Claim: The CDC is putting party T-shirts on gunmen to rig the elections.
Verdict: In false context, the image was taken in February of this year, not meant to rig the election.
Full text: A social media user posted on Facebook that the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) has put its party’s T-shirt on state security to rig the elections.
The post states in full,” I can’t believe that the CDC is putting the party’s T-shirts on gunmen to rig the elections. Weah will make trouble.”
The post has started generating comments; thus far, it has 42 comments.
Some of the comments say,” Every unprecedented excess of misrule is manifesting in this inept government. How can such a man quell an election violence void of bias or prejudice? Lord, have mercy on us.”
Another said, “Did you raise concerns a few days ago when UP killed two CDCians in execution style in Foya? Oh, the law only works for the opposition, huh? Biased post!!”
We also saw this comment: ” That’s an old picture. Even if they wore party T-shirts, since they didn’t kill someone, it’s better than what you, the wicked UP, did in Lofa. Bunch of desperate hustlers!”
Verification: We checked and realized that the image used by the social media user was an incident in February of this year when state securities (Executive Protection Services—EPS) were seen in party paraphernalia (CDC’s berets and T-shirts) during the party’s “one million-man rally in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.
When the incident occurred, Alexander B. Cummings raised concerns, thus making the government of Liberia and other institutions condemn the act.
Conclusion: Yes, officers of security institutions, specifically the Executive Protection Service, wore CDC party paraphernalia nine months ago, but the claim that the CDC is putting the party’s T-shirts on gunmen to rig the election is false in context. The claim is rendered false in context because this image is not recent and is used to mislead the public.
