Mr. George Watkins, Press secretary in the office of the Speaker of the House of Representative has blamed of an accident in which the speaker’s motorcade was involved on the pilot vehicle, escorting the speaker.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Watkins, pointing out “half-truth”, accompanied by a photograph of the speaker’s vehicle which was not impacted by the accident, suggesting that the speaker car was not involved in a multi-car accident that nearly killed pedestrians and commuters on their way to work.
The accident involving the Speaker’s motorcade took place around 9:30a am, during the busy early morning traffic, when the Speaker, escorted by several vehicles, including his assigned REP 1 vehicle, driving in the opposite lane hit several vehicles and injuring a few people.
Eyewitnesses say, the speaker and his motorcade were on excessive speed although many cars en route to Monrovia were also trying to get to work and their daily affairs.
The accident took place right on front of Whiteflower, the home of former President Charles Taylor in Congo town near the Palm Springs Hotel.
The accident comes amid mount criticisms of wanton abuse of traffic laws by both elected and appointed officials of government.
In March, a three-year-old little girl was hit by a speeding vehicle driven by Deputy Justice Minister Cllr. Nyenati Tuan. That little girl is still fighting for her life after she was severely hit on March 1, 2020 as a result of the Deputy Minister’s reckless driving.
The issue is becoming a daily headache for commuters at the other end of town on the busy Vai Town Route where officials bulldoze their way into incoming traffic to the detriment of commuters and pedestrians.
The controversy comes amid mounting concerns that members of both houses of the National Legislature secretly passed a law granting them excessive use of the traffic including driving in opposing lanes.
That law has not been signed into handbill and never distributed in the public domain or the press.
An onlooker who said the accident nearly ran into his little boy, said: “This bigshot thing needs to stop. We voted for these people but the treat us like dogs. This could have been really bad and tragic.”
