In its drive to assist national security apparatus maintain peace during the conduct of the October 10, 2023 Presidential and Legislative elections, the Community Watch Forum of Liberia (CWFL) has set up taskforces in the 15 political subdivisions of the country.
Prior to the setting up of the taskforce, the national leadership of the CWFL conducted a massive awareness on non-violence with its members and citizens within the 15 counties, to ensure that the pending national elections are conducted void of violence confrontation among opposing political party supporters.
The group, which has over 150,000 members across the country, almost a month ago activated all of its structures in the 15 political subdivisions of the country, followed by the setting up of the taskforce for the pending national elections.
The CWFL national leadership used its three-week assessment tour of rural Liberia to visit border points around the country, at which time it discovered that out of the 162 border points, only 60 are being manned by Liberian joint security personnel, recommending that the unmanned or porous borders should be tightened by Liberian security personnel, to prevent entry of intruders on election day.
The CWFL is a civil society conscientious security- alert and monitoring organization, established by the defunct United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), with the collaboration of the Liberia National Police over ten years ago, to assist various national security apparatus prevent crimes in communities and track down wanted criminals absconding from justice.
According to the National Chairman of the CWFL, Mr. I. Nyenati Kaffey, refresher training for members of the CWFL’s taskforce and other members of the group in pro-active community policing to deter criminality, curbing violence, and prevention riot, is regularly conducted at the LNP’s Academy in Paynesville, noting that his taskforce is fully equipped with the skills and techniques to abort any unforeseen ugly eventuality.
The taskforce, he opined, will be deployed alongside other national security agents at every polling center across the country, as agreed by LNP authorities, and its mandate is to preserve peace at those centers, as well as apprehend trouble makers and turn them over to the requisite government security agencies for further action.
The initiative for the conduct of the non-violence forum and the setting up of the CWFL’ taskforce, Mr. Kaffey mentioned, was solely handled by his organization, with no financial assistance from the LNP as was envisaged, but expressed optimism that with the renewed commitment from the LNP leadership, hope is alive as his organization will become more vibrant as financial support starts filtering in sooner.
In acknowledgement of the LNP’s renewed commitment to collaborate with the CWFL, a letter dated July 27, 2023, under the signature of police Inspector-General, Patrick Sudue, indicates, “We present our compliments and express our profound gratitude to members and leaders of the Community Watch Forum of Liberia for your unwavering support towards the works of the Liberia National Police (LNP) in sustaining the peace and sanity of our beloved country, Liberia.”
The letter further: “As we are gear towards the commencement of the campaign activities for the 2023 general and presidential elections, the LNP has envisaged to embark on a nationwide stakeholder’s dialogue, aimed at raising awareness and sensitization among key stakeholders and the citizenry for the conduct of a non-violent and peaceful elections, come October 10, 2023.
The letter highlighted that in view of the aforementioned, the Liberia National Police invites the CWFL to a one-day dialogue, which was held July 31, 2023 at the LNP Headquarters on Capitol Hill, to brainstorm on strides to holding a successful elections on October 10, 2023.
