…As Police Officers Allegedly Brutalized A Citizen…
Contributed By: Feona Benson-Kollie
CAPITOL HILL, MONROVIA: As the disagreements over the removal of House Speaker Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa continues on Capitol Hill, the Speaker has strongly advised the Authority of the Liberia National Police to be neutral in the performance of their duties.
Speaker Koffa did the warning when he got on the scene upon hearing about the police’s alleged brutality of a citizen who works at the national legislature.
Thus, the Speaker expressed his frustration over the form and manner in which some officers of the Liberia National Police are flowing with the dissension among members of the House of Representatives.
He noted that officers of the National Police are state security and as such, should be in the interest of all citizens and not a few groups.
The Speaker made the statement due to the biased actions of the National Police particularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays which are days that the House conducts sessions.
It can be recalled that a man believed to be a staff of Gbarpolu County District #2 Representative Luther Collins was allegedly brutalized at the entrance of the Capitol Building by the police while returning to his boss who had sent him.
Expressing his dissatisfaction to Deputy Police Director for Operations Nelson Freeman, Speaker Koffa said the crises among members of the House of Representatives are internal and as such, should be resolved by themselves and not the executive branch as it is now being seen.
He also warned Freeman that if officers of the Liberia National Police were taking sides, then there was no need for their presence at the Capitol Building.
The Liberian Speaker at the same time encourage officers of the Liberia National Police to uphold the rule of law for the betterment of the country.
On Tuesday Liberians witnessed the brutalizing of peaceful Liberians by some officers of the Liberia National Police and Thursday again was another scene of brutality leaving the speaker with no choice but to engage the Authority of the Liberia National Police on the grounds that peaceful citizens are being brutalized.
The fight for the removal of the speaker by some members of the House of Representatives has entered a month now.