Grand Gedeh County Senator Zoe Emmanuel Pennue is calling on the Liberian Senate to focus on the issue of disadvantaged youth, commonly known as “Zogoes”.
According to Senator Pennue, the alarming rate of zogoes in Monrovia and the various Counties should be taken as a national emergency.
Stressing the issue of drugs usage in the country on Tuesday January 16, 2014, the Grand Gedeh Lawmaker recommended that the first action by the Liberian Senate should be a vigorous vetting for nominees at the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA).
According to reports, Liberia has one of the highest rates of drug usage and abuse in West Africa.
‘I am calling on the Senate statutory committee on Defense, Security, Human Rights and Veteran Affairs headed by Lofa County Senator Momo Tarnuekollie Cyrus to take into account during the committee’s vetting process for nominees of LDEA’.
According to him, individuals taking on said task of the country have to be properly qualified to help with the fight against drug use and abuse in the country.
As it stands, the senator pointed out, the LDEA is weak and lack every capacity to combat the issue of drugs inflow in Liberia.
“And all of these happening due to the lack of qualified individuals to provide proper leadership over the entity,” the Senator added.
It can be recalled that July of 2023, President George Weah signed into law the controlled Drug and Substances Act, commonly known as the Drug Law.
The Liberian Leader signed the bill into law after it was passed by the Liberian Legislature following months of deliberations.
In spite of the enactment of the Law and subsequent approval by President, Senator Pennue still believes that said law can only be significant if the LDEA is robust on the frontline to ensure that violators are apprehended and be made to face the full weight of the law without fear or favor.
The new anti-drug law aims to regulate, restrict, control, limit, or eradicate the illegal export and importation as well as the flagrant use, abuse, and proliferation of narcotic substances within the country.
