A day before President George Weah’s return from a 48-day stay overseas, hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Saturday at the exterior of the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Monrovia to voice their opposition to rising living expenses.
The Alternative National Congress (ANC) was the only party to participate in the demonstration, which was organised by the Coalition of Collaborating Parties, a group of opposition parties in the West African nation.
Protesters began gathering across the city as early as 9am, including at the headquarters of the two opposition parties. They marched to the stadium, Liberia’s biggest, while screaming anti-government songs. Some of their placards said, “We tiyah [are tired of] suffering.”
In addition, ANC supporters wore clothing with the image of Alexander Cummings, one of Weah’s two opponents for the presidency in the 2023 election.
“I am protesting because the country is hard,” Simon, a commercial motorcyclist told Al Jazeera. “Rice is expensive, everything is expensive, there are no jobs and the government is not doing anything about it.”
The cost of rice, a major meal in Liberia, has climbed from $15 to $17.50 every 25kg bag since the beginning of December.
This rise followed a commodities shortage that caused long lines and higher costs for rice and other items, partially as a result of the disruption of the global supply chain brought on by Russia’s ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The World Food Programme estimates that 1.3 million people in Liberia, one of the world’s poorest nations, live in extreme poverty, making up around 64% of the country’s population.
The situation was made worse by a 2019 government payroll harmonization process, which inadvertently decreased the compensation of government employees since then.
The demonstrations took place the day before Weah’s return from his trip, which included a stop in Qatar to watch his son compete for the USA football team in the FIFA World Cup. Weah left on Saturday.
The president also made trips in Morocco, Egypt, and France. In 1995, the president became the first African to win the Ballon d’Or, an annual honour given to the finest player in the world.
The opposition claims that the trip was a waste of limited resources, despite the presidency’s claims that it was an official one and government officials’ claims that it had positive results for the nation.
One of the protest organizers, Lewis Brown, who served as Liberia’s previous permanent ambassador to the UN, claimed that the demonstrations were essential because living conditions are on a daily decline.
“People suffering is the reality of the country, and while people are suffering, there is a high level of wastage in government,” he said.
In Paynesville, a suburb of Monrovia, Liberia, protesters raise a banner as they voice their outrage about the nation’s continuous economic difficulties and President George Weah’s protracted absence.
Although there were no interruptions, the protest’s buildup wasn’t quite orderly.
Brown was attacked by thugs on December 5 following a radio interview where he discussed the upcoming protests.
Major-General Prince C Johnson III, the head of the Liberian army, issued a warning before to the demonstration, advising “anyone may feel or be disgruntled as we approach the 2023 elections” to seek redress in court. This act served to further worsen tensions.
Regardless of the status or affiliation of protestors, he pledged that the security agencies would carry out their constitutional obligations “if they can’t manage your actions and/or is overwhelmed.”
While the defence ministry has backed his remarks, top opposition figures and civic society have criticised them.
The army statement was deemed inappropriate and “an example of the military meddling in civil affairs by intimidating and instilling fear in the hearts of people who wanted to exercise their constitutional right to assemble,” according to the Elections Coordinating Committee (ECC), the nation’s largest civil society coalition for election observation.
The demonstrations on December 17 were the second in recent memory after students protesting the government on Independence Day on July 26 were attacked by those holding a counterrally nearby in support of the administration.
According to political analysts, there will probably be further protests before the general elections in October 2023.
However, Ibrahim Nyei, an analyst at the Monrovia-based Ducor Institute for Social and Economic Research, cautioned that they might not be sufficient to unseat Weah’s support base in the elections given that he continues to be a well-liked figure in Liberia.
While they have the right to protest, he said, the opposition would be better served by mobilising their base of supporters to vote in elections.
Nevertheless, protesters think that the present is equally as crucial as the future. For Simon, this demonstration provides an opportunity to voice a number of complaints about the nation’s existing system of government.
We’ll protest right away, he said. I’m protesting to let the government know that they’ve let me down and that I’m sick of the suffering.
