The dismissed Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) to the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Benjamin S. Karmorh, has described Wilson Tarpeh’s decision to dismiss him as ‘bogus and baseless’.
Karmorh termed his termination as being politically motivated, rather than based on any misconduct or incompetence on his part.
On Thursday, January 24, 2024, the EPA, under the instruction of its embattled Executive Director, Wilson K. Tarpeh, announced the immediate dismissal of Karmorh, due to what they considered criminal misconduct.
In an EPA release, the Agency also asserted that Karmorh led group of persons to disrupt normal operations, orchestrating an unauthorized takeover of power at the EPA on Tuesday, January 22, 2024.
In his reaction, Karmorh emphasized, “Let me in categorical terms, rubbish and term as unfounded and baseless, my dismissal, which is mentioned in a press release issued by the EPA through its media and corporate communications head, which, in my opinion, was written based on the instructions of Wilson K. Tarpeh in his desperate quest to continue holding unto public office at the EPA, in complete contravention of the Act establishing the Agency as outlined in Section 16 which gives him no tenure powers.”
Section 16 of the EPA Act of 2022/2023 states “There shall be an Executive Director who is a person with wide environmental knowledge and recognized comment to sustainable management of the environment, appointed by the President from a list of three names recommended by the Council, except that the President may appoint an interim Executive Director pending the formation of the Council.”
It adds, “The Executive Director shall serve for a period of 7 years and shall be eligible for re- appointment, except that there shall be appointed an interim Executive Director, and shall have security of tenure but shall cease to hold office if he resigns, found guilty of gross misconduct on the advice of the Board and the approval of the Policy Council, and is unable to discharge the functions of his office for health reasons.”
According to Karmorh, that was not the case with Tarpeh, and therefore, he has no legal authority to dismiss him when he should have left office before the inauguration of President Boakai, as mandated by former President George M. Weah.
He then cited Executive Order 123, Section 9, issued by former President Weah on November 22, 2023, which states that as of January 22, 2024, “non-tenured presidential appointees shall be presumed to have resigned as of the date of the inauguration.”
“Accordingly, the most Senior Civil Servant at all Ministries, Agencies, Commissions and State-owned enterprises, shall act as Officer-In-Charge pending appointment of their successors,”it added.
Tarpeh was appointed Executive Director in 2020 and officially took over on October 5.
Karmorh maintained, “Consequently, and taking into consideration the provision above, Mr. Wilson Tarpeh had no legal authority to dismiss me three days after his resignation.”
He noted that his bogus and illegal dismissal by Tarpeh, including his attempt to silence and get at many more staffers at the agency, is a way of cleverly silencing professionals and technocrats at the Agency who are reading the EPA Act with a clear understanding.
Karmorh further stressed, “We have worked with the EPA since its establishment in 2003 with impeccable and notable character, which is an inalienable fact based on the record both nationally and internationally.”
“The records of our service to the EPA and our nation cannot and will never be tainted by an individual like Wilson K. Tarpeh who is only desperate to stay on at the EPA even without legitimacy,” he added.
Meanwhile, Karmorh has called on the Liberian government that “In the next 72 hours or more, the developments at the EPA instigated by a power thirsty individual like Wilson K. Tarpeh necessitates an immediate action to appoint or nominate an Acting Executive Director at the Agency to instill calm and order so that normal functions of the entity go unhindered.”
“The EPA is on the verge of a complete collapse if nothing is done to salvage the current situation under the aegis of Wilson K. Tarpeh, who continues to perpetuate himself at the EPA in complete contravention of the law,” he intoned.
Also speaking minutes after their release from the Monrovia City Court, Andrew Cooper an Account Analyst at the institution said employees at the institution want the Executive Director to relinquish his position as it is not a tenure position.
According to him, Prof. Tarpeh wants to forcibly claim a tenure position that was not given during his appointment which was not sanctioned by the institution’s National Policy Council as required by law, to render his appointment to be one of tenure noting that Prof. Tarpeh can only claim tenure only if his appointment was done through the institution’s National Policy Council as established by law, which he pointed out has not been the case.
He further said that count 16 of the Act that created the EPA grants the Executive Director a tenure position provided he meets the fundamental formulation of being recommended by the board to the president for appointments.
“Count 16 of the Act says the president shall appoint an executive director who has a vast knowledge on environmental issues, but this was not in the case of Prof. Wilson Tarpeh as he lacks all [vast knowledge of environmental issues]” Cooper said.
The account analyst of the institution further quoted the act that established the EPA which states by stating “that the president shall appoint the Executive Director from a short list of three, following the vetting by the board of directors for appointments.”
He maintained that the National Policy Council, which should serve as the backbone of the institution for appointments of EDs, has not been established, something he said does not give Prof. Tarpeh the right to claim tenure.
Cooper and his colleagues recounted that President Weah, prior to leaving office, issued executive order 123 in which Section 9 of the order states that non-tenure appointees shall be presumed resigned as of the date of the inauguration on January 22, 2024.
Also speaking to our reporter, EPA Executive Director Wilson Tarpeh, termed the staffers’ actions as being criminal, diabolical and illegal towards his office and the institution.
Prof. Tarpeh maintained that his position at the EPA is a seven-year tenure position that is expected to end on October 1, 2027. The Environmental Protection Agency boss further dismissed allegations levied against him by the staffers and said that their quest is intended to destroy the image of the institution.
According to him, the executive order issued by former President George Weah in no way refers or includes his office as it is a tenure office, saying that a tenure of an EPA executive director is a seven-year period.
The EPA boss added that those found disturbing the constituted authorities of the EPA, including Andrew Cooper, are all undergoing suspension, saying that the presence of Jerry Tokpah and Andrew Cooper to bring in a new acting executive director to the EPA was unlawful and that branded it “lawlessness at the peak.”
Prof. Tarpeh, further clarified that since the policy council does not exist, there was a system put in place where the national climate change secretariat was constituted to help manage the day-to-day affairs of the institution.
According to him, the absence of the policy council does not make the EPA ineffective, saying that this is why the climate change secretariat was established to manage the affairs of the institution, maintaining that they cannot scrape the authority of the climate change secretariat, and that they don’t have to demand him to step down as head of the institution
This might be the same case with the commissioners at the Liberia Anti- Corruption Commission (LACC), whose confirmation results were withheld due to what the former Pro-temp Chie explained that said action can only be carried out when the Ministry of Finance settles the financial obligations of Edwin Kla Martin and his team.
On this note, the commissioners were never commissioned by the former President, thereby bringing to question their legitimacy to a tenure benefit.
