Koijee Breaks Silence on U.S. Treasury Department’s Latest Sanctions Against Him
Barely three days after the recent sanctions by the United States Department of Treasury were imposed on him; the Mayor of the City of Monrovia, Jefferson Koijee, has opened up stating that he sees the latest sanctions as a conspiracy of sustained propaganda plotted out against him to the U.S. Government.
Though the Monrovia City Mayor, Koijee failed to figure out names he claimed had plotted to cause him victim to the U.S. latest sanctions; according to him, he remains innocent of every allegation placed on him by the U.S. Treasury Department.
On Friday, December 8, 2023, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of Treasury in a release designated several individuals around the World for alleged offenses against their domestic states which included the Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee.
The latest sanctions accused Major Koijee of human rights violations and abuses, bribery, and misappropriation of state funds against the Liberian State.
Speaking on Monday, December 12th in Monrovia, when he broke his silence, the Ruling CDC’s Secretary General, and City Mayor Koijee intoned that if the recent sanctions are maybe perceived and intended to intimidate him; he remains invigorated in championing the interests of Liberian people.
“Officially, the Party will be stating its position and the Government will also state her position. So, while we wait on for those two major positions, we can safely say to you our people; we are a victim of a sustained malicious propaganda that has consummated into what is known as sanction”, Koijee speaks out.
Commenting on what he believes to be a plot worked out against him, Koijee states “We can say to them clearly, if this was a tactic of intimidation, if this was a tactic of trying to break us down; we want to say try harder. We have gotten more invigorated, stimulated, and preparing for whatever may come but we shall never turn our back neither shall go on our kneels. We are prepared to stand up perhaps more than ever before”.
In furtherance, Jefferson Koijee used the medium to urge conscious-minded Liberians to remain calm about the sanctions, stating that people he termed his conspirators would not succeed in pushing him down.
“We want to say remain calm on this issue of sanction, wait until the party can speak, a lot of you were concerned, whether partisans or supporters, we will inform you subsequently and we can certainly assure you we are innocent about everything they have said about us”, he added.
The latest sanctions U.S. came on the day of the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights capturing scores of individuals who committed alleged offenses in their nation-states.
Liberian officials in most recent years under the CDC Administration continued to be hit by the U.S. Treasury Department sanctions; in addition to this, three top officials on Monday, December 11th including Finance Minister, Samuel Tweah, Senate Protempt, Albert Chie, and Senator-Elect of Margibi County Emmanuel Nuquay were also sanctioned for alleged corruption and abusing public positions among others.
Meanwhile, with the recent sanctions placed on Jefferson Koijee, it can also be counted that in August of 2022, the U.S Department of Treasury sanctioned the likes of Former Minister of State Nathaniel Mcgill, Former Managing Director of the Free Port of Monrovia, Bill Twehway, and Former Liberian Chief Prosecutor Syrenuis Cephas who were alleged of corruption, misappropriation of public funds among other offenses.
W. Roland James is a Journalist by Profession; a Public Speaker and Interested-Advocate, who is determing to render essential conderable service to the Liberian Society.
He has a passion in Sports reporting, Human interest stories and overall reports from all sectors of relative to the field of journalism. He stands by the belief in the profession that ‘’The Public journal is a public trust; and that a journalist shoud only writes what he/she holds in heart to be true’’.