of bribing the COP to cutoff their protest. Rufus Nuefuville, head of the Independent Council of Patriots alleged that the government bribed COP with two hundred thousand United States dollars (US$200,000.00) about LRD$40,000,000.00.
But in a sharp response to ICOP claim, Information Ministry release stated that it takes seriously the allegation by Mr. Rufus Neufville that government bribed the COP to ‘quell’ the December 30, 2019 protest.
The statement under the signature of Information Minister Lenn Eugene Nagbe added that the government of president Weah has zero tolerance on corruption and call for speedy investigation into the allegation by Mr. Nuefville.
June 7 protest
On June 7, 2019, the Council of Patriots led protesters with long listing of issues they want president George Weah address including the dismissal of the country’s finance and Development Planning Minister Samuel Tweah and the former head of the central Bank Nathaniel Patray, II.
That protest was unarguably the biggest since the country civil conflict ended some 15 years ago, as both the government and the organizers of the mass demonstration, The Council of Patriots, failed to reach common grounds on the delivery of the petition for which the protest was held.
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