By Gideon Nma Scott, Jr.
‘Where there is smoke, there is fire’ is an age-old Liberian adage that denotes a warning, curiosity, or a sign of something familiar or unexpected, especially when your surrounding seems uncertain to fathom; others would say, “A hint to the wise is quite sufficient.”
But truly, there is smoke in some quarters of the Executive Mansion, especially in the office of the Presidential Press Secretary, Madam Kula Fofana, over misplacement or replacement of the names of some individuals who were designated to certain posts in the Boakai-led government.
Speculations have it that Fofana and another ranking female member of the Unity Party are behind the switching of presidential nominees to persons of their likings, something that prompted the President to question how his nomination of a Deputy Minister was switched to an Assistant Minister.
As part of his nomination, President Boakai nominated a Martha Morris as Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Health, but was changed to former Nimba County Representative, Roger Domah, at the time of the nomination of the Executive Mansion website, something that was allegedly blamed on Cornelia Kruah-Togba, though she denied the allegation.
During a meeting with some Senators at his EM office, the President said he was surprised to have heard that his nomination for the post of Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Health was changed to Roger Domah, noting that he did not nominate Roger, but rather, Madam Martha Morris, and called on the team at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs to immediately do the needful.
Article 54 of the 1986 Constitution of the Republic of Liberia gives the President of the Republic the exclusive right to appoint anyone whom he/she desires to help him/her in the administration of mandate of the people, and has the same rights to dismiss same for reason stated in the Constitution or otherwise.
So, the smoke in the corridors of the Mansion is worrisome to me because such dishonesty in the helm of the government emasculates the President’s quest for accountability, integrity, credibility, as well as honesty, and it has the propensity to undermine the ability of the President to lead.
I am also disturbed to know that people in the President’s office would want to sow seeds of doubts in their own government, which, if not weeded out, could lead to denting the government’s image and defame it at such an early stage.
But to save the government’s image by erecting blocks for excuses, Madam Presidential Press Secretary issued a press release on February 24, 2024 claiming that information surrounding the unsubstantiated suspension of Madam Kruah-Togba was unfounded, false, misleading, and was the work of fake news.
Howbeit, as we usually say here in Liberia, “Where there is smoke, there is fire”; I want the President
