Some eminent citizens representing the Sarpo tribe in Sinoe County, have vowed to take legal action against the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) if it infuses the one thousand Liberian dollar banknotes on the Liberian market without including the tribe on the specimen of the money.
Sarpo is an ethnic group in Liberia believed to have come from the southeastern part of the country, particularly Sinoe County.
The CBL in introducing a new family of Liberian dollar banknotes has printed a one thousand Liberian note with all of the tribes placed on it. But there is a claim that the Sarpo tribe is excluded.
The group, through its legal team, in a communication sent to the CBL dated 20 December 2022, is requesting the CBL to have the tribe included on the one thousand Liberian dollar banknotes before it is issued on the Liberian market.
According to the legal team, it is a complete violation of the people's rights should they be excluded while all other tribes are placed on the money.
They noted that the Constitution of Liberia provides that "All persons are equal before the law and are therefore entitled to the equal protection of the law."
They contended that the omission of the Sarpo people from a legal tender of Liberia is a violation of their right to recognition as an ethnic group in Liberia, in the same manner as the other ethnic groups of Liberia.
They said that marginalization of any group of people undermines the unity of Liberia.
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They have requested the CBL to include the name of the Sapo ethnic group as one of the ethnic groups of Liberia.
For their part, the Chairman and secretary of the Eminent Sarpo Citizen, Kpanyoun P. Wakocco and Siah C. Chen in separate remarks told a group of journalists over the weekend that if the CBL fails to have the tribe on the one thousand Liberian dollars banknotes before infusion into the market, they would be left with no option but to take legal action against the CBL.
According to the two men, they have written the Executive Governor of the CBL, Aloysius Tarlue several communications concerning their plights but have proved futile, something they said is prompting their legal actions.
Both Wakocco and Chen believe that histories are not static but dynamic, and left with men as time evolved to change the course of histories grounded on evidence and unfolding.
In the note written to the Central Bank Governor, the Sarpo Citizens requested his office to kindly and hastily adjust the human specimen of sixteen to seventeen on the one thousand bank notes being advertised to vividly picture or embody the true demographic.
