The Minister of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, Ledgerhood Rennie, has disclosed that the Government of Liberia (GOL) has no intention of arresting Isaac Vah (Ivah) Tukpah, but is instead surprised that he will attempt to leave the country through unrecognized points when there are well-known border posts.
On Tuesday night, Ivah was spotted around an unrecognized crossing point in Grand Cape Mount County making his way out of Liberia. Because the border had closed, Ivah was stopped by immigration officers assigned there. While being investigated, it was observed that he did not have the requisite documents required for crossing.
According to information, for these reasons and more, Ivah was held by the immigration officers. After he was identified as Ivah, the name on everybody’s tongue for a book he co-authored about the life of the First Family, the immigration officers advised that he returned to Monrovia, and that some of the officers would escort him until entered Monrovia.
However, Ivah refused the offer, noting that he did not need their escort. But the immigration officers used their security descriptions to enforce the escort behind him, brought him to the headquarters of the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) and turned him over to his lawyers.
In a release issued Wednesday, February 2, 2022, Minister Rennie argued that a plausible motive for Tukpah could be his well-calculated intention to malign the government by suggesting that “it was after his life if he had succeeded in his diabolical orchestration to flee the country”.
Meanwhile, the government has categorically refuted media report claiming the arrest of Isaac Vah Tukpah, with President George M. Weah emphasizing that Ivah is not being sought after by the government, and he is therefore free to live in Liberia or travel out of the country if he so chooses.
“There is a legal recourse, whether here or in the U.S. That decision is left to the President’s family and all those maligned,” Information Minister Ledgerhood Rennie said, while emphasizing that the government believes in the rule of law and human rights.