The congregation of the Roman Catholic Church in Liberia Sunday carried out protest demonstration in front of the Sacred Heart Cathedral during the worship service demanding the reopening of Radio Veritas.
Archbishop Lewis Zeigler
The demonstrators, who asked Catholic congregations of other parishes throughout the country to join them, gave a 72-hour ultimatum to Archbishop Lewis Zeigler to reconsider his decision.
The Spokesman for the Demonstrators, Moses Peters told the media Sunday during the protest in Monrovia that the reason provided by the archdiocese was not convincing.
"If Zeigler said the station's closure was due to technical problem, why did he decide to pay-off the workers by giving severance benefits; why did he say that he did not know when the radio will resume broadcast; the reasons given were poor," Peters stated.
He said in recent times, Veritas has been the lone and independent voice among the rest of the Liberian media that broadcast hard and factual news preferred by everyone, another protestor, Alex Washington said they would continue to mobilize Catholic congregations of all the parishes in Liberia to press forward for the re-opening of the station.
"Archbishop Michael Francis never denied the people their right to be informed by closing down the station for any fear, despite being hard hit during the course of conflicts in Liberia. This was because the station was the lone voice in reporting the truth that was affecting the people at the time," Washington emotionally stated.
Last Friday, Archbishop Zeigler informed the Voice of America (VOA) African service program that the decision was taken due to technical problem, but did not know when it would re-open.
He said for too long the station has been using outdated equipment, many times and recently experiencing break downs, saying it would take sometimes before replacements for these equipment can be appropriated ensured. But on the contrary, station manager Ade Weade Kerkula, on the same medium, said the archbishop's statement was far from the truth, describing it as a cover-up.
She said before they (workers) were cited to an emergency meeting recently, Zeigler had already circulated a circular claiming that he was receiving calls from individuals within the government, complaining that the station was "stepping on big toes."
"Zeigler is covering the truth of the matter; the station's closure was not for technical problem which would cost the Church US$450.00; Zeigler shut down the station because of pressure from the government because truth was being reported about things that were affecting the people regardless who you are," Kerkula said.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201210220791.html
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