The National Civil Society Union of Liberia (NACSUL) has expressed dismay in the manner in which some individuals are making up fallacies of corruption and bribery allegation against Cllr. Carmerna C. Yeke, who was recently nominated by President George M. Weah and subsequently confirmed by the Liberian Senate as Deputy Director General of the National Social Security Corporation (NASSCORP).
Cllr. Yeke is accused of being dismissed from Ecobank for theft, and that her husband, Pepci Yeke, who is the Executive Director of the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE), bribed the Senate Committee on Autonomous Agency, headed by Senator Zoe Emmanuel Pennue, Grand Gedeh County, with US$50,000 to have her confirmed without public hearing.
She also stands accused of being protected by the Senate Committee on Autonomous Agency, which they claimed is hiding her credentials from the public.
These allegations, according to NACSUL, is not only far from being truthful but a smart craft to tarnish the reputation and image of a seasoned lawyer, who has spent decades building her character in the private sector.
“We are shocked that people will elect to spew falsehood against a person they know nothing about, and choose to ignore the facts only to satisfy their paymasters,” NACSUL, in a press release signed by its President, Amos B.S. Kanneh, lamented.
NACSUL challenged that it is absolutely not possible for a presidential nominee to pass through the Senate’s scrutiny without members of the committee, responsible to evaluate the nominee, not being furnished with the person’s credentials. “Such argument is unthinkable, and only ridicules members of the Senate,” the group underscored.
According to the civil society group, “Even us, who are not members of the Senate, were able to obtain Cllr. Yeke’s credentials. This only speaks to the laziness of the accusers in properly conducting their research before making up conclusions,” NACSUL added.
President Kanneh said research conducted by NASCSUL reveals that Cllr. Carmerna C. Yeke is a 2002 graduate of the Joseph Jenkins Roberts United Methodist High School (JJRUMHS), a 2006 graduate of the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU), a 2011 graduate of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia, and a 2015 graduate of the University of Houston Law Center. “Cllr. Yeke also holds a certificate in Executive Leadership from the University of Oxford,” the research conducted by NACSUL revealed.
According to NASCUL’s research, Cllr. Yeke has been a member of the Montserrado County Bar Association and the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) since 2012.
The research document, a copy of which is in the possession of the Hot Pepper, disclosed that Cllr. Yeke, in 2007, served as a Customer Service Agent at DHL Liberia, where she ensured that customers were served adequately. “From 2007—2010, Cllr. Yeke served as Marketing Officer at Ecobank Liberia Limited. Between 2010 and 2011, she served the bank as a Loan Recovery Officer. She left the bank after graduating from law school and joined the Pierre, Tweh & Associates Law Firm as a paralegal personnel. She was promoted in 2012 as an Associate Legal Personnel at the law firm, and served in that capacity until 2016. In 2017, she served the Lumen Legal, USA, as an eDiscovery Paralegal person. She returned home and served the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 2018 to April 6, 2022,” the NASCUL research document noted.
The group argued that the letter provided by Ecobank to the Senate hearing committee did not indicate any financial malpractice, but a breach of the bank’s policy, which cannot be amounted to theft, as is being claimed.
NACSUL also challenged Cllr. Yeke’s accusers to provide facts that her husband, Pepci Yeke, bribed the Senate committee with US$50,000 to sail his wife through the confirmation process, as the allegation creates a dark cloud over the Senate.
The group commended President George M. Weah for nominating a stateswoman with the moral rectitude to serve in such capacity, and the Senate for swiftly confirming the President’s trusted nominee.
