PHOTO: Jefferson Knight, head of UMC rights group
By Alfred Kollie, alfredkolliejr92@gmail.com
“President Weah is unserious when it comes to the fight against corruption,” says United Methodist Church Human Rights Program Monitor, Jefferson Knight.
According to Mr. Knight, President Weah and his CDC government are not honest and serious and are unable to bring to justice individuals allegedly linked to corruption.
Speaking in an interview in Monrovia on Thursday, September 9, 2021, Mr. Knight called for proactive action in the fight against Corruption.
He wants President Weah to suspend those allegedly involved in or linked to corrupt practices in the government.
President Weah has repeatedly said his government has zero tolerance for corruption and he recently submitted to the a Bill to strengthen the fight against corruption including one to protect Whistleblowers and giving the LACC prosecutorial powers on corruption cases.
But the UMC Human Rights group maintained that Liberia continues to remain poor and in darkness as a result of failure by leaders to take the fight against corruption seriously by bringing to book those involved.
He observed that there is high levels of corruption in every sector, most especially in government, but urged the Liberian leader to take concrete action in protecting the image of his government.
Commenting on allegation of conflict of interest against the Deputy Commissioner of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission, Cllr. Kanio Bai Gbala, the rights Monitor wants Cllr. Bai Gbala to resign his post and save the image of the LACC.
On Monday, August 30, 2021, the Front-Page Africa newspaper published a story about the involvement of several individuals, including Cllr. Gbala, in issues of ‘conflict of interest,’ which is a crime under the Liberian law, particularly the Code of Conduct.
According to the report, Cllr. Gbala, while serving as an Acting Chairperson at the LACC following the departure of the controversial Ndubusi Nwabudike, allegedly ran a business that was operating at the National Port Authority and the Port of Buchanan.
According to FPA, Kanio Bai-Gbala along with the Managing Director of the National Port Authority Bill Tweahway, the deputy Comptroller, Christian Brownell, and Hamed Sikidi Fofana, the former Executive Director at the Central Bank of Liberia, established a company and allegedly used funds from the port and purchased a loading machine (966 Loader) for their company and awarded the loading contract to themselves.
Cllr. Gbala has however taken a leave of absence while enjoying all benefits associated with the position.
As the investigation begins into this allegation, the LACC Chairperson has assured that they will do everything possible to maintain public trust in the anti-graft institution, even if a case involves its members.
He is however calling for speed investigation and have the report publish to serve as warning for other government officials.
Meanwhile, Mr. Knight has also demanded the immediate resignation of Liberia’s Solicitor General, Cllr. Syrenius Cephas on leaked audiotape linking him to allegedly involving in bribery and using virgins for human sacrifice.
However, Cllr. Cephas this week denied the allegation by former RIA Managing Director Ellen Corkrum, saying that he can’t be involved in such an act, because he is a “devout Christian”.
But the head of the Methodist Human Rights Monitor is calling on President Weah to quickly intervene and launch an investigation into Ms. Corkrum’s allegations.