Monrovia - The head of Green Advocate, a civil society organization, says the civil society of Liberia has no history of undermining the sovereignty of the country, indicating that it is instead President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has a history of undermining the sovereignty of Liberia and therefore her rant against the civil society is unthinkable. “Who has the history of undermining sovereignty in this country, none of us around this table are fugitive from the TRC report, none of us are, we know who is running away from the TRC report. We are not running from the TRC report, we are not fugitive. We can never undermine the sovereignty of this country; we work in the public interest. Let’s be very clear, madam President we will continue to advocate for the Liberian people”, said Attorney Alfred Brownell. Speaking at a news conference called by several civil society organizations Brownell said the comment by the Liberian leader during her state of the nation address is intended discourage the civil society from continuing its advocacy stance on issues in the country. Brownell says even an audit by the government in the extractive industry uncovered that several contracts signed were bogus. Said Sirleaf during her 9th state of the nation address“some NGOs have sought to become super-national bodies, challenging national sovereignty”, but civil society organizations indicated that over years the civil society in Liberia has been vibrant and contributed to the peace process of the country. “During the past ten years, a vibrant civil society has been integral to the peace, stability and development of our post-conflict nation. In fact, your ascendency to the highest office in the land can be partly ascribed to the collective voices of civil society activists who challenged previous despotic regimes to ensure we have the open society Liberians deserve and enjoy today”, the civil society statement noted. Stated the civil society organizations: “Madam President, Liberian history is replete with the governance lessons of the last five decades. Those lessons have shown that economic mismanagement, corruption and the unequal distribution of benefits from natural resources played a central role in sparking and prolonging our bloody civil conflict. To date, natural resource exploitation still remains as one of the biggest challenges of our peace. Therefore, supporting transparency, accountability and good governance in Liberia, particularly within the natural resource sector is essential for sustainable development”. The civil society indicated that Liberia civil society supports good governance, transparency and accountability, and will work to empower citizens to participate in the democratic process. “We do agree that corruption remains endemic in Liberia and is pervasive in most sectors and generally welcome your government’s efforts to introduce anti-corruption instruments. However, we must reiterate the vital role civil society plays in tackling corruption. That role entails being the bug that bites when you least expect and at times get us branded as agent provocateurs rather than partners in development, who must continually provide the government with a another version or assessment of its activities.. Corruption is the obstacle we must fight in the realization of economic freedom and national sovereignty. This is a challenge all of Liberian society must fight together” the statement of the civil society organizations furthered. CENTAL, Green Advocates, SDI and SAMFU jointly issued a statement reacting to President Sirleraf’s comments. Alexander Soros, son of American Billionaire George Soros also recently took exception to President Sirleaf’s statement. Said Soros: “You know, Madam President, I understand that you are in a very difficult situation, but for me, I think that there is no need for sedition, keep the vibrant civil society you have, please don’t crack down and you’ve been entrusted with a lot of power and no matter your intentions, power is a corrupting influence, keep your pulse close to the people and listen to your critics.” National Civil Society Council of Liberia Joint Civil Society Response to the President’s 2014 State of the Nation Address frontpageafricaonline/index.php/news/679-sirleaf-a-fugitive-civil-society-on-ellen-s-back-calls-to-stop-undermining-ngos
Posted on: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 18:26:49 +0000
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