The Liberia Council of Churches (LCC) has termed as "worrisome and troubling" the broad day armed robbery attack which led to the death of a young businessman on the Bushrod Island, outside Monrovia.
Founded in 1982, the LCC is the umbrella organization for churches, faith-based and religious institutions operating in Liberia.
It can be recalled that during the early afternoon hours of Tuesday, April 25, three unknown men riding a motorbike attacked and shot businessman Samuel King, 27, around the Mesurado Compound, adjacent the LIPFOCO Mattress Factory in Logan Town district # 15, Montserrado County.
The incident occurred when the victim was on board a commercial tricycle (kehkeh), carrying unspecified amount of monies in a bag to an unknown destination.
According to eyewitness accounts, the victim was shot once with a single barrel gun and the bag he was carrying dropped off the tricycle, making way for the armed robbers to hurriedly pick up and flee the scene.
Victim King was later pronounced dead upon arrival at the Redemption Hospital in the Borough of New Kru Town.
"My brother, I just can't tell where they came from and where they were going. However, I was on the road selling my gasoline as you are seeing, when suddenly we saw a bike with three guys on it close to the kehkeh. We didn't take note that they were up to something else," Samuel Mulbah, a local gasoline seller who witnessed the incident stated.
He continued: "We saw the guys on the bike and the kehkeh driver having conversation. Later, the bike guys told the kehkeh boy to stop the kehkeh, and he refused. Immediately, the last guy who was sitting behind the bike brought out the single barrel gun and shot the kehkeh guy at his side, that's how the kehkeh lost control and stopped," Mulbah added.
Don't take for granted
In a statement issued in Monrovia under the signature of its President Rev. Samuel Reeves on Wednesday, April 26, the Liberia Council of Churches said the latest broad day armed robbery attacked on the Fulani Businessman must not be taken for granted, especially in the wake of massive insecurity in the country ahead of the October 10 elections.
FrontPage Africa has not independently verified whether or not the victim is a Fulani as being widely reported.
The Council views such incident as worrisome and wants national government to put in place the needed security mechanism to provide security for its citizens, which is a cardinal responsibility of any government.
The release from LCC quotes its President, as saying, Liberia has reached a place where citizens are now living in perpetual fear due to the constant wave of threats and attacks on their lives by group of unscrupulous individuals.
Beef up security patrols
It added that the terrorizing effect of such a day light robbery must claim the attention of government to beef up its security patrol across the length and breadth of Liberia, during both the day and night hours.
"What makes it more troubling is the fact that individuals are now monitoring and tracking the activities of people carrying out their daily businesses and later attacked in the eyes of their fellow Liberians."
Meanwhile, the Liberia Council of Churches has cautioned that Liberians have gone through a lot as a result of the civil conflict and can no longer continue to experience wanton acts of insecurity when they are enjoying a semblance of peace.
Not the first time
This brings to two the number of times businessmen have been armed robbed and killed in Liberia.
It can be recalled that a German businessman identified as Juergen Schedema, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Consultant Capeter (ICC) logging company, was shot dead in his home in Buchanan on January 22, 2020 by unknown persons around 1:30 am.
According to eyewitness, one of the security officers on duty disclosed that the robbers, wearing masks, trooped into the logging company compound in Big Joe town.
They came from the back of the company, entered into the building, tied the four security officers who were at the front gate and took them into a room along with some other staff of the company.
The armed men later went in search of CEO Schedema, burst his door and window opened, brought him out of his bedroom and shot him on his left side and in his lower stomach and later dragged his lifeless body near an outside bathroom within the company's facility.
Victim Schedema upon discovery was rushed in an ambulance to the Liberian Government referral hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
The German national had lived and worked in Liberia for more than ten years prior to his death.
Suspects arrested
On Friday, July 23, 2020, the Liberia National Police (LNP) announced that the main suspect of the incident was arrested.
Suspect James Emmanuel Kollie, alias "Depree" was arrested in the Mount Barclay community along with his girlfriend. He was charged and forwarded to court along with one Joseph Cole commonly known as Joe Cole after they both admitted to participating in the killing of the German national.
Six others were reported to still be on the run.
Police retrieved weapons used by them to carry out the act, including guns and seven rounds of bullets, as well as one telephone taken from one of the expatriates of the logging company.
Murder, which is a first degree felony and a capital offense, is in of Chapter 14 section 14.6 of the new penal law of the Republic of Liberia.
Indian nationals armed robbed broad day
During the early evening hours of July 8,2020, armed men also robbed Indian nationals of the Mukesh Business Center in Vai Town and made away with over US$80,000 and L$400,000.
The incident happened shortly after the climaxed of normal commercial activities for the day.
Four men, two of whom were wearing face masks, attacked and robbed the Manager of the store Kamal Basandani and his brother, Yogesh Mulchandani, while climbing the stairs leading into their home with the bag of money.
The home of the victims where the 'armed robbery' took place is located just a stone throw away from the business center.
"I closed my store and I was going to my house across the road. I climbed on the stairs and my brother was in front me. Three people came from behind me; one of them held me from behind and say give me your bag.He put the gun on my head and took the bag from me. He told my brother if you move again, I will shoot you. The other man with the big knife cut the bag rope and took it from my brother-and the man with the gun fired in the air two times" Kamal stated.
Though the incident occurred around 5:30PM, nobody was able to come to the rescue of the Indian nationals.
Some other businesses in the area were operating, while pedestrians and motorists reportedly took a glance of the incident, but were afraid to loss their lives due to the possession of a gun and other deadly weapons by the suspected robbers.
Two motorbikes were used by the suspected armed robbers to carry on their mission, but one of the motorbikes was left behind by them. The abandoned motorcycle was turned over to the Liberia National Police (LNP).
Though the LNP reported that it has launched a probe, no one has been arrested in connection with the incident up to present.
Why these things are happening?
Sometimes ago, President Weah was quoted by the local media as calling on government officials and ordinary citizens to buy their Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) for security protection in the wake of the growing wave of insecurity in the Liberian society.
President Weah stated that though government will do all it can to provide security at the borders to avert external threats, each and every Liberian should be their brother's keeper.
He made the call shortly after he signed the book of condolence of the fallen Director of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), Mr. Emmanuel Barten Nyeswa in Monrovia.
Nyenswa was found dead in his compound along the 72nd Boulevard, outside Monrovia at 2AM on Saturday, October 10, 2020.
"I am worried about our citizens because we do not know what actually happens at night but we hope that our citizens will also take responsibility of their own lives, surroundings and what they are doing. Our own responsibility as a government is to ensure that we have the police and other security apparatus make sure that no one infiltrates our country and do acts that don't make any sense," President Weah stated.
He continued: "We do not want to hold anybody responsible for what they do in their own life but I think everybody, should be their brother's keeper. It's also time that every government officials and citizens try to have their own video camera in facilities to see who's coming in and out because I believe it will be a good security protection,"
President Weah's comments at the time did not go down well with scores of citizens and organizations.
Citizens still view the statement as the show of government's "incompetence, unwillingness and don't care attitude" towards providing security for them in keeping with the 1986 Liberian constitution.
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They maintained that vast majority of citizens cannot even afford to put food on the tables for them and their respective family members, and wondered where they would acquire huge sum of money to purchase CCTVs to mount at their houses.
Criminals and armed robbers are not capitalizing on the Liberian leader's call as means to justify their unscrupulous involvement into the unwholesome practices of hijacking, armed robbery, among others.
"I think what President Weah could have meant is that, the whole crisis is getting more and more confusing; more difficult to solve, and that he's probably getting or expressing his level of frustration with the process, the police investigation and just everything because, you don't know who is killing who and how people are dying at the time when people are even struggling to find food to eat everyday former President of the LCC Bishop Kortu Brown stated.
He continued: "It speaks to the frustration of the President himself which is good, but the President should not be there just expressing his level of frustration; he should take actions to ensure that the wave of mysterious deaths within our society is addressed."
Harsh economic constraints, high rate of unemployment and the failure of government to take punitive measures against perpetrators of lawlessness, continue to contribute to the increasing wave of deaths as a result of armed robberies, ritualistic and secret killings in Liberia.
These latest broad day light robberies leading to the death of a young businessman and losses to foreign entrepreneurs have the propensity of scaring away investors from the country.
Already, Liberia is experiencing 'investment drought' as a result of increase in the wave of lawlessness in the country, and the unfriendly business environment created by government through the creation of bureaucracies and bottlenecks.
Many foreigners and Liberians, especially those during businesses are constrained to shut down their businesses during the early evening hours for fear of being hijacked or armed robbed by unknown individuals.
More lives would be claimed as a result of armed robbery attacks if government fails to "muscle-up" to arrest and prosecute individuals that are involved into terrorizing or hijacking peaceful Liberians and foreign nationals, robbing them of their hard-earned finances or properties.
