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| PUL prez. Quaqua says local journalists need solidarity action |
Journalists from all walks of the Liberian media will today converge on the Clay Street headquarters of their parent body, the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), to discuss what many in the public have described as “life threatening and anti speech” statement directed at by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s chief bodyguard, EPS Chief, Othello Warrick.
It may be recalled that what was expected to be an exciting and reflective World Press Freedom Day celebration held in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, turned rather dismal and confrontational when the director of the Executive Protection Service (EPS) all of a sudden branded Liberian journalists as “terrorists”.
Mr. Othello Warrick made his scathing remarks when he served as a panelist at the last weekend's celebratory of World Press Freedom Day in Liberia.
Vowing to pursue journalists whenever they published articles questioning his integrity and those of other government officials, Mr. Warrick warned: “I will get at anyone who intrudes into the intelligence of the presidency. Be careful in questioning the integrity of Liberians. Be-careful, because you have your pen and we have our guns. And if you incriminate the character or integrity of Liberians like myself, we would come after you.”
His statement however caused nerve-wrecking emotions within the media and civil society.
In response to Warrick’s threat, the PUL has cited journalists to a mass meeting expected to generate a “decisive and collective response to the venom released by the Director of the Executive Protection Service (EPS) on the media”.
While urging journalists to remain steadfast in the discharge of their professional duties, PUL president Peter Quaqua said the Liberian media needs some solidarity action that will send a clear message to government to end impunity against the media.
The Meeting will take place at the Union’s headquarters on Clay Street, in Monrovia, beginning at 12 noon.
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