Author: Wonderr K. Freeman, Attorney, CFCS

This is one article that I feel awful writing about. It fills me with shame to write about my country – that the rule of law is not upheld, or at best, the law is applied in a discriminatory manner. It is very disheartening to write about Liberia, where crimes are committed with impunity while the public’s only recourse is to await the US government’s regular sanctions.[1] It gives me absolutely no pleasure to be counted as a Liberian – a country that awaits American sanctions as the only remaining option to curb corruption. But I’m going to write it anyhow. I’m going to speak out anyhow. To me, it’s like the job of the hangman or the undertaker; somebody has got to do it. So, as a Liberian nonconformist, I take it upon myself to suggest some names of Government of Liberia (GOL) officials that meet all the criteria for US sanctions. Right now, in Liberia, and much like the recent past, Liberian officials are having a field day stealing the country’s meager resources. Of course, we have the Police (LNP), the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), and an Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), but they won’t act. The ingrained political culture is that ruling party bigwigs are untouchable. By looking the other way, the officials of our law enforcement and prosecution agencies “show their gratitude” to the ruling party for appointing them to such high-level GOL positions.

Sovereignty and Intervention

Liberia is a “sovereign” country alright, but this is true only on technicalities. Functionally, a “sovereign” Liberian state does not exist. The state is dysfunctional. Corruption is rampant. Poverty abounds, and worst of all, the public officials pay “lip service” to the rule of law. At the very best, when the authorities choose to apply the law, they do so in a discriminatory manner – prosecuting only people who are not members of the ruling party. Ruling party members are free to commit as many crimes as they can; their party membership is their guarantee of impunity. The national police and the prosecution services see themselves as an “arm” of the ruling party. Such governing arrangement causes civil strife, as Liberia experienced between 1989 and 2003. Even more poignantly, state dysfunction causes excruciating poverty, occasioned by unemployment, destitution, and disease. In contemporary Liberia, this is the case of both ruling parties – the Congress for Democratic Change of George Weah (2018-2023) and the Unity Party of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (2006-2017) and the current Unity Party of Joseph Nyumah Boakai (2024 – Present).

Having seen Liberian public officials sabotaging Liberia’s sovereignty, the United States government reached the conclusion – that the rule of law, literally, does not exist in Liberia – and, as such, they will intervene to lessen the impact of this misrule. Such [foreign] interventions are necessary, if not to alleviate the unnecessary poverty and destitution, but at the very least, to “name and shame” the major culprits – and subject them to public ridicule and disdain. Of course, in Africa, such actions by Western governments are frequently termed “neocolonialist” and “imperialist” (amongst other names). However, international law has shifted significantly since the days when “independence and sovereignty” were pretexts to govern one’s kinsmen in criminal and inhuman manners. For example, under the Rome Statute, interventions are justified when national authorities show “unwillingness or inability … to prosecute”[2]. Using this unwillingness or inaction as a basis for admissibility, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has not hesitated to nab a few “big shots” across Africa. Unsurprisingly, many African politicians deride these ICC interventions as “neocolonialist and imperialist[3]. The US government, for its part, has had a long history of exercising extraterritorial jurisdiction on corruption (i.e., the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [1977]), and more recently on human rights – with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights and Accountability Act (2012). Yet still, the US has other tools in the sanction’s toolbox, such as the Executive Order (#13818) and Section 7031(c.) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, plus [Continuing Appropriations Act, 2024.

Qualifying Conditions for US Sanctions

The US government has many sanction programs, but when you synthesize them, they boil down to four conditions (at least in the case of Liberia). Looking at these qualifying conditions, it seems that many current Unity Party government officials meet all the qualifications. So far, from the nine recent sanctions already levied by the US government, any three of the four [qualifying] conditions below are sufficient to get one’s name included on the sanctions list.

1. Complicity in gross human rights abuse(s)
2. Complicity in acts of significant corruption 

1. Soliciting, Offering, and Accepting Bribes
2. Misappropriating state’s assets for personal gain
3. Influence peddling
4. Awarding illegal contracts and concessions
5. Offering contracts for kickbacks
6. Illegal salaries, benefits, and stipend
7. Blocking prosecution
8. Manipulating legislative processes and public funding
9. Pressuring anti-corruption investigators to halt investigations
10. Paying out undocumented cash to officials
11. Using GOL money to fund personal projects
12. Hindering law enforcement, destroying and/or tampering with evidence

3. Occupying a top-level government position (elected or appointed)

4. Unwillingness and incapacity of the Government of Liberia (GOL) to take meaningful action – to charge, arrest and prosecute alleged offenders

Current Top GOL Candidates Auditioning for US Sanctions

1. Ms. Mamaka Bility

Mamaka Bility is the current Deputy Minister of State (Office of the President). Using her high-ranking status and proximity to the President of Liberia, Ms. Bility and others concocted a fraudulent scheme to force on the Liberian populace 285 pieces of earth-moving equipment (i.e., yellow machines) with a hefty price tag of USD 80m. In this scheme, Mamaka and others negotiated to purchase and distribute 285 yellow machines at 19 units per county (15 counties). Firstly, Liberia has both an Executive Law, Title 12, chp. 25, §25.1-25.4, and a Local Government Act of 2018 (LGA 2018). Together, these laws mandate the incorporation of local stakeholders in the economic planning and development of the counties (provinces). The Minister of Internal Affairs, the county superintendents, and other county officials are responsible for the development agenda of counties. On top of that, Liberia has a Public Procurement and Concession Act (2005, 2010) and related [Amended] Regulations (2014) – in addition to the Public Financial Management Act (2009) and the Annual Budget Law. These laws govern how public money is spent.

Mamaka Bility, notwithstanding these laws and the Constitution of Liberia, in collusion with others, and with the apparent acquiescence and approbation of the President of Liberia, Mr. Joseph N. Boakai Sr., illegally negotiated the dubious USD 80m deal and caused the machines to be brought to Liberia in contravention of the all the listed statutes and the Constitution. In her attempt to get as big a kickback as she could get, it did matter to her the land mass of each county or the estimated population; each county was entitled to nineteen machines. So Grand Kru County and Rivercess Counties, for example, with populations of 109k and 90k persons, respectively, were to get an equal number of “yellow machines” as Bong and Nimba Counties, with populations of 467k and 621k, respectively. Utterly illogical! But logic was the least of Ms. Bility’s concerns. What mattered most was her desire to maximize the expected kickbacks.

Moreover, it’s very clear that President Boakai will take neither administrative action nor legal action. As a matter of fact, he is just as complicit in Ms. Bility’s grand corruption scheme. The MOJ and the LACC will also not act either. After all, under Liberia’s decadent political culture, they are expected to show “gratitude” to the President for their preferment. Looking the other way as ruling party bigwigs commit crimes is one sure way of showing their “gratitude.” There is no doubt in my mind that Ms. Bility meets all the criteria for being included in the US targeted sanctions list. Mamaka Bility is (1) a senior-level GOL official, who is (2) complicit in acts of significant corruption, and (3) the GOL (i.e., LNP, MOJ, LACC, and the Office of the President) has done and will do absolutely nothing to bring her to justice.

• Mr. Sylvester Grigsby

Mr. Sylvester Grigsby is the current Minister of State for Presidential Affairs (Office of the President. Under the previous Unity Party government – led by Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (206-2017) – Mr. Grigsby served in a similar capacity. Like his key deputy, Ms. Mamaka Bility, Mr. Grigsby is equally complicit in the USD 80m yellow machines deal. When Liberia’s National Legislature sought to exercise its oversight responsibility by investigating Mr. Grigsby and others implicated in the illegal deal, the President, Mr. Boakai, intervened to undermine a lawful investigation by writing a letter to the Legislature incriminating himself as the mastermind of the illegal operations. President Boakai, seemingly oblivious to the fact that criminal culpability is individualistic, and similarly oblivious to his constitutional duty to uphold the laws of Liberia, wrote a letter which purports to explain the “yellow machine” deal as his [personal] undertaking. He wrote viz:

… The initiative originated from a conversation between me and a long-time friend who shares a commitment to the ARREST Agenda. This friend was moved by the spirit of solidarity and a strong desire to participate in the implementation, in the shortest possible time, of our development agenda. He offered to provide equipment in good faith and on a gentleman’s agreement.

…We are currently in the negotiation phase. No formal agreement or contract has been signed with any party. The discussions are ongoing, and no financial commitment has been made by the Government of Liberia and not a dime paid.

This letter by President Boakai is not only self-incriminating but also a blatant attempt to obstruct justice and to disrupt an official public function—both of which are proscribed under the penal code (New Penal Law 1972). But this, too, is Liberia, where the rule of law has little to no meaning.

And this is not all of Mr. Grigsby’s transgressions. Even before the inauguration, the pair – President-elect Boakai and his then “Senior Advisor” Grigsby – wrote another letter – this time signed by Mr. Grigsby – seeking to coerce the Director of the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP) to purchase vehicles for Mr. Boakai’s “inauguration”. It beats the imagination as to where cometh Mr. Grigsby’s authority to request NASSCORP to redirect pensioners’ funds for the purchase of 5 SUVs for “inauguration”, while serving as “Senior Advisor”. As a matter of fact, the post of “Senior Advisor” to the President-elect is not even statutory.

Mr. Grigsby’s corruption exploits have been well documented across the media landscape in and out of Liberia. It’s evident that President Boakai will take neither administrative nor legal action. As a matter of fact, he is just as complicit in Mr. Grigsby’s numerous acts of corruption. The MOJ and the LACC will also not act. As I’ve intoned repeatedly, under Liberia’s political culture, they are expected to show “gratitude” to the President for their preferment. There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Sylvester Grigsby meets all the criteria for being included in the US targeted sanctions list. Mr. Grigsby is (1) a senior-level GOL official, who is (2) complicit in acts of significant corruption, and (3) the GOL (i.e., LNP, MOJ, LACC, and the Office of the President) has done and will do absolutely nothing to bring him to justice.

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• Mr. Roland Lafayette Giddings

Mr. Roland Lafayette Giddings is Liberia’s current Minister of Public Works. He was also Deputy Minister (Public Works [2012-2017]). In his position as Public Works Minister, Mr. Giddings grossly ignored the Annual Budget law, the PFM Act (2009), the PPCC Act (2005, 2010), Amended Regulation (2014) and awarded USD 22m in works contract illegally. When the National Legislature summoned him, Mr. Giddings admitted to awarding illegal contracts.  For his illegal acts, the Liberian House of Senate requested an “apology” and “urged” Mr. Giddings “not to repeat same”. The Liberian senate seemed to have resolved the Giddings’s illegal acts with an illegal act of their own – the granting of pardon for committing a felony. Under Liberia law, statutory violations should be investigated by the MOJ, LACC, or the LNP, depending on the nature of the offense. Under the PPCC Act (2005, 2010), §138(1) a violation of the PPCC Act (2005, 2010) is an offense (i.e., punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment and a fine of up to USD 100k). Furthermore, a statute need not “say” felony. Once the alleged act is punishable by more than one year of imprisonment, it is deemed a felony (Liberian Codes of Law Revised, 1LCLR §50.1, Classification of Offenses).

Again, regarding “reprieves and pardons”, the Liberian constitution (art 59) provides viz:

The President may remit any public forfeitures and penalties suspend and fines and

sentences, grant reprieves and pardons, and restore civil rights after conviction for

all public offenses, except impeachment.

The law is clear. Let’s make this even clearer: (1) only the President can pardon, and (2) the pardon can only come after a conviction. The allegations against Mr. Giddings, when proven in a court of law, amount to a felony, and the Liberian legislature has no constitutional or statutory authority to pardon – whether before or after conviction. The allegations against Mr. Giddings are serious and warrant investigation and prosecution. But the President will not act. Mr. Giddings had argued that he was implementing a presidential directive, although seemingly illegal. Mr. Giddings meets all the criteria for being included in the US targeted sanctions list. Mr. Giddings is (1) a senior-level GOL official who is (2) complicit in acts of significant corruption, and (3) the GOL (i.e., LNP, MOJ, LACC, and the Office of the President) has done and will do absolutely nothing to bring him to justice.

WATCH OUT FOR MORE NAMES IN PART 2

Minnesota, USA @ 09.29.2024

Annex 1: Summary of Liberia government officials sanctioned by the USA.

No	Name	Sanction Type	Details of Alleged Unlawful Conduct & Illegal Activities	# of Days Under     [US] Sanctions
1	SHERMAN, Harry Varney Gboto-Nambi	GLOMAG [Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act]	Bribery, influence peddling; complicity in corruption; misappropriation of state assets; corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.	1368
2	JOHNSON, Prince Yormie	GLOMAG [Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act]	Pay-for-Play funding schemes involving millions (USD); Laundering illegal money from GOL agencies; Illegal  salary for intelligence without work; Illegal salary for guaranteeing “domestic stability”; selling votes for cash	1008
3	CEPHUS, Sayma Syrenius	GLOMAG [Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act]	Receiving bribes to drop pending criminal cases, shielding money launderers, hindering law enforcement, blocking prosecutions of suspects, evidence tampering, withholding exculpatory evidence when prosecuting opposition politicians (aka, abusing the legal system for personal gain)	762
4	MCGILL, Nathaniel Farlo	GLOMAG [Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act]	Offering bribes, accepting bribes, contracts for kickbacks, abusing procurement laws, soliciting bribes, misappropriation of GOL assets for personal gain, use of GOL money to fund personal projects, making off-the-books payments in cash to other senior GOL officials, organizing ex-warlords to threaten political rivals, receiving unjustified stipends, evidence destruction, evidence tempering, paying out undocumented cash to other GOL officials	762
5	TWEAHWAY, Bill	GLOMAG [Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act]	Diversion of NPA storage fees (US$1.5m) to private account, awarding illegal contracts, concealing criminal proceeds using family members, complicity in corruption	762
6	KOIJEE, Jefferson Tamba	GLOMAG [Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act], plus Executive Order #13818	Engaged in serious human rights abuse and corruption, bribery and misappropriation of state assets for personal gain, and pressuring anti-corruption investigators to halt all corruption investigations.	289
7	TWEAH, Samuel D.	Section 7031(c.) of Dept of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, plus [Continuing Appropriations Act, 2024]	Engaged in 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	286
8	CHIE, Albert	Section 7031(c.) of Dept of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, plus [Continuing Appropriations Act, 2024]	Engaged in 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	286
9	NUQUAY, Emmanuel	Section 7031(c.) of Dept of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, plus [Continuing Appropriations Act, 2024]	Engaged in 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	286

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[1] Over the past five years, the US government have sanctioned nine GOL officials. For details see ANNEX-1

[2] Rome statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 17

[3] The African criticism seems self-serving and illogical given the fact that 33 out of the Statute 124 member states are African countries.

Wonderr K. Freeman is a Liberian Investment Attorney, Political Economist, Accountant, and Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS) currently based in Minneapolis, USA. Mr. Freeman’s professional interests span the intersection of law and economics, including the political economy of development, economic justice, international trade/investment law, and financial crimes law. He can be reached at [email protected]. He blogs at https://wonderrfreeman.com