-Lawmaker and ALJA condemn stopping Rep. Kolubah’s Family from traveling, but MICAT clarifies
By Mark N. Mengonfia,mmenginfia@gmail.com
A Liberian lawmaker, Representative Rustonlyn Suakoko Dennis has strongly condemned the CDC government’s action to bar the family of District # 10 lawmaker, Yekeh Kolubah from leaving the country saying, “their action is becoming unbecoming”.
The wife of Rep. Kolubah was over the weekend reportedly stopped from boarding a flight to Ghana at the Roberts International Airport with seven children by authorities of the Liberia Immigration Service.
The Montserrado County District #4 Rep. Dennis said if government wants to act against Rep. Kolubah for his negative pronouncements against the Weah led administration, they should have taken it off with him and not his wife and children as was recently done.
Rep. Dennis said although the lawmaker family’s passports were stamped and they went through all necessary requirements for a person to travel from Liberia, but what she said astonishes her is why were their passports confiscated by state securities.
“If the government said they were protecting the children from who be trafficker, where are the kids now? Why will they give the children back to their mother when they were not sure that she was their mother? she inquired.
MICAT reaction
But the government of Liberia on Monday clarified that it did not prohibit family members of Representative Yekeh Kolubah from leaving the country out of any political consideration or ongoing legal case he has with the court, according to a press release from the Ministry of Information.
Instead, the release said, immigration officers acted purely in keeping with anti-human trafficking regulations.
Madam Georgetta Joyce Kolubah – believed to be the wife of the Representative – was due to leave the country on Saturday, July 13, accompanied by seven children, five of whom had diplomatic passports.
The other two had laissez-passers. During routined checks, Madam Kolubah could not prove that all the children were hers, or that they were traveling with the consent of both parents in keeping with anti-human trafficking procedures.
When she didn’t produce the necessary legal instrument which would have validated her claims, Mrs. Kolubah was duly informed on how such documentation could be obtained, without which she cannot leave the country with the children. This is standard practice which other adults accompanied by even a single child have had to face.
The Liberian government strongly refutes Representative Kolubah’s claims that he spoke to Justice Minister Musa Dean about Saturday’s incident. The Minister has not spoken with the lawmaker since his return to the country from a trip to Guinea.
The Government, however, reiterates its commitment to upholding the rights of every Liberian, including the right to free movement. The government interposes no objection to any plans by Representative Kolubah’s family to travel out of Liberia, except where interdicted by the courts.
ALJA condemnation
Meanwhile, the Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA) has termed as unfortunate the recent action by some officers of the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) reportedly acting on the order of President George Manneh Weah to prevent the family of Montserrado County District #-10 Representative, Yekeh Kolubah, from traveling out of the country, says an ALJA press statement issued on July 15, 2019.
On Saturday, July 13, 2019, it was reported in Monrovia that immigration officers deployed at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) obstructed Rep. Kolubah’s wife, Georgetta Kolubah, and his six children from boarding a flight to Accra, Ghana where they were destined for a vacation trip. Reportedly the officers also, confiscated the family’s travel documents, luggage; and the baby formulas for Rep. Kolubah’s twins.
According to Mrs. Kolubah, she and her children usually travel abroad for vacation without any infringement but she was amazed when the immigration officers prevented them from departing the country because of what the officers and the Liberian government referred to as enforcement of an anti-human trafficking regulation.
The Ministry of Information Culture Affairs and Tourism (MICAT) in a recent press release claimed the officers’ decision to stop Mrs. Kolubah and the children from traveling to Ghana was predicated on her reported failure to “prove that the children were hers”. Even though her husband Rep. Kolubah was at the Airport and he confirmed that he was aware of his wife and children’s planned trip to Accra, the immigration officers acting on an alleged directive from President Weah declined to allow the Lawmaker’s wife and children to depart Liberia.
ALJA in a press release issued on July 15, 2019, condemned in the strongest term the immigration officers’ action and President Weah’s reported directive. The Association says the flimsy explanation provided by the immigration authority and the Liberian government regarding the unwarranted public humiliation, mental anguish and embarrassment suffered by Mrs. Kolubah and her children is cheap; and it has no legal basis.
ALJA maintains the immigration officers’ action and the President alleged linked to the obstruction violate Article-13 of the 1986 Liberian constitution, which grants all Liberians and legal residents of the country fundamental human rights, which include freedom of movement. ALJA citing the constitutional provision asserts Liberians and legal residents of the country have the freedom to enter, leave, and travel throughout the country anytime provided they have not committed any crime and there is no trouble in any part of the country that jeopardizes their safety.
The Americas based Liberian Journalists say the decision by the Liberian government to obstruct the Kolubah family’s freedom of movement and confiscate their travel documents, luggage and the baby formulas for the twins without any legal justification are tantamount to brazen harassment and witch hunt. The Association states the bogus justification provided by the government for its action is disturbing and it shows the extent to which it would go to target its perceived critics and enemies.
The Association says the unfortunate event of last Saturday is a continuation of the Weah administration’s repeated and unwarranted harassment of Rep. Kolubah and his family because for his vocal stance against the government and the President for poor governance and the mismanagement of Liberia’s wealth.