Thecountryontimebomb

MONROVIA – A Lofa County Senator has proposed that the violence that took place in Lofa County over the weekend, leaving at least four persons dead and several others injured, was premeditated.

On Tuesday, March 2, Sen.Sumo Kupee told the Senate Plenary, the highest decision-making body of the Upper House, that the mêlée, in which hundreds of people, including women and children, were displaced, had been planned by some individuals.

The Lofa County Senator did not name the masterminds of the violence but called for an independent probe into the incident.

Professor Kupee, who is also former Chairman of the Department of Economics at the University of Liberia (UL), in his briefing to the Senate, said the hostility, which, he said, involved ‘Muslims and Christians’, clearly showed that Liberia is on a ‘time bomb’.

“The incident in my county, to me, clearly shows that Liberia is on time bomb – to discover someone dead and later see churches burnt and mosques attacked – I am confused [as to] how such a thing happened. But it tells us that an investigation needs to be conducted by this plenary,” Kupee suggested.

The Lofa County Senator told Plenary that a total of four persons, including a 13-year-old child, were killed in the mêlée, while 18 persons were wounded as a result of the violence.

So far, he said, about 30 persons have been rounded up in connection with the incident by the Liberian National Police (LNP).

“This thing, to me, was planned by some counterproductive individuals, who were only looking for a space to carry out such action,” the Senator added.

The Liberian Senate has ordered its own investigation into the recent violence in Lofa County.

Following Kupee’s briefing, Senate Pro-Tempore, Cletus S. Wortorson, said the Senate was concerned about the country’s security condition.

Wortorson, on behalf of his colleagues, also condemned the violence in Lofa, describing it as “counter-productive for the country’s development agenda”.

The Senate appointed a five-man committee to investigate the incident and said its investigation was on account of the fact that there had been conflicting reports from the county since the incident took place.

“We need to order an independent investigation into the matter in Lofa so as to make a sound decision as a body,” River-Gee County Senator, Cllr. Frederick Cherue, told his colleagues.

“I hereby move, if I can obtain a second, that this Senate set up an independent investigation team to investigate circumstances surrounding the Lofa incident and report to this plenary for action,” he said.

“So seconded,” another senator obliged.

Following the vote, the Senate Pro-Tempore immediately went on to name members of the senate investigation committee.

Nimba County Senator, Adolphus S. Dolo, was named chairman of the committee. Dolo is the chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Internal Affairs. Bomi County Senator, Lahai Lassana, who is Senate Co-chairman on Defense and National Security, was named co-chairman of the probe committee.

Members of the committee are Sinoe County Senator, Mabutu Nyenpan (Chairman of the Public Works Committee); Grand Cape Mount County Senator, Abel Massaley (Chairman on Foreign Affairs); and Montserrado County Senator, Geraldine Doe-Sheriff.

Plenary then decided that the committee is to move to the county and conduct an investigation into the matter and forward recommendations to the Senate for action.

The probe committee, Wortorson said, is to leave Monrovia for Lofa Friday, March 5, to begin the investigation.

It may be recalled that the recent violence in Lofa erupted in the small town of Konia, over the disappearance of an 11th grade female student who was later discovered dead near a mosque.

Korpo Kamara, before her cold-blooded murder, was a student of a school being operated by the Lutheran Church of Liberia. The chaos was later brought under control by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) of the Liberia National Police (LNP).

At the moment, reports say Lofa County’s provincial capital of Voinjama has been deserted owing to the fluidity of the situation.

In an effort to restore calm, law and order to the county, the Liberian Government has imposed a curfew.
Areas destroyed owing to the crisis include the Catholic Church situated on Macenta Road, Free Pentecostal Church and other properties.

In a related development, the Lofa County Bar Association has said that on February 25, it had welcomed to the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) to Voinjama for its First Quarterly Assembly of 2010 as had been agreed upon in Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County, at the association’s last convention and quarterly assembly in November of 2009.

The Lofa County Bar Association, however, asserted in a statement issued in Monrovia yesterday, March 2, that during the activities, “unpatriotic, wicked-minded, Satanic individuals, instead, planned and disrupted the Liberian National Bar Association’s efforts to use the Lofa Bar Association to bring rule of law to the county.

Instead, the statement added, the wicked individuals engaged in acts of “waging war on innocent civilians, killing people, wounded so many, looting and vandalizing homes and worst of all burning down the Catholic compound complex, vandalizing the Pentecostal Church, and other places of worship”.

The statement further said that the Lofa County Bar, in association with the Liberian National Bar Association, “strongly condemns this act of cowardice and Satanic behavior of individuals, many of whom do not have anything good to show in Lofa, but are always bent on causing hardship and instilling fear in our people.

“To this end, we call on the National Government to set up, without any delay, a team of inquiry that will proceed to Lofa County and conduct an exhaustive and comprehensive investigation into the incidents which are believed to have occurred in Konia on a low scale, but advanced into full war in the Provincial Capital of Voinjama and that the perpetrators, when found, must face the full weight of our laws,” the statement said.

“To the many lawyers who sacrificed their time, money and lives to bless the occasion of the National Bar in Voinjama, we say we are deeply sorry for the embarrassment that some of those who pose as Lofa citizens may have caused you by their [actions]... We are happy that every single person that went to Voinjama on account of the National Bar’s Assembly was fully accounted for and they are now believed to be with their families, loved ones and relatives,” the statement added.

The Lofa Bar, in the statement, indicated that its investigation showed that two of the lawyers, in the persons of Cllr. Milton Taylor and Cllr. Laveli Supuwood, had their vehicles damaged. They were driven to Monrovia for repairs.

“In the wake of this devilish incident, the Lofa County Bar Association hereby identifies with families of those that lost any member of their family and also with those that are currently lying in excruciating pains at the Telewoiyan Hospital and other health posts in and around Voinjama City,” the association said.

The statement further indicated that even though the Lofa County Bar Association was recently installed and is yet without any financial base, “we shall meet as an Association and make a determination as what other positive options we will adopt in the premises.

“Finally, we wish to extend our profound thanks and gratitude to Hon. Galakpai Kortimai, the Superintendent of Lofa County, and his able local government staff for the manner in which we were received, taken care of amidst the chaos in Voinjama until all members of the Liberian National Bar Association and guests visiting Voinjama safely and unharmed left for their respect places,” the statement concluded.

DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2011

Sanniquellie Project
Our Donors and Contributors Names

Barrack Obama Takes Oath

Windows 7 Launched

Sanniquellie Mosque Project

Enter the Project Center

OK International is currently offering a special one way & round trip fare from JFK to Liberia and from Liberia to all U.S. destinations

Contact our travel consultants @ 718-206-4982 or 917-251-8343. Contact O. Kamara @ 212- 882-1050 for group travel.

Researchers Crack WPA Encryption

Check out UTD Alumni Site

Alhaji G.V. Kromah