County Attorneys in Liberia are discouraged and have threatened to pull out of the elections if they are not given operational fund for elections security.
They contended that the Justice Ministry is allotted US$4 million, yet only the police is being focused on, leaving the County Attorneys who are the head of the Joint Security across the counties out.
“In previous elections, County Attorneys across the country used to get their own budget, but since this government took over, it is difficult to see that happening. Our prosecution funds are not even coming regularly, so we use the little pay they give us to prosecute cases,” one of the county attorney who preferred not to be named expressed.
“We are frustrated over the lack of funding for the Joint Security to effectively perform their responsibilities during the elections,” the legal minds stated.
“We will not risk our lives to be victims of any incidents like what occurred in Foya, where an immigration officer got severely wounded on his mouth because of lack of protective gear. We are not even mobile, not even motorbikes, lest to say vehicles, to move around and coordinate security during the elections,” the anonymous attorneys added.
It can be recalled that early August of this year, a communication was written to Justice Minister Frank Musa Dean, informing him that usually when there is election in the country, County Attorneys receive funding for joint security operations, but since that communication was written to Minister Dean, apparently, he is yet to respond.
They decried that there has been no prosecution funds since the August 2023 Term of Court commenced, despite staging numerous strike actions by boycotting court openings for lack of vehicles, less prosecution funding, and dwelling places, when assigned in the counties.
Meanwhile, County Attorneys have vowed not to risk their lives in these elections if they are not supported by their own Ministry.
