Monrovia – Protesters main the Say No To Medication marketing campaign are calling on the Authorities of Liberia to confiscate and public sale the properties of highly effective people—known as “large palms”—who’re allegedly concerned in drug trafficking and commerce, together with high authorities officers and even the President, if discovered responsible.
By Obediah Johnson
The decision comes as public frustration mounts over the rising drug disaster and perceived impunity for high-level enablers fueling the commerce of narcotics like Kush, cocaine, and different substances in Liberia.
Chatting with FrontPage Africa throughout Thursday’s protest in Monrovia, activist Sekou Turay accused influential figures throughout the authorities of undermining efforts by safety companies, together with the Liberia Drug Enforcement Company (LDEA), to clamp down on drug traffickers.
“About 90 % of the medicine getting into Liberia are being backed by so-called ‘large palms,’” Turay alleged. “You might have LDEA officers making arrests, just for a ‘large hand’ to name and say, ‘That’s my curiosity—let the individual go.’ That’s sabotaging the struggle.”
Turay harassed that nobody needs to be spared within the struggle in opposition to medicine—not even the President.
“If the President is concerned, his properties needs to be seized and auctioned,” he stated.
He proposed that proceeds from such auctions be used to fund rehabilitation applications for drug victims, a lot of whom are younger folks left deserted on the streets.
Turay lamented the speedy rise in habit charges amongst Liberian youth, stating that the drug disaster is killing the subsequent era.
“Our brothers and sisters are dying slowly. The youthful era that ought to take over this nation is losing away,” he stated.
He additionally criticized the federal government’s present efforts as “fruitless” and known as for pressing motion, together with stronger border safety, to forestall medicine from getting into the nation—significantly from neighboring states.
“These medicine are coming from exterior. Authorities should put critical measures in place to cease this move.”
The protest marked the most important anti-drug demonstration beneath the Boakai administration and kinds a part of a broader nationwide marketing campaign aimed toward pressuring authorities to behave decisively. Liberia’s drug epidemic has been declared a nationwide emergency.
In response to civil society teams, as of 2023, over 866 drug dens have been working in Monrovia alone, with the disaster spreading nationwide. It’s estimated that 20 % of Liberian youth at the moment are utilizing illicit medicine, threatening the nation’s well being, safety, and improvement.
President Boakai made the struggle in opposition to drug abuse a key marketing campaign concern in the course of the 2023 elections and later established a multi-sectoral committee to spearhead the hassle. Nevertheless, critics say tangible progress stays restricted.
In an announcement issued Wednesday, forward of the protest, Presidential Press Secretary Atty. Kula Bonah Nyei Fofana introduced new measures to bolster the nation’s anti-drug response.
“The President has ordered that funding be prioritized for a complete nationwide technique,” Fofana stated. Measures embrace introducing an anti-drug curriculum in colleges, random drug testing, expanded rehabilitation companies, and enhanced operational and logistical help for the LDEA. Extra plans name for superior surveillance at ports and borders and elevated public consciousness efforts.
President Boakai reiterated that “no standing, no title, no uniform, and no connection will shield anybody concerned in medicine.”
Campaigners hope the general public outcry and Thursday’s protest will push the federal government and lawmakers to take bolder motion in opposition to the rising drug menace.
