Explainer: Women Voices Overstated Former LIS Boss Statement

 By: Fatorma Dunor, Lofa Fellow

Claim: “Ex-Senator Zargo Breaks Silence—Blames his removal from government on his refusal to arrest the former finance minister.”

Verdict: Exaggerated, the former LIS Boss's statement was being overstated by Women Voices and Facebook bloggers

Full Text: On March 24, 2025, the Women Voices Newspaper on its front page published an article claiming that former Lofa County senator and dismissed Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) boss, Stephen H. Zargo has broken the silence that his dismissal from the government was based on his refusal to arrest former Finance Minister,  Samuel D. Tweh 

Shortly after the newspaper publication, other Facebook users, including Shine Liberia also posted similar claims quoting Zargo as saying,  ‘’I’m now a Dismissed Immigration Boss because I refused and insisted that arresting Ex-Finance Minister for corruption wasn’t in line with Professional and Ethical Obligations.’’

The claim can be seen here, here, and here. As of the time of the check, on Shine Liberia’s page, the post generated 217 reactions, 137 comments, and 18 shares

Zargo is a former senator of Lofa County who was elected in 2014 and was voted out during the 2023 General and Presidential Elections. On February 20, 2024, he was appointed as Commissioner General of the LIS by President Joseph Nyumah Boakai, a position he served for under a year.

In July 2024, the Monrovia City Court indicted five former government officials, including former Finance Minister,  Tweh, National Security Advisor Jefferson Karmoh, former Solicitor General Cllr. Nyenati Tuan, ex-Comptroller of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIA) D. Moses P. Cooper, and former Director General of the Financial Intelligence Agency (FIA) Stanley Ford, for economic sabotage, theft, illegal disbursement and expenditure of public money, theft of property, criminal facilitation, and criminal conspiracy based on a complaint filed by the Liberian government through the Ministry of Justice.

Verification: On Sunday, March 23, 2025, a group of journalists from local media institutions in Lofa County had a media engagement with former Lofa County Senator Stephen H. Zargo. The Stage Media Lofa County Fellow, Fatorma Dunor, was among those journalists who interviewed Zargo.   

During the engagement, the journalists asked several questions surrounding his suspension as LIS boss and other national issues. 

In response, the senator began by thanking President Boakai for placing confidence in him to serve in government. 

Tokpa Tarnue, ELBC’s Lofa County correspondent, asked (21 minutes 11 seconds) the senator, saying, ’It has been heavily rumored that your suspension came as a result of some misappropriation of funds; at some point in time, you hear other groups talk about your refusal to arrest   Former Finance Minister Samuel Tweh when he had already returned to the country and then you have another account that talks about you sending back a Guinean who was here and reportedly got killed in Guinea; what can we know about this suspension?”

But the ex-immigration boss said none of the claims were true, adding that oral testimony cannot override what is written.

‘’None of this information is true… Oral testimony cannot vitiate what is written...and since we are in Lofa, when you put something on paper and someone talks about it by mouth, the people who talk about it by mouth and you who put it on paper, your own on paper is bigger… my letter of suspension speak to the judgment in the mind of the chief executive; I did not mean well based on the information he gathered.

It has nothing to do with misappropriation of entrusted funds. No, I’ve got a clean record.  It has nothing to do with Zargo determining someone being sent back to Guinea, NO. You can do any of your investigations… if the timing of the communication that informs my suspension is something to go by, maybe it should be bordered around the ‘’Ne Exeat Republica Period! Nothing more, nothing less," former LIS Boss Zargo responded.

When a follow-up was done by a reporter, Zargo then responded that Ne Exeat Republica is a document emanating from the court that says it does not allow a person to leave the country, and no one left the Republic.

"No, I said if you look at the timing of the letter, the date and the time and the month… And like the journalist asked, the coming in of the former finance minister, Ne Exeat Republica, has to do with STOPPING A PERSON FROM LEAVING THE REPUBLIC; it’s a settled legal word. Ne Exeat Republica, do not allow this person to leave the country because there is an investigation ongoing so let him remain in the bailiwick of the country until the investigation is conducted," Zargo added.

Zargo was appointed in February 2024 and our verification showed that the court has issued several Ne-Exeat Republica. These are some of the Ne-Exeat Republica-issued, Medicine Thieves, Teddy Karpeh Mining Cartel, and Samuel Tweah. Zargo was dismissed on November 13, 2024, so comparing the next Republica showed that Zargo was pointing to either medicine thieves or Samuel Tweah.

The managing editor of Women's Voices, Helen Nah-Sammie, was contacted; she shared a video and the dismissal letter of Zargo.
 

Cllr. Tokpa Wesseh said the Ne Exeat Republica writ is issued from the court and serves on members of the security forces, including the LIS, Liberia National Police, and others.

The LIS, being the security agency that controls and regulates our exit and entry, is the most important, especially to enforce this court order since they control the movement in and out of the country. This is a general application of the law as enshrined in the law, creating the LIS.

Cllr. Wesseh said that the LIS boss was communicated with when the writ was issued and therefore if the executive must hold anyone, it should be the Immigration boss.

Atty. Saidu Nyei said the immigration services fall directly under the Ministry of Justice. It is a law enforcement agency with specific responsibility for enforcing the nationality laws of Liberia regarding the entry into and exit of individuals from Liberia.

"It is obliged to abide by all orders of the court relating to individuals entering or leaving Liberia," Atty. Nyei added. 

Cllr. Ruth Jappah says the Immigration must always abide by the court's order. "Yes, once the court decides I can’t leave the country because of an ongoing judicial proceeding, immigration should not second-guess the court."

Conclusion: After listening to what the senator said during the live broadcast, we discovered that the statement that Zargo's refusal to arrest the former Finance Minister for corruption was exaggerated.

This suggests that, in his interview with the media, Zargo believes his dismissal was due to his failure to implement the Ne-Exeat Republica. However, he did not reference a specific case.