A representative hopeful in the pending 2023 election for District 8 in Montserrado County has categorically condemned the unprovoked attack on some members of the University of Liberia Student Unification Party (SUP) by a group called the CDC-COP.
As public outcry continues to mount in the wake of an the act as uncivilized and barbaric and more calls are being placed on the government to launch a full scale probe into the circumstances, aspirant Alvin Pennue is blaming the government for allegedly instigating the violence.
Pennue asserted that the government has reduced running the affairs of the state as if it is running a “table market” where everyone can determine their own price.
Speaking in an exclusive interview a day after the incident, he averred that at present this act amounts to a country without national character and proper leadership as well as lack of problem solving approach, which has resulted partisans of the ruling establishment to engage into violent activities all the time.
“At this juncture, it is incumbent on every rightful thinking Liberian to condemn this act; it is a clear violation of the fundamental rights of the people to freely assemble and express their grievances against what they felt was wrong with how the government was proceeding with governance and the management of the country’s resources. So sending thugs after the students with the view of suppressing them was something mind-blogging,” Pennue pointed out.
The aspirant further asserted that the frequent occurrences of ugly scenes from Liberia to the outside world do not help the country and its people as they drive away investment opportunities and put fear in the country’s development partners who by extension provide reasons why they put hold on funding projects in the country.
Mr. Pennue, who is passionate about youth empowerment said, he was taken aback when he saw young people who should be organizing themselves into working groups to help each other are being used by politicians and trouble makers to destroy themselves and at the same time endangering their communities.
“I can’t believe that at this time when the young people should be putting themselves together as serious groups to help themselves, they are all over the place destroying themselves, calling themselves militants and all sorts of names that are associated with violence and destruction. Of course they are hurting themselves and not the politicians that are fooling them for selfish gains,” he stated.
He said the acts exhibited against the students are clear indication of the broken societies the country has to confront because the government whose responsibility it is to provide solutions to the problem is the same institution actively instigating these kinds of violent attitudes thereby aggravating the situation.
When asked what could be the solution to the frequent recourse to violent acts in the society, especially being perpetuated by young people, the young entrepreneur and security expert intoned that education and skill acquisition are two areas as viable options because both of them are surest ways to combat joblessness and poverty, the two evils that disrupt the mindset of idle youths in the community.
“Rising unemployment due to lack of proper education and skills among the young people has been a bane of progress among the young people. We have to find a way of addressing this menace otherwise it will hit us all of the time. That is one of my thematic areas for which I am offering my service to the good people of District 8 during the general elections, next year 2023,’’ the Rep. hopeful accentuated.