The Jonahsa Foundation has condemned the alleged killing of pedestrians by GOL’s speeding presidential convoys. “Reduce your speed,” the Jonahsa Foundation cautions the government.
The call is directed toward recent accidents involving the presidential motorcade.It can be recalled that on July 24, 2024, at least one person was reported dead, while a few others injured after President Joseph Nyumah Boakai’s convoy collided with a tricycle, or “Kehkeh,” along the Roberts International Airport Highway early Wednesday.
Also, in February 2019, then-President George Weah’s convoy collided with another vehicle belonging to former Associate Justice Wilkins Wright, which reportedly intruded into the motorcade near Gbarnga, Bong County, leaving two dead, including Gabriel Wilson, commonly known as Executive Horn, an employee of the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs.
He was the traditional hornblower for the President.In 2022 and early 2023, the former President’s official motorcade ran into pedestrians, killing two and severely injuring several others along the RIA and Tubman Boulevard roads.It came as a shock to many people that just seven months into his presidency, another Liberian President’s convoy had started killing citizens due to excessive speed.
Addressing a press conference over the weekend from the U.S. via telephone, the Founder and President of the Jonahsa Foundation, Mr. Jonah Barcon, expressed frustration over how public officials, including the President, drive their convoys at excessive speed throughout the cities.
“The way the Speaker, Senate Pro Temp, Vice President, the President, and government officials can be speeding on those narrow roads in Liberia is dangerous for the citizens, particularly road users,” Barcon noted.
He stated that the issue of public safety is a key component of what leaders must prioritize, especially those who carry sirens.“They should reduce their speed; we’re not in wartime or fighting a war anymore for them to be targeted,” Barcon expressed angrily to the media.
He further emphasized that the country is no longer at war, and thus there is no justification for government officials’ convoys to speed through the city out of fear of attacks.
“For the safety of pedestrians, school-going children, motorists, road users, and passengers in vehicles, they should see the need to implement speed limits in residential and commercial areas,” he noted.
