Henry Fahnbulleh is dismissed as Deputy Foreign Minister a day after his alleged intervention into the sexual harassment case involving Foreign Minister, Dee-Maxwell Kemayah and Wynee Cummings Wilson in Liberia’s Mission in New York.
With just five days to the close of the first term of the Weah-led administration, Minister Fahnbulleh, according to the late Wednesday, November 8, 2023 release from the Executive Mansion, was relieved by President George M. Weah for what was termed as ‘administrative reasons.’
Dismissed Fahnbulleh, also a former Representative of District 4, served in that position since 2020 had been at loggerheads with Minister Kemayah and the feud was a no-secret drama witnessed by staffers as it caused embarrassment to international guests who went visiting.
Another report emanating from New York, United States of America, stated that Fahnbulleh was caught on a video footage along with officers of the New Yorke Police Detachment 17 trying to calm down an altercation between Mrs. Wilson and some staffs at the Liberia Permanent Mission in New York.
The altercation, that lasted for several minutes could not be controlled despite the intervention thereby resulting in the arrest of Mrs. Wilson who refused to adhere to NYPD orders to vacate the premises of the mission.
It can be recalled that Mrs. Wynee Cummings Wilson, prior to the appointment of Kemayah as Liberia’s Foreign Minister, filed a complaint of sexual harassment against Kamayah, while serving as Liberia’s permanent Representative, at the Liberia Permanent Mission, in New Yorke, United States of America.
Even though the case is yet to be adjudicated, there has also been report of power struggle at the country’s embassy in New York, of which on Monday, November 6, the Permanent Mission then begin an undiplomatic scene, after officers of the New Yorke Police Department were called; though Mrs. Wilson claimed that she had been taken off the payroll without terminating her services at the Mission.
In a live video circulated on social media, Mrs. Wilson resisted the staff at the Mission who stopped her from entering the Mission premises, whom she claimed are doing such on orders of Minister Kemayah, even though she claimed to still be an employee at the Liberia Permanent Mission.
Mrs. Wilson alleged that Mrs. Maggie Gibson-Glay, Third Secretary to the Permanent Representative, and another staff identified as Sarah, were instructed by Minister Kemayah to prevent her entry into the mission and that, that was a violation of her rights; a claim Mrs. Glay denied.
But before Monday’s altercation at the Mission, sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia stated that Minister Kemayah, though head of all foreign missions, has been allegedly “interfering” especially in the day-to-day operations of the Liberian Permanent Mission to the UN.
It is also alleged that since he is unable to travel to the U.S., where police are reportedly prepared to question him over the sexual harassment allegations lodged against him, the Liberian Chief diplomat has resorted to “intimidating tactics” to generate confusion that will ultimately breed internal confusion to silence the few staff perceived not to be siding his way.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Mission of Liberia to the United Nations has clarified that Wynee Cummings Wilson is an intern and not an employee of the Mission.
“The Ministry would like to refute the falsehood that Madam Wynee Cummings Wilson is spreading that she is an employee of the Permanent Mission and that she has been witch-hunted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Liberia,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release said.
“The truth is, Madam Wynee Cummings Wilson was never an employee of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Liberia to the United Nations (UN), as she might want the public to believe, but rather was accepted as an ‘apprentice’ since she pleaded with the mission to afford her the opportunity to learn more about the United Nations system, where she desires to seek a future career,” the Ministry said.
According to the Ministry, on June 7, 2023 Madam Wilson was informed and reminded to submit all relevant documents to regularize her employment status at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Liberia to the United Nations.
The Ministry stated further, “The communication further informed Madam Wilson of the requirements of the host country, the United States of America, and the United Nations Protocol for registration and completion of the employment process, which includes the following: a green card or citizenship, work authorization, the most recent I-94 record, a valid passport, a visa to approve an employee’s registration at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, and to facilitate the issuance of an identification card, along with a complete registration with the UN Protocol and Liaison Service.”\
The Ministry mentioned the Mission in New York, where Madam Wilson has been serving as an ‘apprentice’ since 2019, had held verbal meetings with Wilson and repeatedly requested her to submit an application for the post she wished to occupy as well as all necessary immigration documentation in her possession since there is nothing in her file so as to regularize her status with the mission.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, Mrs. Wilson who submitted only her work authorization for the period 2022–2023, as of the stated deadline of June 30, 2023, she was unable to submit all the other documents required; this information is yet to be established by the Inquirer Newspaper.
The Ministry then explained that Ms. Wilson was then notified in a communication, that as of July 1, 2023 her name would have been from the compensation of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Liberia to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that similar actions have been taken at other missions around the world where the host countries’ protocol call for time limit to stay in a country as a diplomat or staff, to include London, Washington, D.C., Addis Ababa and Abidjan, where affected staff have cooperated very well.
