In what is being regarded as a willful disregard for the rule of law and the mandate of the Supreme Court, the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs has remained unbending in dethroning the tenured officials of the Liberia Telecommunication Authority (LTA) and imposing President Joseph N. Boakai’s appointed Chairperson, Abdullah Kamara, and others as heads of the entity.
It can be recalled that on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, President Boakai appointed Abdullah Kamara as Chairperson of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), Patrick Honnah as Commissioner, Clarence KortuMassaquoi as Commissioner, Ben A. Fofana as Commissioner and Angela Bush Cassel as Commissioner.
Unfortunately, all these positions at the LTA are still being currently occupied by Edwina Crump Zackpah(Chairperson), Israel M. Akinsanya (Commissioner), Zotawon D. Titus (Commissioner), James Gbarwea(Commissioner) and Osborne K. Diggs (Commissioner).
The President’s appointments being in conflict with the law, the occupants of the positions officially wrote President Boakai on February 20, 2024 to draw his attention to their roles at the LTA.
The letter, signed by the Chairperson and all commissioners, said, “As you are aware, we currently serve under tenure within the organization, each of us having two-plus years remaining in our terms. However, it has recently come to our attention that new appointments have been made to the same positions we occupy, notwithstanding our existing tenures. While we appreciate that such decisions are often made with careful deliberation and in the national interest, we believe there may have been a misunderstanding regarding the status of our tenure.
“As members of the Board of Commissioners of the LTA, we feel compelled to remind Your Excellency of our tenured status.”
They cited that the term of office for the commissioners is four years, and expressed hope that President Boakai will recognize their tenureship.
However, their letter reportedly landed on death ears, as President Boakai made no annulment in his appointment.
The commissioners then took the issue to the Supreme Court, and the court called for a conference on February 28, 2024 to hear the sides of both parties. The Justice in Chambers, His Honor Yussif D. Kaba, then ordered the Executive, through the Ministry of Justice, to stay all further proceedings and/or actions pending the outcome of the conference.
The conference was held, and Justice Kaba ordered that entity return to status quo ante, which in normal terms means that the Zackpah leadership should continue to steer the affairs of the entity.
But even with the Supreme Court’s mandate, on Friday, March 8, 2024 the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Chief of Staff to the President, Sylvester Grigsby, addressed a letter to Zackpah in which he described her as “Outgoing Chairperson”, and gave her a presidential order, consistent with her replacement.
In the letter, titled, “Presidential Directive—Strict Adherence to Spending on Operational Cost Only”, Minister Grigsby said, “Dear Madam Outgoing Chairperson, By directive of the President, consistent with your replacement and the ongoing petition for Writ of Prohibition you filed at the Supreme Court of Liberia, you are hereby instructed effective immediately to desist from any spending outside of approved budget except allocations for daily essential operations that are already budgeted and approved.
“Additionally, restrictions are hereby imposed on all foreign travels, hiring of new staffs, contractors or consultants, and purchasing of capital assets/projects. Please ensure strict compliance with this mandate until further notice.”
The letter was written barely a day after the LTA wrote the management of Tamma Corporation, founded and operated by President Boakai’s “illegally” appointed LTA boss, Abdullah Kamara, regarding the entity taking the lead on President Boakai’s Digital Transformation Project, which aims to offer training to 10,000 youths in the first six months of the Boakai-Koung administration.
In its letter to the Tamma Corporation management, the LTA wrote, “We have become aware of a circulating poster online that designates your office location as the point of contact for the Liberia Digital Transformation Project, offering training to ten thousand (10,000) Liberians in accordance with President Joseph NyumaBoakai, Sr’s commitment. The poster prominently features the logo of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) and links to a website (www.liberiagoesdigital.org) where the LTA logo is again prominently displayed. It appears that your entity is operating under the designation granted by former President Weah’s office during the final year of his government, to collaborate with the LTA and the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to advance Digital Transformation.
“While we do not seek to revoke this designation, it should be noted that we have not engaged in discussions with your entity to establish a shared vision for President Boakai’s objectives, nor have we signed any framework or memorandum of understanding. In the absence of these foundational agreements, it is unusual for a private sector entity to take the lead on a national project, especially one that involves the statutory government lead, the LTA.”
The LTA letter continued, “Furthermore, it is important to mention that Mr. Abdullah L. Kamara, a founder of Tamma Corporation and our counterpart from your entity during our previous engagement under former President George Weah’s leadership, is currently subject to a stay order from the Supreme Court. This order upholds the authority of the seated LTA Chairperson and Commissioners, unless otherwise determined by the highest court of the land. Since Mr. Kamara has not undergone confirmation by the Senate, there has been no instance in which he could authorize your entity to proceed on behalf of the LTA.
“Therefore, the LTA requests that you suspend all activities in which its name is used and remove all related materials you have circulated with its logo, online and offline, connected to the aforementioned project to avoid confusion in the population…”
It is left with the public to judge whether the letter from the Ministry of State to the LTA was prompted by the LTA’s communication to Tamma Corporation, whose founder was recently appointed to take over the LTA, but observers believe that the Ministry of State is pushing beyond its scope by showing wanton disregard to the mandate of the Supreme Court.
Speaking to the Hot Pepper Sunday, a civil society activist told the paper that, even though the Boakai administration campaign and won the Weah administration on the basis of adhering to the rule of law and fighting corruption, it seems like Boakai and his team are threading the path of past administrations by ignoring constituted laws to appease partisans and sympathizers.
The activist reminded the Boakai administration that they may think six years is far, but in reality it is as close as the Weah administration could not imagine, which led to their defeat in the 2023 general and presidential elections.
According to the activist, Liberia cannot remain on this path, especially under President Boakai who has vowed to lead for one term and strengthen the nation’s democracy and good governance.