Monrovia — Several critics of the Liberian government accuse President Joseph N. Boaka of prejudicing the Joint Police Investigative report on the recent fire incident at the Capitol Building while rejecting the findings on grounds that they lack independent and organized evidence.
Fire gutted the Rotunda of the Capitol Building here early Wednesday morning on December 18, 2024. The Rotunda is the Joint Chambers of the Liberian Legislature. Until what has been confirmed as an arson attack, the facility was being used by majority bloc members of the House, who controversially elected ruling UP lawmaker Richard Nagbe Koon as Speaker amid legal resistance by embattled Speaker J. Fonati Koffa.
The majority bloc failed to obtain 49 out of 73 Representatives as required by the Constitution to remove Koffa, who they accused of conflict of interest and corruption but ousted him.
The fire incident occurred in the wake of an unresolved political turmoil between members of the majority bloc led by Representative Richard N. Koon on the one hand and a minority bloc headed by embattled Speaker Fonati Koffa.
A day after the incident, the Inspector General of the Liberia National Police, Col. Gregory Coleman, announced the arrest of 73 persons who were part of an anti-government demonstration on the grounds of the Capitol a day before the fire incident. A dozen others were considered persons of interest, including opposition lawmaker Representative Frank Saah Foko, who embattled Speaker Koffa had accompanied to the Liberia National Police Headquarters for questioning because of the statement he (Rep. Foko) had made in the past.
Also among the arrested individuals were security officers who were present on duty during the night of the arson. Some were immediately released based on information provided. The fire did cause significant damage to the entire joint chamber.
Police IG Coleman, flanked by the Director General of the Liberia National Fire and Rescue Service, G. Warsuwah Barvoul, told journalists that they had already identified suspects involved in the arson attack and that contacts had been made with messages sent for them to come forward.
"Today, January 8, 2025, at this point, we are here to officially inform the nation that we have sufficient evidence to call the act at the Capitol Building an act of arson," Inspector General Col. Gregory Coleman told journalists here on Wednesday.
But, responding to the report on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, via a live talk show in Monrovia, Montserrado County District # 8 Ex-representative Moses A. Gray said the Police investigation is not something to trust because it will never contradict what President Boakai has already said.
According to Gray, when the fire incident occurred, the President linked it to arson, which he blamed on hooligans, despite not investigating the cause of the scene.
"The President went and told the country that the act is an act of hooligans, and such will not be tolerated, and that statement from the President prejudiced the investigation. This is a calculated attempt by the government to target members of the opposition community. Do you expect the report to differ from what the President said? Let the government call on international experts; we don't trust this report," he stated.
Gray also accuses the police of being a party to the conflict because, since the power struggle between the Majority bloc and the Minority lawmakers, the Liberia National Police had provided security at the facility until a fire gutted it.
Now, he argues that since the incident, Police officers on duty have not been probed or placed under any investigation. Therefore, it's now important that they be investigated because once the police director can't investigate them, he should recuse himself as a party to the attack.
"A character like the Police IG Gregory Coleman should recuse himself from the investigation. Firstly, look at the fight between the Majority Bloc and the Minority bloc. The police, being political, provided maximum security for the majority bloc and left the minority vulnerable. The police, again, provided maximum security for the Capitol Building through the Majority bloc request; the police IG is on record of saying that."
Gray continues that the Police IG and others provided maximum security for the ruling Unity Party during the 2023 campaign, something, he notes, has made IG Coleman a partisan security officer therefore, he says the Police Chief lacks what it takes to investigate and have the matter adjudicated independently.
"The evidence is so significant to the court, and those who are to adduce evidence if they are compromised, it means that the investigation is not independent. Without any investigation, IG Coleman brought some folks and called them suspects. Does that mean he will be fair?"
"Also, this man took a court detainee from behind the bar and sent him to Guinean junta," making reference to a Guinean national arrested in Liberia and turned over to the Guinean military amid reports that he was executed for alleged subversive activities.
Former minister of youth and sports for youth development under the former ruling CDC, Isaac Doe, argues that the Police IG is a political appointee. So, they don't expect his investigation to defer from President Boakai's statement.
According to him, Coleman had arrested, assaulted, and intimidated peaceful Liberians exercising their constitutional right, something he believes clearly shows that the IG does not have respect for the rule of law.
But responding to these allegations, the Managing Director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation and campaign spokesperson for the ruling UP, Mohammed Ali, counters that whether the police like anyone or not, when they gathered their pieces of evidence, those pieces of evidence end up in court.
According to him, the court will determine whether the police did justice and due diligence to the investigation.
"I see a fair police headed by Gregory Coleman. And that is why I think the Joint Security should do its best to gather the best evidence because I can trust them as much as I want and distrust them as much as I want. It will not survive in court if they don't gather the right evidence. I am looking at gathering the right evidence that will survive in court so that if you charge people, they can be proven guilty," he underscores.
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Bong County District #7 Representative Foday Fahnbulleh, a member of the Majority bloc, says he believes that the Police have done and will do a professional job in the investigation. Therefore, he sees a fair, transparent, and objective investigation.
"The report from the police about arson is something we expected due to statements and actions from some people. When somebody threatened to burn the building, and others are fighting, and what they said happened, it's something of arson", Fahnbulleh argues.
He thinks that allegations made against the government are sentimental only because the UP-led government appointed IG Coleman; therefore, he is supposed to be a UP police officer instead of a national police officer. "I say a big no to that because the police IG is the Director of the Liberia National Police, and as a professional man, he needs to do the right thing, and that is the objective lens through which I am looking at him.
But another Liberian, Edwin Massally, urges the public to desist from, in his words, "politicization of the investigation," adding that it's saddening that people would make damning statements against a historical site gutted by fire. According to him, the police are investigating void of politics because he has not heard about any political interference since the process started.
I think what we need to do now is to allow the investigation to go on, listen to the evidence, and we can render a decision, but to speak loosely now, it's not good. I think the police need to do their work. Let's wait for the outcome, for the fact that there are persons of interest", he pleads.
