Forum Blacklisted
Forum
Monrovia, Liberia
Distributed by
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
The CDC Assistant Secretary General for Press and Propaganda, Acarious Gray signaled such dictatorial intent on King’s FM Radio in Monrovia recently when he angrily reacted to a story published in The FORUM newspaper under the caption: “Secret Hands Behind Weah’s Presidency - George Dweh Eyes Defense, Gen. Julu Returns Soon.”
Mr. Gray in his utterances indicated that when the CDC takes state power, journalists who would be perceived as being critical on the party would be pursued to whatever manner necessary.
At a DC talk show held last week in Monrovia aimed at getting the Managements of The FORUM and The Liberian Express, both of whom coincidentally published similar news articles but in different versions, FORUM Executive Editor, F. Shelton Gonkerwon claimed that he received a phone call from a so-called affiliate of CDC only identified as Timothy issuing him and other staff members death threat for the publication.
Another staunch CDC member who enjoys his position as Deputy Internal Affairs Minister for Administration, Jerry Gonyon, has called for the arrest and detention of The FORUM staff by the Justice Ministry for reporting what he described as being “divisive.”
Speaking on Radio Varitas, Tropical Talk Show over the weekend, Chief Gonyon who described himself as a unifier and was preaching reconciliation to the Liberian people sounded a bit paradoxical when he said ”Congo people are the ones who causing problem in the country because they always want president job and cannot allow any native person to go up there.”
He said since the country gained independence in 1847, only two natives, Samuel K. Doe and Moses Z. Blah have served as presidents.
Chief Gonyon is always associated with rebellious groups. It can be recalled that he played a major role during the days of ULIMO, a rebel group that fought Taylor in the 1990s and later LURD, whose slot he now enjoys as deputy minister.
Meanwhile, the Management of The FORUM says it will not be deterred by hooligans who would be touched by the critical nature or posture of the paper’s editorial policy as far as news reporting is concerned.
The management says it does not report story in favor of a particular person or group but rather the society at large and would keep the pace in the interest of public information dissemination.
