By: Naomi Tappia
Protesters on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, stormed the Capital Building, the seat of the Liberia Legislative branch of government in demand of the $15.000.00 United States Dollars as “community engagement in their various districts.
It can be recounted that members of parliament recently dispensed $15.000.00 USD each amongst the 103 congress members inclusive of both the lower and upper Houses, an action that has since sparked debate across the country amongst the citizenry with some vehemently condemning the action on the part of the MPs to allot such an amount in the face of challenged health sectors in the Country amid Covid-19 pandemic that is ravaging.
The Liberian legislature is entitled to an annual budgetary allotment of $30.000.00 United States Dollars for each congress member for district engagement. But the said amount has not been disbursed amongst the MPs for their community engagement for approximately three years.
Speaking on Truth FM on News Day program in Monrovia on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, the lead champion of the cause to ensure that the money disbursed by the Congress members is restituted, Fubi Henries unveiled that Liberians didn’t elect the Congress members to seek their own interest especially at a point in time that the pandemic is ravaging and stalling economic growth around the world.
Henries added that the assembling of hundreds of Liberians at the Capital Building indicates that Liberians elected the MPs to act in the interest of the masses, even though, they have appropriating right, but they cannot be expending while appropriating at the same time, something Henries, the spokesperson of the protesters termed as “looting” on the part of the congress members. He added that the country deserves patriotic MPs who will not prioritize their interest over the interest of the Liberian people as he termed their action to disburse the amount as “greediness, selfishness and being insensitive” to the plights of the masses.
The protesters have threatened to turn out in mass to draw the attention of the world with a staggering protest in the coming weeks if the money is not return to the presidency to augment the already challenged health sectors of the country.
Republican President Dr George Manneh Weah requested the allotment of Two Million United States Dollars to help fight the deadly virus that is claiming lives around the world, amount that is yet to be given to the presidency for the fight as Liberia has become the worst high hit countries in Africa.
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