Liberia’s new Defence Minister, Prince C. Johnson, resigned just 10 days after his appointment, following protests by soldiers’ wives. This marks the first political crisis for President Joseph Boakai, who was inaugurated at the end of January. The resignation came amid roadblocks set up by wives of Liberian soldiers near Monrovia, expressing grievances ranging from low salaries and pensions to social security issues, electricity shortages, and alleged corruption within the armed forces.<\/p>\n
In response to the unrest, President Boakai swiftly accepted Johnson’s resignation and appointed General Geraldine Janet George as the provisional replacement. Johnson, in his resignation letter, cited “the current political and civil disturbances occasioned by the protest of women believed to be wives of servicemen” and expressed a desire to preserve the peace and security of the state.<\/p>\n
The soldiers’ wives’ protests led to the cancellation of National Army Day celebrations, with grievances also directed at the defence minister for a reduction in salaries of Liberian soldiers returning from peace missions in Mali. Roadblocks near Monrovia and in other parts of the country disrupted traffic, prompting President Boakai to instruct the army to lift the roadblocks immediately.<\/p>\n
In response to the concerns raised by the protesting women, President Boakai met with them and pledged to address their grievances. He ordered the restoration of electricity to a barracks and free classes at a school within the compound. Boakai’s team emphasized his commitment to addressing long-standing issues within the first 20 days of his presidency, urging calm and peaceful dialogue.<\/p>\n
The events underscore the challenges faced by Liberia’s new leadership in addressing systemic issues and discontent within the armed forces, highlighting the delicate balance required to maintain stability and respond to the needs of various stakeholders. The appointment of a provisional Defence Minister signals an effort to swiftly address the situation and restore order within the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liberia’s new Defence Minister, Prince C. Johnson, resigned just 10 days after his appointment, following protests by soldiers’ wives. This marks the first political crisis for President Joseph Boakai, who was inaugurated at the end of January. The resignation came amid roadblocks set up by wives of Liberian soldiers near Monrovia, expressing grievances ranging from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":19523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19521"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19531,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19521\/revisions\/19531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}