Woods Urges Renewal Of AFL, West Pointers Ties

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Former Public Works Minister Samuel Woods has urged the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) to renew relationship with the people of West Point by undertaking community service that will inspire hope and trust in the national army.
 
Woods said such engagement should not be seen as an attempt to substitute punitive measures and justice, but a quest to reconcile, restore confidence and mend the broken trust.
 

He made the statement when he delivered the keynote address at the 58th Armed Forces Day celebration held at the Barclay Training Center in Monrovia on Wednesday.

In August 2014, while security forces while trying to quell a demonstration in the West Point area, a young boy Shaki Kamara got shot and died later. Investigation revealed that the fatal shot was fired by a soldier of the AFL.

Woods, who is also former Labor minister, recommended that the AFL returns to the community armed with shovels, diggers, pens, papers and other working tools to get involved in clean-up campaigns as well as sanitation programs which will positively impact the lives of the people.

He further urged the AFL to develop community action programs to guarantee a working relationship with the people of the PHP Community and other surrounding areas of the Barclay Training Center, a military base in the capital.

According to Woods, the military barrack should not operate as an isolated enclave that will instill fear in citizens of the surrounding communities.