The President of Liberia, George Manneh Weah, has said he views the United States Treasury Department report, under the Global Magnitsky Act, against three officials of his administration as grave. The report designates the three officials for specialized sanctions.
In view of this, President George Manneh Weah has suspended the officials, Minister of State, Nathaniel McGill; Managing Director of the National Port Authority, Bill Twehway; and Solicitor General, Seyma Serenius Cephus, with immediate effect to enable them to face investigation. The President has also designated the principal deputies of the suspended officials to act in their stead.
However, in a press conference held on Tuesday, August 16, 2022, the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) called for the dismissal of the three designated Liberian government officials instead of suspending them, now that they have been internationally found wanting in integrity.
According to the latest designations from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), this brings to six the number of Liberian government officials who have so far been designated under the Global Magnitsky Act for their involvement with significant corruption. They include Nathaniel McGill, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Sayma Syrenius Cephus, Solicitor General, Bill Twehway Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA), Andrew Wonploe, former Passport Director, Senator Varney Sherman and Senator Prince Y. Johnson.
During the press conference, CENTAL’s Executive Director, Anderson Miamen, disclosed that CENTAL welcomes the designation, urging the US government to “spare no accomplices and beneficiaries of such significant acts of corruption being perpetrated by some Liberian government officials”.
He said, “CENTAL believes that by taking such actions the United States is rising to the expectations of many Liberians that such designations affect all corrupt public officials and not only a few. This is particularly important, given that the US government has often spoken authoritatively regarding acts and actors of corruption a stance which demonstrates that it might be well-informed of ‘on-going public corruption’ than many Liberians from which these acts are kept secret.”
According to CENTAL boss, “These designations reinforce countless recommendations that have been made to President George Manneh Weah and the Government of Liberia (GOL) to show genuine political will and be practical, impartial and holistic about the fight against corruption in the country, as such the fight against corruption must neither be reduced to an intellectual exercise nor abused by blocking legitimate processes to fight back at those in the vanguard fighting corruption.”
He added that the dissolution of the current Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) through the recent enactment of the amended LACC Act, shows the continued lack of will to adequately fund public integrity institutions, and failure of the President to take appropriate corrective actions against government officials accused and investigated for incidences of corruption are classic examples.
“CENTAL is therefore calling on relevant Liberian authorities to seek the support of the US government to thoroughly investigate and prosecute the designated officials,” the civil society organization said.
