Monrovia – With simply days remaining earlier than the expiration of a 14-day ultimatum to President Joseph Boakai, the organizers of the July 17 “Sufficient is Sufficient” mass protest have renewed their name for pressing and decisive motion in response to their 13-count suggestions.
By Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
In an announcement issued Sunday, the Solidarity & Belief for a New Day (STAND), in alliance with WE THE PEOPLE Motion and different collaborating civil society organizations, declared that President Boakai’s latest acknowledgment of skyrocketing costs and financial hardship throughout Liberia’s 178th Independence Day celebration quantities to a belated however simple admission of failure.
“This public confession, although overdue, is a transparent validation of the grievances echoed by tens of hundreds of Liberians who took to the streets on July 17,” STAND stated within the strongly worded assertion. “It’s time for the President to forged apart delight, reject the conceitedness of energy, and act decisively to arrest the deepening disaster.”
The group accused the Central Financial institution of Liberia of misrepresenting the nation’s financial actuality and deceptive the general public, asserting that President Boakai’s admission exposes these “false claims of stability.”
A Petition Resubmitted — and a Warning Issued
The motion formally resubmitted its 13-count petition to the President, demanding sweeping reforms and accountability. The petition contains requires the dismissal and prosecution of corrupt officers, audits of key public establishments, together with the NSA, Public Works, LPRC, and NPA, prosecution of prime safety officers for police brutality and alleged illegal killings, financial reforms to fight the rising value of dwelling and youth unemployment, and public transparency on contracts, legislative spending, and drug enforcement coverage.
Two extra counts have been added: a full audit of the Nationwide Legislature and more durable legal guidelines in opposition to air and maritime drug trafficking.
STAND emphasised that the calls for should not appeals for charity, however assertions of the individuals’s proper to justice, safety, and dignity.
A Rebuttal to Presidential “Mockery”
The assertion additionally accused President Boakai of making an attempt to downplay the protest’s significance and “mocking” its organizers and members. Satirically, the group stated, his personal phrases throughout his Independence Day speech now function affirmation of the disaster.
“Reality crushed to the bottom shall rise once more,” the assertion quoted the President, calling his admission “simple proof” that the Liberian individuals’s calls for “can not—and won’t—be silenced, buried, or ignored.”
Commending the Nationwide Orator, Rebuking the President’s Interior Circle
STAND lauded Independence Day Nationwide Orator, Ambassador Emmett L. Dunn, for “boldly calling on President Boakai to take governance significantly and fireplace corrupt officers,” including that Dunn’s message mirrors the center of the July 17 petition.
They additional warned the President to distance himself from “the poisonous echo chamber of his interior circle,” calling their affect “harmful misguidance” that threatens to deepen public resistance and civil unrest.
The Clock Is Ticking
Because the expiration of the 14-day deadline approaches, STAND and its companions made clear that failure to deal with the petition’s calls for would result in an escalation of the motion.
“Let there be no illusions—failure to behave is not going to weaken the individuals’s resolve. It can ignite a good stronger, broader, and extra decided motion to escalate the combat for justice, accountability, and actual change.”
Concluding with a direct attraction, the coalition declared:
“Mr. President, the individuals can’t be ignored. The July 17 calls for have to be addressed in a well timed method. Sufficient is sufficient.”
The 13 Calls for at a Look
The protesters referred to as on President Boakai to fireplace and prosecute corrupt officers, audit the NSA, Public Works, LPRC, NPA, LWSC, and Mines & Vitality, prosecute police and safety chiefs accused of brutality, public disclosure of all contracts signed since Jan. 2024, implement constitutional tenure protections and civic freedoms and emergency financial motion to create jobs and develop companies.
The protesters are additionally calling on the President to carry restrictions on kehkeh and bike riders, finish “political witch-hunts”, elevate minimal wage and deal with value of dwelling, prioritize healthcare in nationwide price range, examine bribery allegations involving Speaker Koffa’s removing, audit and disclose legislative spending and amend drug legal guidelines to penalize negligent or complicit carriers.
