Many incidents could characterize moments for Liberia as a nation when the year is climaxing, but this paper’s editorial measured two most unparalleled events that needed to be highlighted under the year in review.
Following the end of the October 10, 2023 Presidential and Legislative elections, which ended in a runoff, George M. Weah, a sitting president who was seeking reelection unprecedentedly conceded defeat to the Standard Bearer of the Unity Party (UP), Joseph Boakai, with one percent of the votes still left to be tallied.
Marking a historic moment in Liberia’s political landscape, Weah termed his concession as gracious when he conceded to Boakai, opposition leader.
Though the outgoing Liberian leader continues to receive thousands of commendations from both local and international organizations, describing him as a “beacon for true democracy” his partisans and sympathizers chide him for his early concession.
At his last visit to the COP 28, a United Nations’ Climate Conference in Dubai, Weah received a rousing welcome from his ECOWAS and African colleagues, coupled with some recognition for laying the foundation for other African leaders to emulate.
Many described the President’s decision to accept defeat as a showcase of commitment to the democratic principles of free, fair, and transparent elections.
In his concession speech issued late Friday night, on November 17, 2023, the President said, “I urge you to follow my example and accept the results of the election. Go home tonight with the knowledge that our ideas and vision for Liberia remain strong. We are a young movement and our time will come again.”
He expanded that, although the outcome of the election was not what he and his supporters desired, the democratic will of the people of Liberia must be respected, expressing gratitude to his supporters, including all who led his campaign.
Weah, who revealed that he had already called Boakai to congratulate him, expressed that he knew that the remaining polling places, even if tallied, would not have changed the results of the election in his favor.
Another recorded event is the sanctioning of seven key officials of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) Government by the United States Government for acts of rampant corruption, human rights violation, and the abuse of their offices.
The first three Sanctioned officials
On December 20, 2021, President Biden elevated anti-corruption to the forefront of the U.S. national security strategy, with the first ever U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption, consisting of five mutually reinforcing pillars, including Modernizing, Coordinating, and Resourcing U.S. Government Efforts to Fight Corruption; Curbing Illicit Finance; Holding Corrupt Actors Accountable; Preserving and Strengthening the Multilateral Anti-Corruption Architecture, and Improving Diplomatic Engagement and Leveraging Foreign Assistance.
This anti-corruption strategy spotlights the Global Magnitsky sanctions program among the U.S. Government’s foreign policy tools for promoting global accountability for serious human rights abuse and corruption through the imposition of financial sanctions on foreign persons.
The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Global Magnitsky Act, Title XII, Subtitle F of P.L. 114- 328; 22 U.S.C. §2656 note) authorizes the President to impose economic sanctions and deny entry into the United States, any foreign person identified as engaging in human rights abuse or corruption.
Sanctioned City Mayor Koijee
Even though these are not the first-ever sanctions imposed on Liberian government officials, dating back as far as former President Charles Taylor’s regime, the recent sanctions by the U.S. have now reached this number during a single regime least to speak of the unbothered waves of corruption and elaborate abuse of power as well as human rights violations.
Corruption has long undermined Liberia’s democracy and its economy, robbing the Liberian people of funds for public services, empowering illicit actors, degrading the business environment, and damaging the rule of law and effective governance in the country, and contributes to eroding confidence in governance and public perception of impunity for those with power.
These designations reaffirm the commitment of the United States to hold corrupt actors accountable and the United States is also committed to working with the people and Government of Liberia to elevate countering corruption as a priority, including by bolstering public sector anti-corruption capacity, and reviewing and re-evaluating criteria for bilateral and multilateral assistance, including around transparency and accountability.
Holding corrupt actors accountable and bolstering anti-corruption efforts are both consistent with, and reflects, our commitment to implementing the United States Strategy on Countering Corruption.
Therefore, on August 15, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Nathaniel McGill, Sayma Syrenius Cephus, and Bill Twehway, for their involvement in ongoing public corruption in Liberia.
These officials were designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world.
The US Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian E. Nelson, said, “Treasury’s designations demonstrate that the United States remains committed to holding corrupt actors accountable and to the continued support of the Liberian people, and that through their corruption, these officials have undermined democracy in Liberia for their own personal benefits.”
Nathaniel McGill, then Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Chief of Staff to President George Weah, was said to be engaged in bribing business owners, receiving bribes from potential investors, and accepting kickbacks for steering contracts to companies in which he had an interest.
McGill has manipulated public procurement processes in order to award multi-million-dollar contracts to companies in which he has ownership, including by abusing emergency procurement processes to rig contract bids.
McGill is credibly accused of involvement in a wide range of other corrupt schemes, including soliciting bribes from government office seekers and misappropriating government assets for his personal gain. He has used government funds allocated to other Liberian government institutions to run his own projects, made off-the-books payments in cash to senior government leaders, and organized warlords to threaten political rivals.
McGill stands accused of receiving an unjustified stipend from various Liberian government institutions and used his position to prevent his misappropriation from being discovered and regularly distributed thousands of dollars in undocumented cash to other government officials for government and non-government activities.
McGill was designated for being a foreign person who was a government official who was responsible for or complicit in, or who has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
Sayma Syrenius Cephus (Cephus), Solicitor General of Liberia at the time of the sanction, was accused of developing close relationships with suspects of criminal investigations and receiving bribes from individuals in exchange for having their cases dropped.
Cllr. Cephus has worked behind the scenes to establish arrangements with subjects of money laundering investigations to cease investigations in order to personally benefit financially. He shielded money launderers and helped clear them through the court system, and has intimidated other prosecutors in an attempt to quash investigations.
Cephus has also utilized his position to hinder investigations and block the prosecution of corruption cases involving members of the government, and stands accused of tampering with and purposefully withholding evidence in cases involving members of opposition political parties to ensure conviction.
Cephus was designated as a foreign person who was a government official who is responsible for or complicit in, or who has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
Bill Twehway, then Managing Director of the National Port Authority (NPA), was accused of orchestrating the diversion of $1.5 million in vessel storage fee funds from the NPA into a private account.
Twehway secretly formed a private company to which, through his position at the NPA, he later unilaterally awarded a contract for loading and unloading cargo at the Port of Buchanan. The contract was awarded to the company less than a month after its founding.
Twehway and others used family members to obfuscate their own involvement in the company while still benefitting financially from the company.
Twehway was designated as a current government official who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
As a result of the action, all properties and interests in property of these targets that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons, are also blocked.
OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.
In addition, persons that engage in certain transactions with the individuals and entities designated today may themselves be exposed to sanctions or subject to an enforcement action. Furthermore, unless an exception applies, any foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction for any of the individuals or entities designated today could be subject to U.S. sanctions.
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law.
Building upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, E.O. 13818 was issued on December 20, 2017, in recognition that the prevalence of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, had reached such scope and gravity as to threaten the stability of international political and economic systems.
On December 8, the Treasury designated the Mayor of Monrovia, Jefferson Koijee, pursuant to E.O. 13818 for engaging, or having been a leader of an entity that has engaged in serious human rights abuse and corruption.
In addition to serious human rights abuse, Koijee is accused of being engaged in corrupt acts, including bribery and misappropriation of State assets and pressuring anti-corruption investigators to halt all corruption investigations.
Section 7031© provides that in cases where there is credible information that officials of foreign governments have been involved in significant corruption or a gross violation of human rights, those individuals and their immediate family members are generally ineligible for entry into the United States and must be either publicly or privately designated.
Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; has devastating impacts on individuals; weakens democratic institutions; degrade the rule of law; perpetuates violent conflicts; facilitates the activities of dangerous persons; and undermines economic markets.
The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons.
Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Samuel Tweah; Senate Pro-temp, Albert Chie, and Margibi County Senator, Emmanuel Nuquay, were the next in line.
Pursuant to Section 7031©, the United States publicly designated Tweah, Chie, and Nuquay, accused of significant corruption by abusing their public positions through soliciting, accepting, and offering bribes to manipulate legislative processes and public funding, including legislative reporting and mining sector activity.
Unprecedentedly, as part of this action, their immediate family members were also designated, including their spouses, Delecia Berry Tweah, Abigail Chie, and Ruthtoria Brown Nuquay, as well as Tweah and Nuquay’s minor children, the sanction requires.
