Due to the failure of the Liberia National Police to provide status report on the deaths of 29 peaceful citizens and several persons that were wounded, the Liberian Senate has set up a nine-man Specialized Committee, dubbed, “Senate Investigative Inquiry” intended to probe the circumstances surrounding the New Kru Town stampede.
Recently, 29 Liberians were killed and many were wounded on January 19, 2022 due to stampede at a Crusade organized by Apostle Abraham Kromah in Liberia.
In an effort to provide the facts leading to the deaths of Liberians who went to get deliverance from a would-be Apostle Kromah, the Senate yesterday constituted a nine-man specialized inquiry that is clothed with the task to probe every facet of events; ranging from swelling of the number of people that attended the crusade, the issue of security alert, allegation of “Zogos” or criminal attacks among others.
The Inquiry team that was set up by Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor was given a month’s duration to provide findings from its investigation.
The Senate’s decision was triggered by Montserrado County Senator, Darius Dillon’s request to the Senate to establish what he calls an investigative inquiry to probe stampede.
In his conversation to the Plenary of the Senate, Dillon said prior to the stampede issue, four persons were killed during the Duala saga when gangsters had a standoff with officers of the Liberia National Police, which among others led to heavy shooting in the Kuwait Market vicinity in Duala.
According to Dillon, since then, there has been no report to establish the cause of the death of the people today; 29 peaceful citizens in addition to the four who were killed previously, alluding to Zogos’ sinister motives.
Dillon, Senator Steve Zargo who is the Chair on the Security, Intelligence Committee including other senators, described the issue of Zogos as a looming security threat that must be addressed by the government.
“When events of such nature happen in other countries, by now, the government would have constituted an investigative team to establish the root-cause of the problem,” Dillon said.
He added that because of the importance of the matter, the President of the Republic of Liberia declared three days of mourning to be observed, yet, there has been no report on the cause of the deaths.
“The police have been unable to tell the citizens what was the cause of the deaths of our people. Everyone is assuming that it was “Zogos” or criminals” but we have not been able to establish who are the Zogos and the criminals,” he wondered.
Meanwhile the Liberian Senate has summoned Authorities of the Ministry of Youth and Sports to appear in full session on Thursday to answer to allegation of looting Zogo’s homes situated in Bentol, Montserrado County.
The Senate’s decision followed a report from Senator Saah Joseph in which he reported that the building constructed to rehabilitate Zogos was reportedly looted by Youth and Sports’ authorities, an allegation that needs to be verified.