Governments have the responsibility to be politically sensitive in making certain decisions to prevent situations that could undermine their constitutional legitimacies. That is not weakness; it is a way of exercising political correctness, especially in a fragile society like Liberia, where recent election results have heightened tension.
Last Thursday's action by the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), supported by the Liberia National Police, to enforce a "search and seizure warrant" in the Small-Town Community around the Bernard Beach vicinity, which is hosting the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) Headquarters, lacks political sensitivity.
The timing was just wrong, considering how politically charged the atmosphere has been over the last two weeks between members of the Liberia National Police and members of the CDC, as well as the recent invitation from the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission to former Minister of State Nathaniel F. McGill to answer allegations of payroll piling at the Ministry of State during his time there.
McGill's appearance at the LACC drew sympathy from the CDC, which has claimed a crackdown on its members by the current regime headed by the Unity Party's Joseph Boakai.
Considering the current political atmosphere and knowing that the Small-Town Community is made largely of members or sympathizers of the CDC, any attempt to conduct such a search and seizure would be misconstrued as an attempt to confront the CDC.
This does not mean that the LDEA and other security forces cannot carry out their duties in that community, but being politically sensitive to the prevailing situation would require an approach not viewed as part of the UP Government's continued crackdown on CDC partisans.
The Unity Party administration is currently considered the custodian of the nation's peace. The government's handling of things, if not with maturity and political sensitivity, could roll back the peace gained over the years.
This administration has more to lose than its opposition rivals, which is why it bears the greatest responsibility for ensuring peace.
In journalism, the phrase Gatekeeping is frequently used to describe the role of the media in society. Journalists are called members of the fourth estate because they are the gate between the government and the governed.
Thus, the phrase Gatekeeping in the media refers to the process through which information is filtered for dissemination, publication, broadcasting, the Internet, or some other mode of communication.
Why most media institutions would use this means to protect certain influential individuals or friends within societies, the phrase mostly referred to keeping certain security-sensitive information from being disseminated.
There are many reasons involved: Some information, when disseminated, published, or broadcasted, has the propensity to cause panic, instability, or undermine the security of the state.
Therefore, journalists, regardless of how good such information is, will first consider the public good and the security of the state, thereby prompting them to filter such information before publication or even kill that story for the good of the public and the state.
Regardless of the intent of the Government apparatus, a politically sensitive approach would have avoided the clashes or forced the "search and seizure" to be rethought just as a journalist would kill a security-sensitive story to avoid plunging the country into chaos.
While the government is considered the main custodian of the country's fragile peace, citizens, including political parties, too have a role to play in the process.
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The CDC leadership should endeavor to take charge of their party and exercise some caution when making or reacting to certain situations. Their utterances, if not seasoned with peace, could sound like a recipe for chaos.
The CDC should be changed by now since it has tasted power and knows what it means to keep the peace. The party should learn to have faith in the legal process. After all, it appointed most of the Justices on the current Supreme Court Bench, meaning it had explicit confidence in their impartiality.
Liberia is the only country from which none of us can be deported or require legal documents or visas to stay. Therefore, the need to preserve peace cannot be overemphasized.
