Women Rights Organizations in Liberia are calling on President George Manneh Weah to set moral standards for public officials in his government.
They maintained that the actions of the Liberian officials, Daniel Tarr and Moses Owen Browne, who had gone to South Korea to participate in the Sustainable Maritime Transport Training Program for Least Developed Countries are not only unpatriotic and shameful but also disrespectful, disgraceful and embarrassing for a representative of the Liberian government.
“President Weah is on record for referring to himself uncountable times as the Feminist-In-Chief and has made countless statements calling for an end to SGBV, yet, for all his verbal commitments regarding women and girls of Liberians are yet to see the system works in support of women and girls,” the women groups expressed.
They said, “We are yet to see the President ensure accountability of highly placed individuals in his government who have been accused of rape and least to that, we are yet to hear the government’s condemnation on the unwholesome behavior of these two highly placed officials in the government.”
They pointed out that if Dee Maxwell Kemayah must spearhead this effort in his capacity as Liberia’s Foreign Minister, of course, with sexual harassment charges still pending over himself, how credible can the Ministry and the Government itself be viewed on the world stage?
The Liberian women recall that in September 2020, Kemayah was accused of sexual harassment by a staff within his office in the United States while serving as a diplomatic staff and when women rights activists called on the President and the legislators not to confirm him until he was cleared of allegations of sexual harassment, those pleas fell on deaf ears as today, Kemayah is the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The women’s concerns were contained in a statement issued Tuesday September 27, 2022 in Monrovia by the Women NGO Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL); Organization for Women and Children (ORWOCH); Paramount Young Women Initiative (PAYOWI); Kids Educational Engagement Project (KEEP); Community Healthcare Initiative (CHI) and the Network of Peace and Security Women in ECOWAS Countries (NOPSWECO).
Meanwhile, their concerns stemmed from a video news report emanating from the South Korean media involving the Maritime officials wherein the shared news video, translated that foreigners (Liberians) attending an international event in Busan have been arrested on charges of sexuality assaulting a teenage girl.
According to them, the reports then cuts to a video in which a man in uniform identifies himself as police and asked persons within a hotel room to open the door as there are loud screams of women from inside.
“It was later reported that after a long standoff, the door finally opened and two men identified as the above named individuals were arrested and detained” they explained.
The women’s groups said the two teenage girls were also reportedly rescued at 11pm and the Liberia Maritime Authority issued a statement noting that they will cooperate with the South Korean police while the Ministry of Gender is calling for administrative actions to be taken against the officials.
“We too call on the two institutions to go further by ensuring that the two individuals are dismissed including taking actions against all other government officials that have been accused of rape until due process can be done” they asserted.
According to them, in 2020, a member of the Special Security Unit, Joseph Jakey Brown, commissioned in Gbarpolu to safeguard the peace ended up with allegations of rape and torture during the Gbarpolu elections and to date, he remains a trusted member of the security network.
The Liberian women therefore reiterate, “We call on the government and President Weah to demonstrate accountability for gender equality by taking the following actions end impunity and as well hold government officials and all those who have proximity to power including Kemayah accountable for sexual allegations.”
The women maintain that those public officials involved must be dismissed from their posts with assurances that they will go through due processes and ensure that the sexual offender’s registry is set up so that the Ministry of Gender does not only have a Domestic Violence Fund to support victims of abuse but also a fund to support timely access to justice, invest in the Referral Pathway and provide periodic public report on the implementation of the SGBV roadmap.
