Dismissed EPS Officers Petition 55th Legislature “We are agents of the elite Executive Protection Service (EPS).

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We herein express our utmost appreciation and commendation to you for your outstanding leadership and able management of the affairs of the House of Representatives as head of that august body. Through this medium, we wish to file this as an official complaint drawing your attention and soliciting your prompt action into illegal acts by the current leadership of the EPS headed by Director Sam Gaye to terminate our services without legal basis. During the year AD 2018 between the months of May to June, we were recruited by the hierarchy of the EPS as a conduit of beefing up the strength of the EPS in providing security protection for VIPS in line with the National Security Reform and Intelligence Act, 2011. The EPS hierarchy in 2018 provided official employment letters indicating our various employments for a three- month probationary period in keeping with Section 13.1 subparagraph C of the Decent Act of Liberia, 2015. Please see attached probationary employment letters issued by the EPS to all agents concerned marked Exhibit C/1 in Bulk. After successfully serving our probationary period, the EPS administration conducted an assessment of the performances of each of the agents and wrote official employment letters permanently employing all the agents concerned. Please see attached and marked Exhibit C/2 in bulk permanent employment letters of all officers concerned. We have all been serving the EPS diligently and professionally since 2018 up to recent when the current leadership of the EPS terminated our services indicating that it has determined that we  do not meet the minimum entry requirements to be employed by the EPS. Please see attached marked Exhibit C/3 in Bulk termination letters issued to all officers concerned. Under the EPS Duty Manual and Regulation, there are acts that constitute grounds for suspension as well as immediate termination but these provisions of the EPS Duty Manual and Regulation were not scrupulously followed by the new administration of the EPS. Officers of the EPS like all other Liberians are protected by the Constitution of Liberia, 1986 and have the rights to Due Process of Law- a right that is inalienable and known as the Law of Land. Article 11 of the Constitution of Liberia, 1986 provides the fundamental rights of all Liberians including the rights to be treated equally before the law, hence, no Liberian irrespective of political, religious and tribal affiliation is to be denied the rights to due process and employment especially before decisions that will affect the livelihoods of group of individuals are taken. As in the instant case, all officers concerned were served termination letters without being subjected to any form of internal screening before declaring these officers as not meeting the minimum entry requirements to be employed by the EPS. A relevant part of the termination letters states “It has been determined by the Administration that you did not meet the minimum entry requirements to be employed by the Executive Protection Service (EPS)”, this statement indicates that were are minimum entry requirements into the EPS but none of such requirements were listed and the concerned officers subjected to screening before the declaration that all the officers concerned did not meet these requirements. To declare a group of individuals as unfit to meet a set of requirements, these individuals should be subjected to an impartial and independent evaluation process with the outcome known to the concerned individuals, something that was not done prior to the termination letters. The termination of our services, we strongly believe was premeditated because the current Director of the EPS, Director Gaye, during appearance before the Liberian Senate for Confirmation Hearing on Monday, February 12, 2024 declared that he would terminate the services of many agents of the EPS because according to him during the regime of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf when he served as head of the EPS he left 450 active agents and upon his appointment to the same position by President Joseph N. Boakai, he met 900 agents.” This premeditated statement by Director Gaye was published widely in the newspapers and aired on radio stations. Please see attached a copy of publication quoting Director Gaye on his premeditated plan to terminate the services of agents of the EPS marked Exhibit C/4. As agents of the EPS, we see this action on the part of Director Gaye as being tantamount to threat to the office of the Presidency because as agents of the EPS we were branded as partisans of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) by Director Gaye whereas we 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 bend on violating our rights but also the Liberian National Police as on Thursday, April 18, 2024, the LNP under the command of Col. Gregory Coleman wrongfully arrested, brutalized and humiliated seven (7) of our colleagues including J. Frank Hope, Nathaniel S. Toe, Andy P. Yancy, Samuel Reeves, Anthony Mccrowrey, James Kelly and Augustine Glealeh who had appeared on a radio station Voice of Liberia exercising their rights to freedom of expression. The rights of our seven (7) colleagues continue to be violated by the Liberian National Police and we are also calling your attention to ensure the protection of the rights of these peaceful Liberians. We are cautioning the Commissioner of the LNP, Col. Gregory Coleman to stay clear of the matter and warn LNP Officers to desist from intimidating, harassing and interfering with agents of the EPS as we will not continue to allow such maltreatment from the LNP. Through this communication we are giving the LNP seventy-two hours to release our colleagues. We believe that our rights to employment, due process of law and basic human rights have all been violated by the new administration of the EPS headed by Director Gaye and we are therefore seeking your timely intervention into this matter. While we remain law-abiding and look forward to your prompt intervention into this matter, we wish to state that our rights to survival and that of our families and dependents are critically at stake.

 

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