MONROVIA, Montserrado – After a testy interaction with a Liberian BBC journalist, the Executive Mansion’s attempt to clarify a controversial statement by President George Weah appears to not have resolved the issue.

On March 22, during a media conference with visiting U.N. deputy secretary general Amina Mohammed, Weah accused Paye-Layleh of being one of those Liberians against him in the past, when Weah said he championed human rights in the country.

Weah made the claim while responding to a question from the BBC reporter. The reporter had asked the president if he would support a U.N. sponsored war crimes court in the country to create an avenue for victims of the country’s civil wars to face their alleged perpetrators. The reporter had also earlier asked Mohammed if the U.N. would be willing to support such efforts in Liberia, as it did in Sierra Leone.

Weah promised to support the ongoing process of reconciliation where perpetrators of war crimes can face their victims. The president said he had long been a human rights advocate, even before his presidency, at a time when he said the journalist was against him.

“If you can recall, I always used you as an example when I was advocating for human rights in this country,” Weah said. “You’re one person that was against me, but I always reminded you because what I was doing at that time is for us not to reach to this point where Liberians are against each other, and I am glad you are here today.”

“This is the time we have to make sure we create that environment and create the awareness that Liberians will find reason to forgive each other so that we can move on,” the president continued.

After Weah’s statement, Paye-Layleh issued a public statement seeking an explanation from the office of the president, noting that such a statement from a populist and popular president has far-reaching impact.

“You can never tell what this would mean to Mr. President’s tens of thousands of supporters, some of whom are too young to be able to analyze issues,” he wrote.

The BBC journalist also noted that at no time had he had any confrontation with Weah, even before he became president.

Instead, he said he has been one of those who had promoted some of the president’s work during his time as a footballer, a former footballer, and as a politician. Paye-Layleh also pointed out that Weah was not known for any human rights work, adding, “Even if he was in any human rights struggle, I could never have been against him for working for human rights in Liberia.”

He said a clear explanation from the president or his office, citing instances, would give an insight into what the allegations were. According to Paye-Layleh, a president accusing an individual of being against him means a lot.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Executive Mansion said as a “longtime champion of human rights and an ardent advocate of peace and social justice,” the president only sought to remind the BBC reporter that while he created awareness about human rights violations against the Liberian people during the country’s civil conflict, Paye-Layleh and others “were bent on undermining his efforts by depicting a positive image of the carnage.”

The statement said contrary to Paye-Layleh’s concerns, Weah’s response should be seen in the context of his determination to foster peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness.

“As head of state, President Weah wants all Liberians to follow his footsteps by expressing their feelings in the spirit of genuine reconciliation and national unity,” the statement said.

The Executive Mansion further said in the statement that the president is in no way against Paye-Layleh, as the journalist is trying to portray, neither does the response seek to target him.

The statement said Weah had pledged to uphold the Table Mountain Declaration, which allows free speech and press freedom, and not to witch-hunt Paye-Layleh or any other Liberian.

The Executive Mansion’s statement was still combative, and understandably, the Press Union of Liberia issued its own statement on Sunday where it expressed fear that the president’s comments could force journalists into self-censorship.

“This clarification exposes only how petit [sic] the office of the president is headed into tearing down one of Liberia’s revered journalists in the eye of the world,” the union wrote in a release.

The union also said the attempt by the president’s office to clarify his remarks only strengthened the threats contained in it. It emphasized that the president’s comments and the latest Executive Mansion clarification could endanger Paye-Layleh‘s life, considering Weah’s popularity.

“Such presidential justification is an indirect all clear for attacks on the person of the journalist in the form of motor accidents, armed robberies, and food poisoning,” the Press Union noted.

Weah won the December 26, 2017 presidential run-off election with more than 61 percent of the total vote cast.

The union maintained that the BBC reporter’s coverage of the civil war informed the world on the dire humanitarian crises created by the upheaval, during which time some of the president’s aides were passionate supporters of warring factions.

“It is these lenses of preferred warring belligerents which has blinded the Executive Mansion from seeing the ethical and heroic works of the BBC journalist,” the union said.

According to the union, it is Paye-Layleh’s works that earned him the prestigious Speaker Abbott Award for the protection of parliamentary democracy in 2008.

Prior to the clarification, the journalism union had said Weah’s comment against the journalist undermined his promise to protect freedom of the press and expression.

In his inaugural speech, Weah praised his predecessor, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, for upholding and protecting freedom of speech. He promised to go further by encouraging and enforcing not only the freedom of speech but also, the freedom of political assembly.

“We could not have arrived at this day without our voices being heard loudly, and all our views, no matter how critical, being freely expressed in an atmosphere void of intimidation and arrest,” he said.

“This was only made possible by the tolerance of my predecessor, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who protected the right to freedom of speech as enshrined in our constitution.”

The Press Union welcomed the president’s pronounced support for the implementation of the Table Mountain Declaration. However, it said the unprovoked targeting of Paye-Layleh caps the recent show of intolerance that has developed in his administration as maturing.

In the last few weeks of the Weah’s administration, there have been increasing combative comments against the local media by some officials in the government.

On March 13, Monrovia’s Mayor Jefferson Koijee warned that the government would not be unsettled by the reports of the media.

“We stand tall to work for our people and care less about the media criticisms of this government,” he said.

The mayor’s comment followed another comment from Eugene Fahngon, who was designated as the deputy minister for public affairs designate at the Ministry of Information.

Fahngon accused the local media in of denting the election campaign of President Weah by tagging him as “dull.”

He said the media in Liberia would remain poor or broke for the next 12 years, as he was hopeful that Weah would have a second term.

The Press Union says it has seen a recent upsurge of collective attacks on the journalism community in the country.

“At a time when the Government of Liberia, the Press Union, the United States Aid for International Development (USAID) and other partners are directing efforts and resources towards the improvement of the legal, ethical, and commercial operating environment of the media, it is disgusting that Fahngon’s only planned contribution to this key democratic enabler is financial suffocation,” the union also said.

“This early show of intolerance must end now in the public service as a clear breakaway from the sporadic talk at the public policy of the immediate past.”

The union also named Finance Minister Samuel Tweah and Cecelia Cuffy-Brown of the National Port Authority, as other trusted Weah confidantes who have recently attacked the local media.

The union is urging media institutions to prioritize the safety of their journalists and conduct regular in-house safety trainings going forward as official tolerance of the media in Liberia is increasingly becoming volatile.

Featured photo courtesy of Executive Mansion