Claim: “Dismissal of MCC Employees Total Violation of Code of Conduct and a Usurpation of the Function of the Ombudsman”
Claim 2: “9 MCC Staff Dismissed for Insulting President Boakai”
Source: Acarous Moses Gray, former Representative, of Montserrado County District #8
Full Text: Gray, former Representative of District #8 Montserrado County, who is an executive member of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), made two claims on August 15 and 16, 2024, on his official Facebook handle.
He claimed that nine Monrovia City government employees were fired for insulting President Boakai and that this dismissal undermines the function of the ombudsman established by President Boakai and, by extension, the Code of Conduct.
Joseph N. Boakai, on April 5, 2024, in an Executive Mansion release nominated Cllr. Findley Karngar as Chairperson of the Office of the Ombudsman, addresses the lack of implementation infrastructure in the COC for public officials. The office will supervise enforcement and impose sanctions for infractions.
On August 8, 2024, marking a significant step toward government transparency and accountability, President Boakai issued a proclamation creating the office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman investigates and addresses complaints against government agencies, promoting ethical standards, fair dispute resolution, and good governance. The Ombudsman’s office was nearly operational during President Sirleaf’s second term but was delayed due to an unqualified nominee.
According to Gray, MCC fired nine of its employees without any complaints to the Ombudsman’s office, which he said was outside the CoC and Labor Law of Liberia.
The post had attracted 71 views, 129 comments, and 26 shares at the time of the check.
Claim#2: On Thursday, August 15, 2024, Gray also made another claim that 9 MCC staff were dismissed for insulting President Boakai. This claim attracted 128 reactions, 158 comments, and 4 shares as of the time of our research.
Verification: On August 13, 2024, the MCC issued a letter of termination to nine of its employees. Those affected include Boye Kokoi, Alpha Gray, Henry Y. Sarlie, Yaya Sesay, Richard Singbeh, Foday N. Massaquoi, Kendrick Pelenah, Aaron K. Chea, and Ben Togba.
The letter said, “Your employment service with the Monrovia City Corporation is at this moment terminated with immediate effect. Said termination emanates from your consistent and deliberate action portrayed on social media by enraging insults at His Excellency Ambassador Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., President of the Republic of Liberia, and government officials, including the Government of Liberia, relentlessly without any regard for your official position… of the Monrovia City Corporation.”
It further emphasized that “this demonstrates your gross disregard for your statutory duties and responsibilities and amounts to ethical violations and gross breaches of your duty as contained in the Monrovia City Corporation’s Human Resource Policy and the Labor Law of Liberia.
This administrative action is in consonance with Chapter 6, Section 6.2 of the COC “Neutrality & Participation in Strike and Protest” of the Human Resource Policy Manual of the Monrovia City Corporation and the Labor Law Section 1508; dismissal of an employee, subsection 6 (c). Neutrality & Participation in Strike and Protest” of the Human Resource Policy Manual of the Monrovia City Corporation and the Labor Law Section 1508; dismissal of an employee, subsection 6 ( c ).
According to the CoC Act of 2014, “ Part XII: The provision requires the creation of the office of an Ombudsman, an independent, autonomous body with the responsibility to enforce, oversight, monitor, and evaluate, and shall receive and investigate all complaints in respect in adherence to the COC.
The establishment of the Ombudsman office was based on Article 90 (c ) of the 1986 constitution of Liberia, which provides that “ the legislature shall, in pursuance of the above provision, prescribe a code of conduct for all public officials and employees, stipulating the acts which constitute conflicts of interest or are against public policy, and the penalties for violation thereof.”
The above provision means the office is to preside over issues emulating from the executive branch of government.
For instance, in 2022, a criminal court in Monrovia dismissed crimes of money laundering, inside trading, market manipulation, and conflict of interest charges against Davietta Browne Lansanah, chairperson of the election governing body of Liberia, due to the absence of the ombudsman office that should look into the merits and demerits of such issues.
Judge Ciapha Carey agreed with Lansanah’s lawyers in a motion before him that the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter, hence the case was dismissed.
Relative to the claim about all nine officials being dismissed for insulting the president, we found eight of the nine letters to that effect.
We found that eight of the nine communications of the dismissed employees showed that all eight individuals were dismissed for insulting the president and other government officials on social media and all the letters carry the same date.
To further authenticate the assertion by Gray, The Stage Media contacted Kaipee Newray, the public relations officer for Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), on August 22, 2024, to confirm the report. Newray agreed to gather further information before responding to the claim.
On September 2, 2024, we tried reaching Newray through direct calls and WhatsApp without any signal, but that did not materialize.
We called directly on September 4, 2024, to get further information about this claim, but Newray told us to get in touch with the Human Resources Department’s head Mr. Hilary D. Womba.
We spoke with Mr. Womba directly and on WhatsApp on September 4, 2024. Regretfully, he has not responded to Acarous M. Gray’s accusation or even opened the message… Kindly see the screenshot below:
Gbarpolu Senator Amara Konneh termed the dismissal of the employees from MCC as wrong.
We also contacted Cllr. Findley Karngar, who is the head of the office of the Ombudsman.
Karngar said it is a violation of the code of conduct to release or speak to a matter when it is being investigated. When further asked whether they were investigating the matter, he declined to confirm but referred us to Article 6 of the COC.
Conclusion: Research finds that Gray was not wrong about nine employees being dismissed for insulting the president, nor was he wrong that the MCC’s action violated the COC for public officials.
