— As MICAT hosts visiting West African Media Executives
IPNEWS: Liberia has made former request to Interpol for the arrest of former Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah Jr.
Liberia’s Information Minister Jerolinmek M. Piah disclosed that the Government of Liberia has issued an “Interpol Alert’ for former Finance Minister Samuel Tweah for his refusal to appear and exonerate himself of the indictment drawn against former government officials.
Minister Piah indicated that when Mr. Tweah was indicted, he immediately took to social media to term the process as a witch-hunt, promising that the witch-hunt will be defeated by him and up to present, he has not been able to appear in an effort to prove his innocence.
“By the way, maybe you don’t know, an Interpol Alert has been issued for him”, the Information Minister disclosed on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, when he appeared on the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS).
The government’s spokesman emphasized that former Minister Tweah has written over 30 posts, describing the process as an attack on ex-officials and promised to come to clear himself from the indictment, something he said was welcoming because that is what needs to be done once someone is accused of a crime.
The MICAT boss argued that the time the Ex-Finance Minister is taking to write over 30 posts on social media, he would have taken that time to face the court to exonerate himself.
“Initially, in his social media post, he said, this witch hunt will be defeated in the court of laws, how long has it been?” the official spokeman of the Liberian Government asked.
According to him, ex-minister Tweah’s refusal to come to Liberia after being indicted is a disregard to the law, saying that’s a matter that is supposed to be settled through the court of competent jurisdiction will not be settled in the court of public opinion.
Minister Piah pointed out that it is very clear that anyone who is being accused of something is presumed innocent till proven guilty in the court of laws, adding that for the former Finance Minister to refuse to come is something that would be interpreted as an admission of the crime.
“You see, I am not a lawyer, but there is a common mindset from the law, they say if you flee an indictment, it is an admission of guilt. This is the reason why even if you are in Timbuktu, and they say you have been charged for a crime, come to exonerate yourself because if you run, the mindset says, it is an admission of guilt”, he indicated.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information states that the government will leave no stone unturned in restoring sanity of accountability and transparency in public service.
According to Minister Piah, it baffles him to hear people who believed and were using the rule of law yesterday to hold people accountable are now crying for witch-hunt, stating that the government is not witch-hunting but wants people to account for their stewardship.
He then called on Liberian citizens to support the process of accountability and transparency in government, advising that no citizen should be used to protest the process because holding people accountable is the right thing to do.
He disclosed that this is not the first time the Government of Liberia has held people accountable, explaining that in the past, people were held accountable and they submitted and exonerated themselves, noting that those accused former officials can do the same, if they believe that they have done no wrong.
However, he denounced that the government is witch-hunting people but rather acting based on audit reports from the General Auditing Commission and Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission.
In related development, Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah, Wednesday, August 14,2024 hosted a delegation of media leaders from the West African subregion under the auspices of the Media Foundation for West Africa.
The delegation, headed by renowned media development expert Prof. Kwame Karikari of Ghana, is in the country to ascertain the operational climate of the media under the Boakai-led Government.
The group heaped praises on the Liberian Government for what they termed as country’s democratic culture amidst the decline of democracy in the subregion.
They further indicated that Liberia has distinguished herself as a shining example and an inspiration to other countries for being the first in West Africa to legislate the freedom of information law and to decriminalize libel and other speech related offenses.
They noted that media freedom and unhindered access to public information should be the hallmark of the Government’s transparency and accountability agenda.
They said media freedom and free access to information would reinforce the Government’s anti-corruption campaign and advance the culture of transparency within Government and across Liberia.
The group’s Liberia partner, Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding (CEMESP), whose Executive Director, Malcolm Joseph was also part of the delegation, praised the Government of Liberia’s culture of openness and frank engagement with the media but expressed concern that Liberia continues to be stuck at the “partly free” rating level of Freedom House.
CEMESP hopes that the Government will do more to promote total media freedom including the improvement of the media economy, the transformation of the Liberia Broadcasting System into a public broadcaster and the establishment of an independent media commission to regulate media content.
These actions, CEMESP believes, will go a step further in advancing freedom in Liberia and would generate a “total freedom” rating for Liberia by Freedom House and other international transparency groups.
Information Minister Piah was quick to point out that Liberia, under the Boakai administration will continue to advance media and civic freedom and assured that, before the administration ends its term, Liberia will move from a partly free rating to total freedom.
Minister Piah noted that the Boakai administration was committed to advancing freedom across the country, including the freedom of the independent media and has begun to take concrete actions to address the economic stress facing the media as the nation’s economy improves.
Minister Piah thanked the group for their visit and admonished them to continue to see Liberia and the Ministry as a partner in advancing democratic culture in Liberia and across the subregion.
The other members of the visiting delegation were Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Rosemond Aryeetey, Programme Manager of the Media Foundation for West Africa and Christopher Isiguzo, President of Nigeria Union of Journalists.
