MONROVIA: Over 2,000 members of the Concerned AFL Widows and Children have threatened mass protest beginning Friday to the inauguration day of President-elect Joseph Boakai if President George Weah fails to settle their benefits in 24hrs.
The total membership of the Concerned Widows and Children of the Armed Forces of Liberia is 2,500, and the group has since been crying for their compensations and benefits for the deaths of their husbands while serving the nation through the national army.
On Wednesday, January 17, 2024, on the Bushrod Island, the spokesperson of the group, Madam Vivian Mulbah, recounted that in late December of 2023, President Weah, through his Executive Chief of Protocols, Nora Finda Bundoo, indicated that they would have received their benefits.
According to him, the settlement would have begun with the children, in which each child was to receive L $20,000 the same month, indicating that the women were promised to have received their benefits in the tone of US$1,500 each to be paid in three installments.
“President Weah is our son, father and leader and he has been trying for us but since he promised us that we were going to receive our benefits, which is each person US$1,000, nothing yet. We gave him a chance to settle our children first, the children got their compensation but when it comes to us now, we can’t even hear anything about our benefits,” the spokesperson said.
Madam Mulbah emphasized that there will be no inauguration as expected on Monday, January 22, 2024, for President Weah to turn over power to President-elect Boakai if their benefits are not paid.
She maintained that this time, the group does not want to deal with any third party but rather the President himself on the round table before the state program is held on the grounds of the Capitol Building in Monrovia.
The group called on not only the Liberian Chief Executive but also President-elect Joseph Boakai to pay their benefits or they will sit at various intersections in Central Monrovia and its environs until their plights are addressed.
She stressed that the entire leadership of the Concerned Widows and Children of the Armed Forces of Liberia headed by its Chairperson Madam Mary Allison has been consistently pressured by the old folks and other members, including the children on the same matter.
“This time we want to see him as we used to see former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and not his Chief of Protocol, Nora Finda Bundoo. No payment, no inauguration. We did this before under Ellen regime and she came and talked to us; immediately she sent us to LBDI Bank where we received L$20,000 each before her inauguration,” Madam Mulbah noted.
At the same time, Madam Vivian Mulbah assured the public and the Liberian government that their assembly at various interceptions will be done peacefully to call the attention of President Weah before his transition process, saying all members of the organization remain supported to maintaining the peace of the country.
