— As Disenchantment Growns Over Protection of Dee-Maxwell Kemayah in Sexual Harassment Case

IPNEWS: In the aftermath of Monday’s, November 6, altercation by Mrs.  Wynee Cummings Wilson, and staff at Liberia’s Permanent Mission, which led to the call in of the New Yorke Police Department to stop an unruly scene at the Mission, Foreign Minister Dee-Maxwell Kemayah had always accused his principal deputy of undermining his authority threatening to ensure his dismissal Hon. Henry Fahnbulleh as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The internal fight begins more vivid when Mrs.  Wynee Cummings Wilson placed a call to Deputy Minister, to authenticate her status at the Liberia Permanent Mission after several staff at the Mission led by Mrs. Maggie Gibson-Glay, Secretary in the officer of the Liberia’s Permanent Ambassador’s Secretary office. During the phone call, Minister Fahnbulleh tried to convince officer of the NYPD about Mrs.  Wynee Cummings Wilson status before the abruptly canceled.

Mrs.  Wynee Cummings Wilson has accused Mr. Maxwell Kemayah of sexual harassment since May 2022.

In a live video circulated on social media, Mrs.  Wynee Cummings Wilson, the accuser of Foreign Minister Dee-Mazwell Kemayah, resisted efforts by some of the staff at the Mission to prevent her entry at the mission on orders of Minister Kemayah, even though she claimed to still be an employee at the Liberia Permanent Mission since the incident of May 2022.

Mrs. Wilson alleged that Mrs. Maggie Gibson-Glay, Secretary to the Permanent Representative, and another staff identified as Sarah, were instructed by Minister Kemayah to prevent her entry into the mission even though she remains a staff of the Mission, a claim denied by Mrs. Glay.

Before Monday’s altercation at the Mission, sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia told the authoritative Independent Probe that Minister Kemayah is allegedly “interfering” in the day-to-day operations of the Liberian Permanent Mission to the UN.

It is also alleged that since he is unable to travel to the U.S., where police are reportedly prepared to question him over the sexual harassment allegations lodged against him, the Liberian Chief diplomat has resorted to “intimidating tactics” to generate confusion that will ultimately breed internal confusion to silence a few perceived not to be alongside his way.

Subsequently on Wednesday, November 8, the Liberia Permanent Mission at the United Nations, with offices in New Yorke issued a statement claiming that Mrs. Wynee Cummings Wilson, is an intern who claims to be an employee of the mission.

“The Ministry would like to refute the falsehood that Madam Wynee Cummings Wilson is spreading that she is an employee of the Permanent Mission and that she has been witch-hunted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Liberia,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release said.

“The truth is, Madam Wynee Cummings Wilson was never an employee of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Liberia to the United Nations (UN), as she might want the public to believe, but rather was accepted as an ‘apprentice’ since she pleaded with the mission to afford her the opportunity to learn more about the United Nations system, where she desires to seek a future career.

“However, on June 7, 2023, the ministry informed and reminded Madam Wilson to submit all relevant documents to enable the ministry to regularize her employment status at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Liberia to the United Nations.

“The communication further informed Madam Wilson of the requirements of the host country, the United States of America, and the United Nations Protocol for registration and completion of the employment process, which includes the following: a green card or citizenship, work authorization, the most recent I-94 record, a valid passport, a visa to approve an employee’s registration at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, and to facilitate the issuance of an identification card, along with a complete registration with the UN Protocol and Liaison Service.”

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, Mrs. Wilson has so far submitted only her work authorization for the period 2022–2023. Unfortunately, as of the stated deadline of June 30, 2023, she was unable to submit all the other documents required. This claim has not been independently confirmed by IPNEWS.

“Therefore, the Ministry is notifying you, Ms. Wynee Cummings Wilson, by this communication, that as of July 1, 2023, the Ministry would remove your name from the compensation of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Liberia to the United Nations,” the ministry’s release disclosed.

The Ministry further intoned that at the Permanent Mission in New York, where Madam Wilson has been serving as an ‘apprentice’ since 2019, the Ministry received information that the mission has verbally held meetings with Wilson and repeatedly requested her to submit an application for the post she wished to occupy as well as all necessary immigration documentation in her possession since there is nothing in her file so as to regularize her status with the mission.

“The Permanent Mission, or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is not in possession of a copy of any appointment letter addressed to Madam Wilson,” the foreign ministry continued, noting that she is the only person at the Permanent Mission without an identification card because she has refused to submit any documentation to the Permanent Mission but rather has informed the “Mission to instruct the Ministry to employ her and not play game with her”.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that similar actions have been taken at other missions around the world where the host countries’ protocol call for time limit to stay in a country as a diplomat or staff, to include London, Washington, D.C., Addis Ababa and Abidjan, where affected staff have been very cooperative with administration.

Contrary to this claim, an investigation conducted by the authoritative Independent Probe Newspaper, has revealed that Ms. Wynee Cummings Wilson has been employed with the permanent mission when she has been on government’s payroll over the last 4 years.

However, several Liberians have expressed their disenchantment over delays by the President Weah and the prosecution arm of the government-Ministry of Justice to institute an impartial investigation into the continued accusation of sexual harassment by Foreign Minister Dee-Maxwell Kemayah.

“The recourse to the sexual harassment allegation is for government to exercise the political will to launch an independent investigation and subject the Minister Kemayah to an investigation. Why will Kemayah resist an independent inquiry when he’s done nothing wrong?”

“What surprises me is, why is all the silence from all the female lawyers, Human Right Groups on this allegation of sexual Harassment involving the keeper of our country’s seal? A long time Foreign Service official questions.

According to information obtained from confidential sources at the Foreign Ministry in Monrovia, Foreign Minister Kemayah has issued personal instructions to a driver at the Liberian Permanent Mission to regularly pick up Deputy Head of Mission Maggie Gibson Glay from her residence to the mission for work in disregard of standing orders from the Acting Head of the Mission Ms. Cecelia McGill that only the Acting Head of Mission is assigned a driver.

The decision, according to the source, effectively undercut the authority of Ms. McGill who has reportedly drawn the ire of Minister Kemayah over her refusal to conspire to write an official letter to the U.S. Government to try to keep the spouse of the Foreign Minister in the U.S. after Ms. Kemayah was declared “persona non grata” by the State Department and asked to voluntarily leave.

Ms. Kemayah and her family left the U.S. in March and are reported to be in the West African sub-region without a new assignment but being paid by the Government of Liberia as a U.S.-based diplomat.

For more than two years now there has been silence since September 14, 2020, when Mrs.  Wynee Cummings Wilson a staff at the Liberian Permanent mission in New York, complained about being ‘sexually harassed’, by the now Foreign Minister of the Republic of Liberia, Dee- Maxwell Kemayah

Barely 48 hours after the accusation, the government of Liberia acknowledged it had officially received a complaint of sexual harassment from the staff at Liberia’s Permanent Mission in the United States, against then Ambassador Dee-Maxwell Kemayah, yet little has been heard about the status of the investigation.

In her communication to the Ministry of Gender investigation session in September 2020, Mrs. Wynee Cummings Wilson alleged that then Foreign Minister designate, Ambassador Dee-Maxwell Kemayah sexually harassed her.

In a state radio interview on Monday, September 14, 2020, Deputy Presidential Press Secretary, Smith Toby said the Ministry of Gender has been mandated to investigate the allegation. However, Mr. Toby disclosed that President Weah had not withdrawn the appointment of Ambassador Kemayah as Foreign Minister Designate in the face of the sexual allegation.

Kemayah’s Legal Team Denies Allegations

According to the complaint, Ms. Wilson alleged that on several occasions Mr. Kemayah would lock his office door and ask her to kiss him, but she refused.

Kemayah’s legal team took exception to the claims and wondered why Ms. Wilson wasted too much time without reporting the event to the police until he (Kemayah) was nominated for the Foreign Minister position.

“Throughout his more than 28 years of experience in the private, public, and international arena, this is the only allegation ever,” the legal group said.

According to Kemayah’s legal team, every time Ms. Wilson tells her story it becomes more and more embellished.

However, she has never mentioned that she has been disciplined by the Ambassador and staff at the Mission.

Ms. Wilson and the Secretary even agreed to have every communication between them documented because according to the Secretary, Ms. Wilson always gives different versions of what her boss, the Secretary, tells her.

The team added that Ambassador Kemayah has told Ms. Wilson on numerous occasions to get close to her boss, the secretary, but she has allegedly refused to work with Mrs. Maggie Gibson-Glay, the Ambassador’s Secretary.

“As we stated in our September 4, 2020, email to Ms. Wilson our client denies these false allegations. All further communications shall be directed to this law firm so that the Ambassador can continue to focus on his work.”