Published: January 19, 2026
MONROVIA, Liberia — The National Chairman of Solidarity and Trust for a New Day (STAND), Mulbah Morlu, Jr., on Monday launched a blistering critique of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s administration, accusing it of steering Liberia toward lawlessness, selective justice and the institutional protection of alleged rapists, while deploying the police as a tool of repression.
Speaking at his residence on Jan. 19, Morlu said the Boakai-led government has forfeited its moral and constitutional authority to govern, arguing that in less than two years it has eroded public confidence in the rule of law and replaced it with fear, repression and impunity.
“Liberia is under a multi-dimensional war waged by its own government against its own people,” Morlu said.
Allegations of selective justice
Morlu took particular aim at the Liberia National Police, describing recent police actions as illegal, reckless and politically motivated. He argued that the police have no constitutional authority to declare any suspect innocent or guilty.
Citing a rape allegation involving J. Bryant McGill, whom police recently declared innocent based on what they described as DNA evidence, Morlu said the case exposed what he called a two-tier justice system.
“While ordinary Liberians accused of sexual crimes are routinely arrested, detained and paraded without DNA testing, politically connected individuals are shielded,” he said. “This is not justice. This is state-sponsored impunity.”
He stressed that the case involves a 14-year-old child and warned that administrative pronouncements cannot erase medical reports, witness testimony or the lifelong trauma suffered by a minor. According to STAND, the police’s conduct amounts to secondary victimization and sends a dangerous signal that power and political connections now outweigh justice in Liberia.
Police, protests and public order
Morlu further accused the Boakai administration of weaponizing the Liberia National Police to suppress peaceful dissent. He pointed to recent demonstrations that were met with tear gas, mass arrests, intimidation and what he described as fabricated charges.
Public order laws, he said, are now being selectively enforced against critics, while pro-government actors and state-sponsored provocateurs operate freely.
“The police are no longer protecting the people. They are protecting power,” Morlu said.
Declaring the leadership of the Liberia National Police morally and institutionally unfit, he openly called for the resignation of the inspector general of police.
A nation in crisis
Painting a bleak picture of the country’s direction, Morlu said Liberia is facing overlapping crises marked by deepening poverty and hunger, a collapsing health system in which officials seek treatment abroad, worsening police brutality and a justice system that silences rape survivors while protecting alleged perpetrators.
“This is not governance. This is organized neglect and repression,” he said.
Foreign policy and civil resistance
Morlu also criticized Liberia’s diplomatic alignment with Venezuela, calling it a betrayal of the country’s democratic heritage and long-standing ties with democratic nations. He warned that aligning with authoritarian regimes sends the wrong signal at a time when Liberia’s democracy is already under strain.
He said STAND has exhausted conventional avenues of engagement, including nearly two years of advocacy and two mass protests that he said were ignored by the government.
“When a government criminalizes dissent and normalizes impunity, civil resistance becomes a moral duty,” Morlu declared.
He said planned actions by STAND will remain peaceful but sustained, strategic and disruptive enough to force national and international attention.
Morlu also appealed to the international community, including donor partners and diplomatic missions, to increase pressure on the Boakai administration, including the imposition of targeted sanctions against officials accused of human rights abuses. He stressed that any sanctions should be directed at individuals, not Liberia as a country.
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