It has been five months and even days since the Ministry of Justice authorized the investigation of allegations that security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the mining town of Kinjor, leaving two dead and 16 wounded.
The incident occurred on February 29, when young people across Kinjor gathered at the concession site of Bea Mountain Mining Company in Grand Cape Mount County. The protesters were demanding the company to employ qualified Liberians in key positions at the mines. Additionally, they accused the company of bad labor practices.
Security forces responded with excessive force, including gunfire. One of the worst crackdowns under the Boakai's administration, when army and police officers opened fire on a crowd of protesters, leaving two dead and 16 wounded.
So far, the Ministry is reported to have concluded its investigation and has taken further steps by submitting its report to the Civilian Complaint and Review Board, which has oversight of the police and the Liberia Immigration Service, to independently review and provide recommendations for justice and accountability
The Board's Chairperson and President of the Liberia National Bar Association,(LNBA), Cllr. Sylvester Rennie, confirmed receiving the reports
Cllr. Rennie, during a press conference on Wednesday, August 7, also confirmed that his board received a report of alleged Manslaughter and Aggravated Assault by officers assigned to the Liberia Electricity Corporation.
Liberia has a poor history with judicial panels of inquiries, because, its recommendations have no force of law and are often dependent on the responsible authorities to carry out the recommendations.
Moreover, lack of political will on justice and accountability has meant that past judicial panels including those set up to investigate mass extrajudicial killings in other contexts made no progress toward ending impunity for security force abuses.
Cllr. Rennie, however, assured the public that the board will conduct a transparent review of the reports and will make the necessary recommendations to the Minister of Justice, Cllr. Oswald Tweh.
"The CCRB will review the report and make the necessary recommendations to the Minister of Justice. While reviewing the report, we will conduct investigations where necessary and where clarification is needed to establish the truth," he noted.
Critics expressed fear that the government's failure to act on the board's recommendations will send a painful message to victims and risk encouraging more violence by security officers.
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"The authorities should act on the board's recommendations and hold those responsible to account," another critic said.
Another critic said: "Justice and accountability should not be determined by the views of individual government ministers or officials but should rather be guaranteed for all Liberians through independent systems and authorities mandated to investigate and act on allegations of abuses."
Established in 2016, civilian oversight, sometimes referred to as civilian review or citizen oversight, is a form of civilian participation in reviewing government activities, most commonly accusations of police misconduct.
Other members of the Board include representatives of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Internal Affairs, the chairperson of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights, the President of the Federation of Liberian Youth, and the chair of the National Law Enforcement Association.
