Armed robbers raid Presidential Candidate TQ Harris’ residence
July 20th, 2011
Operation We Care for Liberia condemns the incident of armed robbery that occurred in the early hours of last Wednesday against TQ Harris. The armed robbers laid siege on the residence of Honorable TQ Harris Jr., forcibly taking valuable items worth thousands of United States dollars and a laptop containing Mr. Harris’ personal information.
Information reliably gathered from community members revealed that the group of grown men numbering about 10 arrived at Honorable Harris’ residence at 3.00 am with weapons consisting of long screw drivers, cutlasses and axes. The armed robbers demanded campaign information and money from Mr. Harris and succeeded in their quest.
We condemn any hidden hands behind this inhumane behavior especially when Liberia’s 2011 elections are right around the corner. These disturbing and barbaric acts appear to be politically motivated. Using “armed robbers” to try to prevent a formidable Presidential Candidate from partaking in the 2011 presidential elections in Liberia is unacceptable at all fronts and not in the interest of justice, peace and democracy.
Honorable Harris is a Presidential candidate whose advocacy mainly focuses on the establishment of a war crimes court in Liberia. Mr. Harris has been outspoken in his advocacy of ensuring that all principal participants involved in the war are tried through a Liberian war crimes court. Attempting to create a situation that would force Mr. Harris into exile would exponentially reduce the probability of the formation of a war crimes court in Liberia.
This incident is not the first one TQ Harris has experience since Mr. Harris’ arrival in Liberia to contest the Liberian presidency. Armed men have terrorized his residence on 5 separate occasions with little to no immediate police intervention whereas; the Liberian National Police was almost always immediately contacted during the course of these incidents.
We fully support recent statements made by the US Ambassador to Liberia stating, “The headwinds in support of democracy will prevail, and tyrants who attack their people will fail. We have witnessed citizens challenging governments in Libya and other countries in the Middle East. The march for democratic rule cannot be stopped.” – US Ambassador to Liberia Greenfield
We therefore call on the Liberian people to demand justice from their government through a mass peaceful protest across the entire country using all possible means at their disposal to force their government to action. The government must protect democracy and the political process and let all those willing to serve the government in a presidential capacity run without threats of bodily harm.
Bernard Gbayee Goah
President, Operation We Care for Liberia (OWCL)
Bernard Gbayee Goah
