MONROVIA — Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr. has described the Liberian government’s allegation that he is seeking to undermine the Boakai administration as an “implicit accusation of treason” — a charge he says is not only false, but dangerously anti-democratic.
In a press statement issued May 24, 2025, the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) claimed Senator Snowe, who also serves as a member of the ECOWAS Parliament, vowed to “do everything possible including using his connections in ECOWAS to make the Boakai-led government to fail, even if it means discouraging foreign direct investment to Liberia and making the country ungovernable and unstable until he, Snowe, becomes President of Liberia.”
Calling the statement “irresponsible and inflammatory,” the government said it was deeply troubled by what it views as a subversive plot by a senior lawmaker. “No citizen is licensed to undermine his/her own country and government by vowing to use ECOWAS internal institutions or other international organizations to either promote their selfish ambitions or plot destabilization,” the release read.
The Boakai administration, through MICAT, further called on “all sub-regional, regional and international organizations to ensure that such plan by Mr. Snowe and his collaborators to undermine and destabilize the Liberian Government is not actualized.” It assured the public that Liberia “continues to remain a champion of peace, security and economic integration within the Mano River Union (MRU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU) and the broader international system.”
Snowe, however, has strongly rejected the accusations, stating, “I CATEGORICALLY REJECT AND CONDEMN THESE ALLEGATIONS AS ENTIRELY BASELESS, MALICIOUS, AND POLITICALLY MOTIVATED.” The senator’s press statement, issued from Sweden where he was attending an ECOWAS Parliamentary mission, framed the government’s claim as a deliberate attempt to “damage my reputation and cast aspersions on my integrity as a statesman.”
Snowe said he had made no statement “that could be interpreted as inciting panic, promoting instability, or threatening the democratic order of our country,” nor had he ever sought to “leverage my networks in ECOWAS’ internal institutions or other international organizations to orchestrate destabilization of the Liberian Government.”
He accused the Boakai administration of weaponizing political disagreement. “Such an accusation is not only wholly unfounded and defamatory but also constitutes a serious affront to the principles of democracy, the rule of law, and the constitutional safeguards that protect all citizens of our Republic,” Snowe wrote.
Further escalating the matter, the senator said he viewed the MICAT release as “a calculated and malicious smear campaign, designed to discredit, intimidate, and silence me and other critical voices of the opposition in the national discourse.”
In response to what he views as a severe violation of democratic norms, Snowe announced he was “terminating my participation in the ECOWAS Parliament mission and return[ing] home.” He stated that he had formally notified the Liberian Senate and was “calling for a full-scale immediate, independent, and comprehensive investigation into this matter.”
He also appealed to ECOWAS, the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union, and Liberia’s bilateral and multilateral partners to monitor what he described as “an emerging pattern of political intimidation and persecution.”
“I remain resolute in my commitment to the values of democracy, good governance, accountability, and the inalienable right of every Liberian to express themselves freely and without fear of retribution,” Snowe stated.
In a separate press release issued on May 25, the Citizens Movement for Change (CMC) described the government’s statement as “dangerous, anti-democratic, and built on lies.”
“The reckless communication from MICAT is not only laced with falsehoods and misrepresentations — it is a direct assault on free speech, political pluralism, and democratic values in Liberia,” the party said. CMC condemned the framing of alleged political disagreements as national security threats, warning that such tactics “set a dangerous precedent where political disagreements are framed as threats to national security, and dissenting voices are treated as enemies of the state.”
CMC, headed by businessman and opposition lawmaker, Musa Bility questioned the government’s lack of evidence, stating: “To publicly accuse a sitting Senator of plotting to undermine the state without a shred of verified evidence is both irresponsible and vindictive.”
It also took aim at the government’s appeal to international partners: “More troubling is the government’s call for ECOWAS and international partners to act against a Liberian citizen on the basis of unsubstantiated claims. This is not just poor governance — it is state-sponsored intimidation, and it must not be normalized.”
CMC urged MICAT to “immediately retract its statement and apologize to the Liberian people for this reckless abuse of power.” It also reminded the administration that “political dissent is not sedition” and that “the right to speak, criticize, and challenge those in power is sacred in a democracy.”
The government, in its original statement, maintained that it “has the capacity to, at all times, meet its obligations to the Liberian people and will do all it can to succeed, keep the country safe, ensure stability and prevent those wishing to cause chaos from achieving their intentions.”
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