19/08/2026
August 19, 2026
THE LIBERIAN PEOPLE’S PARTY PRESS RELEASE
IG COLEMAN’S OWN STATEMENT MAKES AN INDEPENDENT CO***NE INQUIRY NECESSARY
The Police Cannot Investigate Their Own Leadership and Preserve Public Confidence
MONROVIA, LIBERIA — The Liberian People’s Party (LPP) calls on President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to require Inspector General of Police Gregory O. W. Coleman to immediately recuse himself from all investigations related to Liberia’s ongoing co***ne crisis and establish an independent commission of inquiry with the authority to follow the evidence wherever it leads.
This is not an allegation that Inspector General Coleman is guilty of drug trafficking or any other crime. It is a demand for institutional integrity, impartiality, accountability, and public confidence in the rule of law.
A National-Security Crisis
In July 2026, Liberian authorities seized approximately 3,971 kilograms of co***ne, reportedly valued at about US$317 million—the largest co***ne seizure publicly recorded in Liberia.
Since then, several government officials and senior law-enforcement officers have been dismissed, suspended, questioned, investigated, or prosecuted in connection with narcotics-related matters.
This is therefore no longer simply a matter of street-level criminality. It is a national-security crisis involving institutions responsible for protecting the Liberian state.
When senior security officials become subjects of a narcotics investigation, the public has a legitimate right to know whether the problem involves individual misconduct, institutional failure, compromised intelligence, command failures, political interference, obstruction of justice, or some combination of these factors.
Coleman’s Own Statement Requires Answers
Most importantly, Inspector General Coleman has reportedly stated publicly that senior government officials were aware of, connected to, or involved in the co***ne operation.
If accurately reported, that is an extraordinary statement from the head of the Liberia National Police.
It raises fundamental questions:
Who are the officials to whom he referred? What did they know? When did they know it? What actions did they take? What evidence supports the Inspector General’s statement? Were the individuals questioned or investigated? And, if not, why not?
The Liberian people cannot be expected to accept a serious allegation involving unnamed senior officials without a transparent explanation of what happened afterward.
If credible evidence exists, those implicated must be investigated according to law. If there is insufficient evidence, the public deserves a clear explanation and correction.
Coleman Is Now a Material Witness
By publicly asserting knowledge of senior government involvement or awareness, Inspector General Coleman has potentially made himself a material witness to matters that require investigation.
An independent inquiry should determine:
● What information did he receive?
● When and from whom did he receive it?
● What evidence supported the information?
● To whom did he report it?
● What action did he take?
● Did he order or authorize further investigation?
● Were any investigative steps delayed, restricted, or discontinued?
These questions cannot credibly be answered through an investigation controlled by the very official whose knowledge, decisions, supervision, and conduct may need to be examined.
The issue is not whether Coleman is guilty. The issue is whether he can simultaneously be a potential witness, a subject of institutional scrutiny, and the commander of the investigators examining the matter.
He cannot credibly occupy all three roles.
Recusal Is a Safeguard, Not an Admission of Guilt
The LPP emphasizes that recusal is not punishment and is not an admission of wrongdoing.
It is a basic safeguard for the integrity of the investigation.
If Inspector General Coleman acted properly, an independent inquiry should establish that fact. If there were mistakes, failures of judgment, concealment, interference, or other misconduct, an independent process should be able to establish that as well.
The same standard must apply to everyone—regardless of rank, political affiliation, personal relationship, or institutional position.
Historical Questions Also Deserve Independent Scrutiny
The LPP is also aware of historical reports involving senior police personnel, the 2022 co***ne seizure involving approximately 520 kilograms, and the subsequent placement, return, or promotion of officers in sensitive security and intelligence positions who later became subjects of scrutiny.
These reports do not establish criminal guilt by Inspector General Coleman or anyone else. The presumption of innocence and due process must be respected.
However, such matters may be relevant to questions of leadership judgment, appointments, supervision, institutional vulnerability, intelligence handling, and command responsibility.
They should therefore be examined based on verified evidence—not rumor, political loyalty, or institutional self-protection.
THE LPP’S DEMANDS
The Liberian People’s Party calls on President Boakai to:
1. Require Inspector General Gregory O. W. Coleman to recuse himself from all operational, supervisory, evidentiary, and public-communication responsibilities connected to the current co***ne investigations pending an independent inquiry.
2. Establish an independent commission of inquiry composed of persons of unquestioned integrity, with appropriate international technical assistance where necessary, and with authority to summon witnesses, obtain records, preserve evidence, and refer suspected crimes for prosecution.
3. Require Inspector General Coleman to provide the commission, under oath, with the information underlying his public statement, including the identities of the senior officials to whom he referred and the evidence supporting his claim.
4. Determine what actions were taken after Coleman received the information, including whether the individuals concerned were questioned, investigated, suspended, arrested, charged, or cleared.
5. Investigate any attempt to obstruct, delay, influence, compromise, conceal, or selectively disclose information concerning the co***ne investigations.
6. Review the recruitment, appointment, promotion, reinstatement, transfer, and supervision of officers implicated or questioned in connection with the cases, including the handling of narcotics intelligence within the LNP and other security agencies.
7. Publish an interim report within a defined period and a final report identifying institutional failures and recommending prosecution, dismissal, disciplinary action, or exoneration based strictly on the evidence.
8. Protect whistleblowers, investigators, journalists, witnesses, and public servants who provide relevant information from retaliation, intimidation, or political interference.
Accountability, Not Public Relations
Liberia cannot defeat a sophisticated international co***ne network through press conferences, diplomatic meetings, selective dismissals, or assurances that authorities will simply “follow the evidence.”
The evidence must be followed wherever it leads—from couriers and operational intermediaries to financiers, facilitators, protectors, political contacts, and senior officials, if the evidence establishes their involvement.
The Inspector General’s statement has created a public responsibility that cannot be resolved through silence.
Either senior government officials were aware of or connected to the operation, in which case they must be identified and investigated, or there was insufficient basis for such a serious public statement, in which case the public deserves an explanation.
There should be no double standard.
President Boakai has demonstrated that senior officials can be removed or suspended when credible evidence raises serious ethical or criminal concerns. That same standard must apply consistently throughout government, including within the highest levels of the national police.
Liberia’s institutions will not lose credibility because they submit to independent scrutiny.
They will lose credibility if they resist it.
The LPP therefore calls for immediate recusal, an independent inquiry, full disclosure consistent with due process, and prosecution of every person against whom credible evidence establishes criminal wrongdoing—without fear, favor, friendship, party loyalty, or official rank.
Government Is a Place to Serve, Not to Steal. A Better Liberia Is Possible.
Signed:
Comrade J. Yanqui Zaza
National Chairman
Liberian People’s Party (LPP)
