In the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Liberia large crowd gathering was banned by health authorities in order to cut the spread and transmission of the virus.
The ban was placed on large gatherings including school attendance and religious worship as well as entertainment centers and limited the attendance of people at marketplaces amongst others.
Commercial vehicles were even urged to take three passengers at the back seat of a taxi cab while one person in the front seat as part of measure to avoid crowd and follow social-distancing rule.
In order to re-enforce this, president George Weah on April 8,2020 declared a state of emergency for a period of three weeks and a lockdown for 4 four counties that have recorded cases of COVID-19.
Members of the joint security team comprising of Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), Liberia National Police (LNP), Liberia Immigration Services (LIS), Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and the National Security Agency (NSA) were clothed with the responsibility to enforce the state of emergency which began on April 10, 2020.
But from a research conducted by Liberia Public Radio, the issue social-distancing seems not to be working amongst members of the joint security are supposed to implement the rule.
Our reporter in Monrovia observed a pickup load of police officers up to 10 person onboard heading to one community to another.
One police officer who opted not be named told LPR Monday April 13, 2020 that the social-distancing rule may not be applicable with security personnel because they are challenged logistically.
“Are they not ignoring the social distancing requirement, which is a key aspect of the fight against COVID-19”, one resident in the ELWA community wonders.
Personnel of the arm forces of Liberia were also seen in truck full deploy from one community to another in flagrant disregard for the social distancing rule.
It remains unclear why security personnel who are implementing the social-distancing rule urging people to stay home have become the violator of the very law they are enforcing.
