BOAKAI GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF RUNNING PROTECTION RACKET FOR DRUG CARTELS”: COLP CHAIR SAYS UNITY PARTY IS USING COCAINE CRISIS AS POLITICAL WEAPON WHILE “BIG FISH” WALK FREE
BY: Rufus Divine Brooks Jr.
John Singbae alleges Monrovia Prison is a “5-star hotel for kingpins,” claims Joint Security only stages PR arrests.
MONROVIA, Liberia — The Proposed Congress of the Liberian People’s Party (COLP) has launched its harshest attack yet on the Boakai administration, accusing President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr. and top Unity Party officials of actively shielding drug barons and turning Liberia’s narcotics emergency into a political campaign tool.
Speaking in a fiery interview Wednesday on Focal FM, COLP National Chairman John Saylay Singbae alleged that state institutions are deliberately failing to vet politicians and parties receiving “suspicious narco-money,” allowing cartels to bankroll the political class with impunity.
“THE BIG NAMES ARE BEING PROTECTED”
Singbae accused the Unity Party government of running a two-tier justice system designed to protect the powerful while sacrificing low-level operatives for optics.
“The drug cartels in Liberia are allegedly being protected by certain politicians,” Singbae charged.
“The National Elections Commission and other institutions are not conducting proper background checks on political parties and individuals seeking financial support.
Money is flowing, and nobody is asking where it came from.”
In his most explosive claim, Singbae said the arrests making headlines are staged.
“The Joint Security Task Force is only seizing a few car loads of drugs on instructions from the cartels themselves,” he alleged.
“It’s PR, the real and larger shipments are left untouched.
The big names are being protected while the President only fires low-level officers.”
He demanded that dismissed officers be recalled immediately to testify regarding the drug issue.
There are still many people they need to interrogate, but the President did not give them that chance,” he said.
“MONROVIA CENTRAL PRISON IS A HOTEL FOR CARTELS:
Singbae saved his sharpest criticism for the country’s penal system, claiming it has become a safe haven for traffickers.
“The Monrovia Central Prison is a hotel to protect cartels and provide them comfort,” he stated.
“That’s why nobody is afraid to traffic here. There are no consequences.”
ACCUSES BOAKAI OF POLITICIZING A NATIONAL EMERGENCY:
The COLP Chairman accused President Boakai of weaponizing the drug crisis against the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) instead of solving it.
“The drug issue in Liberia is not a political issue. It is a national emergency that requires real remedies to end the crisis,” Singbae said.
“But the Unity Party is turning it into a campaign tool while the future of our young people is being destroyed.”
He blasted the President for public celebrations amid the crisis, referencing the July 26 Independence Day events.
“It is very sad to see the President smiling and celebrating while international partners and citizens are angry at how the Unity Party government is handling the drug issue as a political achievement,” Singbae said.
“Our children are dying in the streets, and the government is taking selfies.”
Singbae positioned COLP as the alternative, vowing the new party would refuse funding linked to narcotics.
“The Proposed Congress of the Liberian People’s Party will not align itself with such individuals,” he declared.
“We consider ourselves an apostle of reform and integrity.”
He said COLP has established an Education Department to teach young Liberians civics and political literacy.
“If our people are educated politically, they will not fall prey to politicians funded by drug money,” he noted.
Singbae called on President Boakai to declare the drug fight a non-partisan, national effort.
“Address the drug crisis holistically and not as a means of achieving political mileage,” he urged.
“This fight cannot be a Unity Party fight, Every Liberian must get involved, or we will lose a generation.”
The Boakai administration has previously insisted it is committed to dismantling drug networks and has pointed to the record $300M Duazon bust as evidence of progress.