The Civil Society Network of Liberia (CSNL) says it is once more awakened by consistent allegations being spewed out by Stanton Witherspoon against the Public Works Ministry under the leadership of Minister Ruth Coker-Collins. According to the CSNL, “In his Tuesday, January 2, 2024 Spoon TV Podcast, Witherspoon continued his falsehood and fake propaganda against Minister Coker-Collins by contradicting his earlier claims that the minister awarded over US$250,000 road contract to her husband in a bid to fund his representative campaign.”
In a release issued Wednesday, the CSNL said, “A glaring show of his intent to continuously tarnish the reputable character of Minister Coker-Collins and undermine her impressive achievements at the Public Works Ministry, Witherspoon stated different amounts he claimed were paid to the minister’s husband in a bid to fund his representative campaign. Witherspoon has announced the different amounts of US$250,000 to US$300,000 and US$400,000. This clear misinformation and disagreement in the amounts from Mr. Witherspoon is an indication that his assertion are blatant lies and dangerous campaign to undercut the impressive achievements and positive performance rating of Minister Coker-Collins.
“We would like to reiterate that, contrary to claims by criminal convict Stanton Witherspoon that Minister Coker-Collins’s husband received payments from the Ministry of Public Works in the tone of US$250,000 at one point; at another time, the amount changes to US$300,000; and now US$400,000; with the intent of funding his representative campaign in the 2023 representative election in Gbarpolu County, our investigation reveals that the husband of the Minister Ruth Coker-Collins, Mr. Luther Sandy Collins, has worked with several local and international organizations with fabulous incomes. At one point, Mr. Collins served as Logistics Officer for the UN mission in Liberia, and as expatriate with the UN Mission in Dafur, Sudan, with responsibility for over US$3 million in fleet management. The income acquired from these fabulous jobs enabled the Collins family to engage into many businesses and other humanitarian ventures, long before his wife’s ascendancy to the Public Works Ministry job.
“Therefore, it is troubling and disturbing that Mr. Stanton Witherspoon has rendered his Spoon TV Show on propagating lies and manufactured documents against the Public Works Ministry. It is also established from our investigation that Mr. Collins started making interventions towards the people of Gbarpolu County as far back as 2014 when his wife, Minister Ruth Coker-Collins, was nowhere near government job. He provided boats for water transportation; over L$2 million as village savings loans to hundreds of women; and said loan is currently on-going. It is farfetched and unwarranted that Mr. Witherspoon will keep spewing out lies against the Collins Family.
“The Civil Society Network of Liberia calls on Mr. Stanton Witherspoon to desist from using his media network as a surrogate to damage the hard-earned reputation of Minister Ruther Coker-Collins and her husband. Mr. Stanton Witherspoon is a criminal who needs to focus on his fast-approaching criminal sentence in the US.
“Mr. Witherspoon should understand that it is outrageous and shameful that, instead of using his media platform to preach peace and reconciliation, Mr. Witherspoon is using the airwaves to lie and blackmail hardworking public servants like Minister Ruth Coker-Collins. Hence, we believe that spreading falsehood and malicious lies about the Ministry of Public Works under Minister Coker-Collins is treacherous, troublesome and deceptive.”
