Africa-Press – Liberia. Dismissed agents of the Executive Protection Service (EPS) are seeking the intervention of the 55th National Legislature into the action taken by their administration to terminate their services on grounds of being unprofessional and unqualified without providing them any due process.
The EPS is an elite group of armed men and women providing security for the President, Vice President, Speaker and all VIPs in the Executive. They also provide security for foreign guests visiting the country.
It can be recalled that the new Director of the EPS Sam Gaye threatened to weed out unqualified and incompetent agents from the service when he appeared for confirmation before the Senate Committee on National Security, Defense, Intelligence and Veteran Affairs.
In keeping with his promise, nearly 200 agents were reportedly dismissed for unknown reasons.
But in a communication addressed to House Speaker Fonati Koffa and read to Legislative Reporters by the Spokesman Nathaniel O. Beh, Jr. at the Capitol Building in Monrovia on Monday, April 22, the dismissed agents termed as “illegal” the termination of their services.
They recalled that between May and June 2018, they were recruited by authorities of the EPS to beef up its strength for the protection of VIPS during the administration of former President George Manneh Weah in keeping with the National Security and Intelligence Act of the country.
They claimed that legitimate letters were provided them indicating their employment, with a three-month probationary period in consonance with Section 13.1 of the Decent Work Act of 2015.
They added that after successfully serving their probationary period, the EPS Administration conducted an assessment of the performance of each of the agents and wrote official employment letters permanently employing all agents.
“We have all been serving the EPS diligently and professionally since 2018 up to present when the current leadership of the EPS terminated our services indicating that they have determined that we do not meet the minimum requirement of the EPS.”
They pointed out that under the EPS Duty Manual and Regulations; there are acts which constitute cause for suspension as well as immediate termination of service.
However, they claimed that those provisions, which they did not name, were not followed by the current administration of the EPS to dismiss them.
They noted that officials of the EPS, like all other Liberians are protected under the Liberian constitution of 1986, but they (dismissed agents) were not accorded due process by the Sam Gaye leadership.
They also made specific reference to Article 11 of the Liberian Constitution which amongst other things calls for equal treatment of every Liberian people the law.
The aggrieved dismissed EPS agents maintained that they were served termination letters without being subjected to any form of initial screening prior to their services being terminated.
Some of the EPS agents who were dismissed
“A relevant part of this termination letter states that “it has been determined by the administration that we (dismissed agents) did not meet the minimum entry requirement to be employ by the Executive Protection Service (EPS).”
They emphasized that to declare a group of individuals unfit to meet specified requirements, those individuals must be subjected to impartial and independent evaluation process and the outcome made known to those concerned.
This, the dismissed agents claimed, was not done prior to the termination of their services.
“We strongly believe that the termination of our services was premeditated because the current Director of the EPS Sam Gaye, during appearance at the Liberian Senate for confirmation hearing on Monday, February 12, 2024 declared that he would terminate the service of many agents of the EPS, because according to him, during the regime of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf where he served as head of the EPS, he left 450 active agents and upon his appointment to the same position by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, he met 900 agents.”
They added that they see the “premeditated statement” from Director Gaye which was widely publicized as tantamount to a threat on the office of the presidency.
They claimed that they were branded as partisans of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) by Director Gaye even though they took oath to protect the country and VIPs.
“We also wish to bring to your attention that it is not only Director Gaye who is bent on violating our rights but also the Liberia National Police.”
The dismissed agents claimed that some of them were brutalized, arrested and humiliated on Thursday, April 18 by the police on the Capitol Bye-Pass in Monrovia shortly after appearing on a radio talk show.
They alleged that their rights continue to be violated by the LNP.
They cautioned police Inspector General Gregory Coleman to guarantee the respect and protection of their rights by admonishing his officers from intimidating, harassing and interfering with them.
They, however, vowed not to allow a repeat of the incident.
“Through this communication, we are giving the LNP 72 hours to release our colleagues. We believe that our rights to employment, due process of the law and basic human rights have been violated by the new administration of the EPS headed by Director Sam Gaye and we are therefore seeking your timely intervention into this matter.”
“The employment letters that were given us did not state that we were associated with political parties. We were wrongfully dismissed and we need a redress.”
While we remain law abiding and look forward to your intervention, they noted, that their rights to survival and that of their respective families and dependents remain critical during this time.
They, however, vowed to take additional actions if their plights are not addressed.
However, they refused to disclose their next course of action due to security reasons.
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