Deactivated Soldiers Oppose New National Defense Act

Aggrieved deactivated soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) say they oppose in the strongest term, the submission to the National Legislature for passage of the National Defense Act.

According to a press release issued over the weekend, the former soldiers said President Ellen Johnson-Sieleaf, predicated upon numerous complaints from them, constituted an Ad-Hoc Committee led by Rev. Emmanuel Bowier to investigate and summit its findings to her within 30 days.

The deactivated soldiers said President Sirleaf asked the committee to look into their claims and promised to uphold and endorse any recommendations there from.

The deactivated soldiers said while they anxiously await the response from the Presidential Ad-Hod Committee on their claims which they said centered on the restructuring of the AFL to include the bulk payment of salaries arrears, they were informed with disappointment that the Executive Branch of Government has submitted a National Defense Act to the House of Representative, for deliberation and subsequent passage.

The press release signed by Col. Wolo Nagbe, Chairman of the aggrieved soldiers said they believed the act, when passed into law, will possibly repeal the Act that created the AFL in 1908 and empower the President of Liberia to raise a new army.

They stated that Article VII, Section 1-B of the Ghana-Accra Comprehensive Peace Accord states that the AFL must be restructured with a new command structure and the forces drawn from the AFL, LURD, MODEL and the Civilian Sector.

Notwithstanding, the release said, “we the aggrieved soldiers whose plights are yet to be properly addressed by the Government of Liberia, do hereby opposed in the strongest term the passage of such bill calling on the Government to follow the comprehensive restructure plans as enshrined in the Accra Instrument that restored peace to our war-ravaged country”.

The soldiers called on members of the House of Representatives not to pass such bill in the interest of peace until all legal implications in the CPA and the laws that give rise to formation of the AFL are revisited and certified.

When the Minister of Defense Brownie Samukai was contacted last evening to comment on the former soldiers concern, he said the soldiers are Liberians and entitled to their views. He indicated that the National Defense Act has no link with the grievances of the deactivated soldiers.

Minister Samukai stated that it was the Ministry of Finance, not the Ministry of Defense that is responsible for the payment of the former soldiers' salary arrears. He indicated the aggrieved soldiers can choose to utilize the court system of the country to express their grievances and not revert to taking the law into their own hands.