Claim: The police appoint the first Female spokesperson
Verdict: Misleading, Cecelia Clarke is the third female spokesperson and not the first.
Full Text: The Liberia National Police named its new spokesperson on May 1, 2024, replacing Moses Carter, who served for at least 6 years.
After the pronouncement, several media outlets reported that Cecelia Clarke, the new police spokesperson, is the first female to serve in said position.
Clarke is the former president of the Reporters Association of Liberia and was an anchor and director of television at the Liberia Broadcasting System, where she served for over five years. She is currently studying law at the Lewis Arthur Grimes School of Law.
The claim is found here, here, here, and heard here (7:32’).
Verification: Archie Williams, a Liberian historian, disclosed that Clarke would be the fourth female spokesperson for the police in the 1960s.
He said that in the 1960s, the country got its first female crime reporter and spokesperson but he couldn’t remember the name.
Williams disclosed that in 1997, Yvonne Stewart Barh was named the second, while Asatu Bah-Kenneth was the third female spokesperson.
Additionally, Ansu Konneh, a journalist, confirmed that both Stewart and Bah-Kenneth served in similar positions before Clarke.
Williams then said that in contemporary Liberia, Clarke is the third.
We contacted Madam Stewart-Barh, who said she was the first spokesperson for the police. “As far as my memory serves me, l was the first female to serve in that position. I was in that position when it was changed from public relations to community service. I even went to the States for training. Later, I was promoted to deputy director, with the community services under my command.”
Conclusion: It is a fact that Clarke is not the first female spokesperson of the Liberia National Police; there have been female spokespersons before Clarke.
