By Senator Albert Chea
There is a troubling irony in the contrasting security postures of the country: the deployment of an Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) armored personnel carrier at the Monrovia Central Prison, where former Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor is being held, raises questions about the Boakai administration’s priorities at a time when our country continues to face serious security threats at the border with Guinea.
The military’s primary mandate is to defend the Republic and protect its territorial integrity — not to be used as an instrument of intimidation, political pressure, or partisan interests.
There is a danger in allowing the AFL to become associated, rightly or wrongly, with the detention of political figures or partisan politics. Liberia has experienced enough in the past in which the instruments of state power were turned inward against citizens. The AFL must therefore be seen as a national institution, not as an extension of the governing party or an instrument for settling political disputes.
These are exactly the kinds of actions that eroded public confidence in the Army in the pre-civil war era and severely tarnished its reputation. The AFL must never, under any circumstances, tread that same ugly, unprofessional, and dangerous path again. The painful lessons of the past must not be forgotten, and the Army’s credibility must never again be compromised by conduct that undermines public trust and confidence.
