The recent sanction imposed by the US Department of Treasury on Jefferson Koijee, the mayor of Monrovia City, has been characterized by controversial Liberian opposition lawmaker Yekeh Kolubah as being unwarranted and maybe intended to silence critics within the upcoming opposition community.
The U.S. Department of Treasury’s most recent sanction, which tracked records of human violations and abuses dating back to 2018, according to the representative for Montserrado County District #10, was to be imposed in due course, particularly since the alleged act by the mayor of Monrovia City affected the Liberian people.
Representative Yekeh Kolubah claims that the timing of the sanction is “belated” when the nation is getting ready to hand over power from one government to another, citing his perception of it as such.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of Treasury designated Jefferson Koijee, the Secretary General of the outgoing CDC Administration and Mayor of Monrovia City, in a release on Friday, December 8, 2023. The allegations included bribery, misappropriation of state funds, and violations and abuses of human rights from 2018 to 2020, among other years.
The blunt-spoken Representative went on to say that, despite what he saw as the recent U.S. punishment, he is still an independent voice in opposition, working to keep the incoming Boakai-Koung Administration’s feet on the fire.
“Yesterday, The U.S. government sanctioned Jefferson Koijee, we want to say is belated that if they thought in their minds anything that was going on that was harming the Liberian People they should have taken action at that time.”
“I hope the sanction is not to be like they want to quiet people not to criticize the Boakai’s regime. We want to say to the American Government if that is what it is for you have to put sanctions on me too because we will be there we will protest peacefully. Because the time we needed the sanction the time we thought we were being suppressed, the time we thought we were being harassed the sanction did not come”, he stressed.
In an interview with numerous media outlets, just twenty-three hours following the U.S. sanctions against the mayor of Monrovia City, Representative Kolubah stated, “We see it coming and we want to tell them thank you but, it is belated,” adding that he interprets it as an attempt to shield the next government.
Jefferson Koijee, the mayor of Monrovia City, has not yet spoken out about the latest sanctions imposed on him, which many believe may prevent him from criticizing when the CDC ought to be among the opposition group.
The sanction came in a day before the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which other names around the World were captured by the U.S Treasury Department for alleged offenses committed in their domestic states.
This makes it four senior government officials from the Executive Branch of the Weah administration for various violations that the US Government has imposed sanctions on.
The U.S. Treasury Department also imposed sanctions in August of last year against former Liberian chief prosecutor Syrenius Cephus, former managing director of the Freeport of Monrovia Bill Twehway, and former minister of state Nathanial Mcgill for bribery, corruption, and misappropriation of public funds, among other offenses.
The U.S. Treasury Department detained other names worldwide for suspected crimes committed in their jurisdictions, and the sanction was imposed just one day before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 75th anniversary.
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’’.