The Country Director of Accountability Lab, Lawrence Yealue has observed that the Government of Liberia is not building trust among the population, something he said is responsible for violation of health protocols announced.

“One of the reasons why we see Relight, and Duala market dwellers continue to don’t care for health measures and mandate to observe social distance is due to lack of trust from their government”, he noted.

Speaking recently in Monrovia during a one day forum, Mr. Yealue wondered how government was coordination its information, saying, is the government using relevant facts to dispel rumors?

He said Accountability Lab focuses on accountability issues, and one thing it has observed is that the government is not coordinating its information the right way. He noted that any government that coordinates its information properly would be heading in the right direction. Mr. Yealue added that failure by the government to build trust her people, derives from the way it often communicates issues of national concern, warning that if it must regain the lost trust, the community strategies should be revisited.

“If the fight against this unknown enemy which we consider as Coronavirus will make a significant impact, and if citizens must trust what their government says than they must know when, how to say it, and the impact such pronouncement will have on the citizens.We all know it’s the right of any president to embark on whatever projects he may want to, but I think if the President must embark on a specific project, especially, during this COVID-19 period, he should make a full disclosure of said project rather than just embarking on it”, something he said borders on integrity.

Yealue said part of their work at Accountability Lab is to do a weekly bulletin that crosschecks facts from WHO, NPHIL, and other partners, noting that such work should be carried out by NPHIL, to be checking various facts, and debunking rumors about the health protocols.

By Lewis S. Teh-Editing by Jonathan Browne. This article was originally published in The New Dawn.

Sheena Adams