Investigations ordered by the International Justice Group (IJG), a major partner of the Global Magnitsky, to be conducted by local partners in Liberia into claims of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Vice President, Jewel Howard-Taylor, Maritime Commissioner, Lenn Eugene Nagbe, and former Police 102, Abraham Kromah, levied by the Executive Director of the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), Hassan Bility, has concluded, exonerating the Vice President of all wrongdoings during the Liberian civil war.
The investigations were necessitated when a court in the United Kingdom vindicated Agnes Taylor and accused Bility and his partners, Civitas Maxima, of providing false witnesses to testify against innocent Liberians in Europe, with international investigators contacting local partners to carry out due diligence on prominent individuals, whose names were provided to them by Bility and his partners, as war criminals.
These individuals were all placed under international travel restrictions and denied certain privileges as national leaders of sovereign states at the international level, thereby hampering their free movement and the opportunity to lobby for and on behalf of their country.
The Vice President, Jewel Howard-Taylor, has been one of the victims who is haunted for her ties with the Leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), former President Charles G. Taylor, who is serving a 50-year prison sentence in the United Kingdom. She was married to ex-President Taylor from 1997 to 2006, making her the First Lady during the dictatorial administration of Taylor. She has two children with the former president: Philip Taylor and Martha Ann Taylor, but divorced in 2006.
The Vice President’s troubles began during the interim government of Charles Gyude Bryan, when she felt very ill and applied for a visa in order to seek medical attention abroad but was denied on ground that she was the wife to Charles G. Taylor. The troubles were further exacerbated when the erstwhile Chairman of the TRC, Cllr. Jerome Verdier, complaint to the international community that the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf administration seemed not serious about the implementation of the TRC’s recommendations, especially the aspect of the establishment of a war and economic crimes court to prosecute those most responsible for the carnage on the Liberian society, with so-called advocates for justice tapping on the opportunity to harass innocent individuals for their personal aggrandizement, and anyone who refused to comply with their demands listed as a war criminal.
When the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP) decided to indict Agnes Taylor for war crimes in the United Kingdom in 2015, Bility, who is the head of GJRP, recruited Mohammed Kromah, a man who claimed that his father got killed in Gbarnga by Agnes Taylor, to be a witness in the case. Bility then submitted an affidavit to the court, listing VP Taylor and others as influential individuals in the Weah administration who could either kill witness Kromah or threaten him not to take the witness stand if the court delayed with the case against Agnes Taylor.
However, Mohammed Kromah would later somersault on his claim and say his father was killed by Kosiah, a member of the ULIMO-K of Alhaji G.V. Kromah. But Kosiah had earlier told a Swiss court that Kromah’s father was not dead and that he could prove it. When the files were retrieved, Kromah retracted his claim again. It was later realized that Kromah was recruited and trained by Bility to falsely testify in Agnes Taylor’s case.
It was observed that Bility has been on the recruitment of false witnesses for a protracted period, embarrassing innocent persons and defaming their characters. Sometime ago, Bility was accused of haunting protected witnesses who were flown out of Liberia years ago to testify in the Charles Taylor case, bringing them to international disrepute and making the intelligence community look stupid in the eyes of people who have been following the trend of happenings.
After carefully observing the situation, the International Justice Group (IJG) initiated an investigation to ascertain the facts and fallacies in Hassan Bility’s claims, and to de-list those wrongly accused from the criminal list of the Global Justice and Research Project and Civitas Maxima, beginning with Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor.
The investigation, in its totality, vindicated Vice President Howard-Taylor of all the allegations levied against her by the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), with emphasis that all and any charges of any and all human rights violations against her during the war period, until today’s date, is false and baseless.
According to the IJG investigation, VP Taylor left Liberia for the United States in 1985—far before the war ensued. The civil crisis started on December 24, 1989, when Jewel had left the country four years ago. While in the US, Jewel attended the American School of Banking, obtaining a master’s degree in banking and finance.
The findings of the investigation disclosed that Jewel permanently returned to Liberia in 2004, independently contested the Bong County senatorial seat in 2005 and won. She was sworn into office in 2006 as Senator of Bong County. At that time, ex-President Taylor was in Nigeria, where he remained until President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf officially turned him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution.
Even though Jewel had been accused of benefitting from the spoils of the war, the investigative findings revealed that Jewel did not inherit any financial or material wealth from the ex-President, as she was left in a rented house to take care of their two children, as well as other children who Taylor fathered. Besides, there were reports of abuse, deceit and unfaithfulness in her marriage with the warlord, which prompted her to file for divorce as a result of infidelity and irreconcilable differences in 2006.
Being embarrassed and uncomfortable with allegations that she participated in the civil war, Jewel subjected herself to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process, and was cleared by the commission of all economic and human rights claims.
The investigation established that Jewel has never been a soldier or a war monger, but a humanitarian who has helped thousands of Liberians through her Jewel Star Fish Foundation, an organization she established over twenty years ago.
It was also established that Jewel maintains a record of being a peaceful and law-abiding citizen, and has used her positions in society to advocate and impact the lives of women and girls, grooming herself to become a gender specialist and advocate for generational equality and against sexual, gender-based violence (SGBV).
Rosa Whitaker, President and CEO of the Whitaker Group and former Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa in the Administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, wrote, “Liberians could hardly find a more experienced and devoted public servant than Howard-Taylor. She served as a Senator since 2005, and holds two post-graduate degrees, making her one of the most educated members in the Liberian Legislature. She is well known for her humanitarian work in Liberian slums, providing education to thousands of girls in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Malawi; and has long been a symbol of triumph for Liberian women.”
The Whitaker Group CEO said, “Howard-Taylor is no despot. Her ‘crime’, however, is she used to be married to one: Charles Taylor, President of Liberia from 1997 to 2003.”
The IJG investigation found this statement to be true to the core, as all those who accuse VP Taylor of war crimes only point to her marriage with Taylor and not any war crimes or crimes against humanity that she committed.
Now that the IJG investigation has cleared the Vice President’s name of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, it is expected that her rights will be restored and protected by international justice groups and her personality respected by those who previously perceived her as a player in the Liberian civil war.