By Gideon Nma Scott, Jr.
Here in Liberia, we say, “The same rope that hanged monkey, should hang baboon,” but our Western and European friends say, “What is good for the goose is good for the gander.” This is a 1670 etymology figuratively using goose/gander for women and men, and literally meaning that the same sauce applies equally well to cooked goose, regardless of sex. In other words, it is meant to say that one person or situation should be treated the same way that another person or situation is treated. If he can go out with his friends at night, then she should be able to go out with her friends at night too. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
So is the case with Lofa County Senator and former Defense Minister of Liberia, Brownie Jeffery Samukai, who was prosecuted and convicted for misappropriating thousands of United States dollars intended for the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), and the Director of the Executive Protection Service, Troken Roberts, who was accused of also mismanaging thousands of United States dollars deducted from the accounts of EPS officers.
In the case of Samukai, and despite paying his share of the amount, he, along with his deputies, Joseph Johnson and James Nyuman Ndokor, were convicted by the Supreme Court of Liberia, which handed them a two-year prison sentence and restitution of the funds. The court maintained, as the three were convicted together, they must return the funds together.
Montserrado County District 8 lawmaker said on a local radio that if Samukai was ever inducted as Senator of Lofa, “hair must grow in his palm.”
Many persons believe that the case was politically motivated by the President and his ruling Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) government, because Mr. Samukai was a staunch critic of incumbent President George Weah and a stalwart of the former ruling Unity Party. He was elected during the 2020 midterm Senatorial election, but was barred from taking his seat after he was found guilty of raiding the Army coffers.
“This is purely political! The people of Lofa are under-represented because our Senator-elect has been prevented from taking his seat, even though he’s already paid some of the money,” exclaimed Lofa resident, Yanquoi Flomuku.
But, in the tale of “No Head No Tail”, over US$300,000 in the EPS Development Account, which is a separate financial account established and solely operated by agents of the EPS, could not be accounted for under the watchful eyes of EPS Director, Troken Roberts. The account was initiated during the administration of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, when it was referred to as Mutual Aid and renamed EPS Development Fund during the George Weah administration.
The money was withdrawn from the account without the knowledge and consent of those contributing to the account, while an additional US$80,000 was withdrawn and also disbursed to another EPS personnel unaccounted for, coupled with the many discrepancies unearthed in the documents, including bank statements.
What is not clear is that it is reported that since the intervention of Director Roberts, 70 percent of the funds have been reclaimed and disbursed to the benefactors, but they are still left with 30 percent to be paid back to the agents, for which there is an agitation among the beneficiaries.
According to the EPS, it has been a tradition for members of that body to make a remittance of their monthly salary, from which they can obtain loans for productive and provident purposes at a fair interest rate of 5 percent, which was intended to be distributed among them at the end of the first tenure of President George M. Weah, but that is now a far-fetched plan.
Personnel of the EPS had threatened to hold the headquarters of the Service hostage before the transition, if their 30 percent mutual aid benefit is not paid.
Executive Protection Service (EPS), by law, is an elite force that protects VIPs, including the President, Vice president, and others, as deemed fit.
But the ‘tango-tango’ part in the saga is that the fund for over 800 EPS officers was mismanaged under the watch of James E. G. Helb, the son of former EPS Director, Victor Helb, who absconded Liberia after it was reported that the current Director Roberts had initiated an audit involving the Liberian National Police, the Financial Intelligence Agency, and the United Bank of Africa.
The Director of the Executive Protection Service (EPS), Trokon Nathaniel Roberts, says, in as much as servicemen are not to engaged in protest, it is a pity that personnel of the service are unable to get what justly belongs to them.
He said all this came to his attention when he took it upon himself to test the scheme by being a creditor, and because of how he got informed about his own deduction and when his payment would have elapsed, he decided to delve more by auditing, even though the initiative has a board and its signatories are not members of his leadership, but said his administration has persecutory power, as per the fund’s own handbook.
According to Director Roberts, it was during the investigation that he got to know that a parcel of land was even bought out of the money, which the heads of the initiative were reselling to agents.
Alexander T. Togba, the Aid Board Chair; Esther P. Chea, Chief of the Training and Firearms Division; Alex Togba (Co-Chair), Tony Morris (Credit Manager), James Paye (Financial Secretary), Joseph Weah (General Secretary), and Emmanuel Wesseh, Auditor to the Mutual Aid, were all custodians of the information being sought by Director Roberts.
With all of those connected to the fund, it was not possible for one person to corrupt the money, but the brain behind the entire syndicate is Helb, who is said to have fled to neighboring Ghana.
According to Chief of Police, Prince Mulbah, Helb’s case has become a nightmare to the entire investigation because of the connections, as it is like using police to clamp police, thereby placing the entire audit in a ‘catch 22’ situation.
After gathering information from the EPS on the matter, Officer Mulbah said the LNP established that James Helb has left Liberia for Ghana, noting, “James Helb has not been arrested, due to whatever reasons from our counterpart, we don’t know.”
With all this rigmarole, I believe that if the government, through the justice system, wanted to have gotten to the bottom of the case and bring those connected to the fraud to justice, it would have been so by now. But the lack of interest in bringing the prime suspect, James Helb, from Ghana, seems challenging because of the lack of political will on the part of the government.
Like in the case of Samukai, Director Roberts is guilty under the principle of “Superior Respondent” since he is the head of the entity under whose watch his deputy, James Helb, absconded with thousands of dollars belonging to officers of the EPS.
The servicemen filed an official complaint to the same government that prosecuted and convicted Samukai, but nothing has been done to remedy the case and it appears that the case is dying a natural death.
By now, I would have thought that a solution to the case would have been sought and the officers’ hard earned money would have been restituted.
I believe that “what is good for the goose should be good for the gander and the same rope that hanged monkey should hang baboon,” indicating that since Brownie Samukai and his colleagues were prosecuted for illegally taking monies from the AFL, also, those involved with the fraud at the EPS should be brought to justice.
*The thought of the son of a professional Kru woman
