“Baseless And Unfortunate” -Kimmie Weeks Responds To Allegations By Monrovia City Mayor

Acclaimed Liberian humanitarian Dr. Kimmie Weeks says that statements made by the Mayor of Monrovia Mr. Jefferson Koijee in a live interview with Truth FM’s Breakfast show on Friday, October 18th are “baseless and unfortunate.” During the interview, which the Mayor called into and which was broadcast on multiple radio stations, Hon. Koijee accused Dr. Weeks of paying and sponsoring the uploading of negative videos to youtube, which Mr. Koijee said was intended to paint both him and the Liberian government negatively.
In his statements, The Mayor said: “…when the false video about District 13 incident was being circulated by Boakai Jaliba…that video was being paid for and sponsored by Dr Kimmie Weeks to put it on youtube…so people find pleasure in going after their own kind.” Making similar comments about videos pertaining to the alleged teargassing of students by the Police last week, Hon. Koijee said: “…you see [Kimmie Weeks] taking that recording and paying for it and putting it on youtube.”
During a press conference held at his office of Duport Road, Dr. Weeks vehemently denied the accusations and stated: “Neither one of these statements by Mr. Koijee has any element of truth. I have never paid to have any videos posted on youtube. More importantly, the Mayor seems to be using his office to intimidate me against speaking on national issues especially as regards electoral violence and Police brutality.”
Dr. Weeks admitted that he had posted a condemnation of the recent incident on his social media page but said that he had always spoken against police brutality against students regardless of who was in power. He recalled that in 2011, when Police entered the campuses of G.W. Gibson and brutalized students who had been protesting, he not only had condemned the act, but also went to the Police station to secure the release of the students.
A post on Dr. Weeks’ page from April 19, 2011 shows that he condemned the brutality which happened during the government of former President Sirleaf. In the post, Dr. Weeks stated: “the police brutality that happened in Liberia against students must not go without being punished.
We must continue to press the government to release findings and suspend officers who used excessive force on students. I continue to condemn the brutality used by the Police.” Weeks went on to state that he would continue to condemn electoral violence and police brutality against students without “fear or favor.”
Dr. Weeks encouraged the Mayor to use press and media opportunities to promote issues affecting the people of Montserrado instead of making personal attacks on private citizens.
He concluded: “It is my hope that in the future, the Mayor will use the national airwaves to speak about issues pertaining to the development and improvement the city of Monrovia rather than attacking a private citizen like myself.”
Dr. Weeks said it was unfortunate that the Mayor had chosen to resort to a negative media campaign to address these issues rather than making a call or setting up a meeting. “It would have been more prudent for the Mayor to have first reached out to me to clarify before turning to the media with these allegations. I think this was a missed opportunity.”