Was Amos Williams Correct On FLY Claims?

-“The constitution is clear that the 15 county coordinators must be present at every general assembly.”

-“County coordinators were never present during the election.”
-“I have been brought on board because that is what the constitution of FLY speaks to. That in the event a sitting leadership failed to take us to elections, the MYS shall intervene in setting up an interim leadership.”

Exact Quote: “The constitution is clear that before you go to elections, there is a process where county coordinators will draft the membership regularization, registration of member organizations, and publication of member organizations; all of these steps were not taken.” - Amos Williams, former FLY president

Source: DN-News Liberia 

Verdict: Misleading 

Full Text: On October 26, 2025, Amos William was appointed as an interim President of the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY) by the Ministry of Youth and Sport.

The Ministry says the appointment is a decisive move to uphold the continued governance and stability of the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY).

Williams held his first press conference to discuss the road leading to a successful transition after the MYS illegally dissolved the outgoing leadership of the umbrella youth organization of all young people in Liberia.

During the press conference, he made several claims regarding irregularities and constitutional violations. His claims can be found between 6:54 to 17:48 of his press conference with DN-News Liberia. 

He was the former president of the Federation who was suspended in 2022 by the National Executive Committee of the organization on grounds of constitutional breach.

Verification: To verify William’s claims, we contacted the National Secretariat of FLY to get a copy of FLY's constitution.

We noticed a slight difference in one Constitutional provision in the Head of Secretariat’s response to our inquiry and from the version of the FLY constitution we received from Eric Ballah, a Liberian Youth and Student Leader.

Ballah said that he attended the General Assembly of FLY, which passed the version of the Constitution he sent us. However, the Head of the Secretariat, Rosetta Fardolo, stated that we should not give her a hard time. Given the Secretariat’s response, we looked at the draft Federation of Liberian Youth 2018 Constitution as well as contacted the National Secretariat of FLY, and below are what we found:

 

Articles 8 and 9, which talk about Governing Bodies, Powers and Authorities, General Assembly, etc., do not grant the County Coordinators such authority. 

2.  There is nowhere in FLY’s 2018 constitution that states that the 15 county coordinators must be present at every general assembly. 

What the Constitution says about the General Assembly in Article 9 (Section 1), which talks about Meetings of a General Assembly, is that: 

“The General Assembly shall meet once every two (2) years at a rotational venue to be decided by the National Executive Council, and the Assembly shall hold elections for its officers once every three (3) years. All sessions of the Assembly shall be conducted in accordance with FLY’s standing orders, to be adopted at the start of every Assembly.”

Article 9 (section 2), which talks about quorum, states that:

“The quorum of the General Assembly shall consist of delegations of two-thirds (2/3) of the total number of member organizations of FLY accredited for such purpose and are present for the assembly.”

Has it been six months since the leadership tenure of FLY's embattled President Banica Stephanie Elliot ended to warrant the appointment of an interim or transitional leadership, according to the Constitution? 

We reviewed publicly available information and found out that Banica, FLY’s first female President, was elected on October 22, 2022, and inaugurated on Thursday, November 24, 2022. According to Article 9 (section 1), elected officials of FLY are to serve for a tenure of three years. This means, Banica's leadership tenure ends on November 24, 2025, and given the constitutional provision as stated in Article 16(A,,) which talks about a grace period of six months, any appointment of an interim leadership should take effect after May 24, 2026, at which time it will be more than six months after Banica's tenure expired.

Contrary to Williams' claim that County Coordinators were never present during the election, Montserrado County Coordinator of FLY, Patrick Wee, was present at the election and shared a picture of himself along with other Coordinators who were present.

 Also, the Constitution of FLY does not say clearly that the absence of County Coordinators makes the outcome of an election invalid. We reviewed the Constitution but did not see anything of such. 

We contacted Rosetta Fardolo, Head of the FLY Secretariat, to respond to the claims from William, and this is what she sent us: 

“Thanks, Mr. Emmanuel Cooper, thank you for reaching out to me, as Head of the Secretariat, to hear the Secretariat's response to these claims, as outlined in your message. 

First, there were no mistakes or irregularities during the just-concluded Elections and the hosting of the Federation’s 8th General Assembly. Accordingly, as stated in FLY, July 8, 2018, the approved constitution under the leadership of the late Augustine SM Tamba has been thoroughly followed and implemented. Article 13, Section 11, of the approved constitution establishes committees, such as the membership, which lead the membership regularization process. 

Section C of Article 13 further states that the Membership Committee shall ensure the recruitment/ enrolment progress of FLY from time to time; shall update and ensure that the membership roster is current, among others. 

The second claim of Williams concerning “steps and processes getting legitimacy for or as President of FLY were not followed. 

The constitution is clear that the 15 county coordinators must be present at every general assembly.” 

Fardolo said no provision of the constitution of FLY states this 'gibberish'.

"However, to provide you with this information, 11 of our 15 County Coordinators were present, and 2 sent proxies who led their delegations. One County, without a coordinator since the death of the late Coordinator of River Cess, and with only the Grand Kru Coordinator, Ms. Josephine Wleh, absent, who was without excuse."

Attached is the attendance sheet with the names of the county coordinators who attended, their signatures, and phone numbers.

About our inquiry on “whether member organizations did regularization and how these member organizations regularized their status? 

She said; Yes, the membership committee under my supervision did regularization based on precedent and the constitution.  Regularization fees were paid through the FLY Bank Account and the Mobile Money SIM, both of which are traceable.  The regularization period ran from September 8, 2025, to October 8, 2025. "

See here for the publication, which can be found on the FLY page.

On William’s third claim, Fardolo said, the claim is malicious. According to Article 12, Section C, as stated, “No leadership of the Federation shall stay one day in office after the expiration of its tenure. 

In the case where a sitting leadership fails to conduct an election within the constitutional timeframe, the chairman of the board shall seize the matter and consult with key members of the Board and, where necessary, extend the leadership for an additional six months only. 

However, in the event the leadership is impeded from conducting the election/General Assembly by an order of a court within the Republic of Liberia, the tenure automatically extends up to 90 days for the sole purpose of conducting the General Assembly after the conclusion of the case”. 

Additionally, whether based on precedent or the constitution, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has no authority to appoint an interim president.

Despite Rosetta’s refusal to share FLY’s constitution with us, we contacted embattled President-elect Duku Jallah, outgoing President Banica Stephanie Elliot, and the Secretary of the Independent Elections Commission of FLY, but no one replied despite seeing our messages.

We reached out to Samuel Kpartor and Emmanuel Tamba, all outgoing Executives of FLY, and they shared the version, which is believed to be the original Constitution.

We reviewed the document, and below are our findings:

There is no evidence to support Amos’s claim that county coordinators can draft the membership regularization, registration of member organizations, and publication of member organizations before going to an election. 

Article 6, Section 2.5, which talks about conditions for membership, states the following: 

a. All membership of FLY must be sought twelve months in advance of a General Assembly;

b. Membership sought during an election year by any category of members shall not be eligible to participate in the General Assembly of FLY as a delegate;

c. All categories of members that applied for membership will be admitted to the General Assembly before their application and will be delegate one year after their admittance by the General Assembly. 

 

Article 7, which talks about ADMISSION AND DISQUALIFICATION, states further that: 

 

Any organization seeking membership with FLY shall apply to the National Executive Council through the following structures:

a. For individual and local members, the application should be submitted through the District Coordinator, and the DC shall compile all applications once every year and submit them to the County Youth Secretariat through the Coordinator for review and submission to the National Secretariat.

b. For national membership, the application shall be submitted to the County Youth Secretariat through the County Coordinator, who will then compile all applications in the County and submit them to the Regional Coordinator for finalization, concurrence, endorsement, and final submission to the National Secretariat for filing until the National Executive Council meeting for a final decision.

c. For diaspora membership, shall be through the Vice President for International Affairs for review and submission to the National Secretariat for filing until the National Executive Council meets for a final decision. 

Article 18, which talks about Standing Committees in FLY section 1.2, C states clearly that: 

c. Membership: Shall ensure the recruitment/enrollment progress of FLY from time to time;  

Shall update and ensure that the membership roster is currently at least three months before General Assembly; shall carry out other related and assigned task(s) that may be required, and shall advance appropriate recommendation(s) to the National Executive Council for review and approval;

The Constitution doesn’t require County Coordinators to be present at every General Assembly of FLY. Article 9, Section 2 is clear on what constitutes the Quorum of an Assembly. It says that: 

The quorum of the General Assembly shall consist of delegations of two-thirds (2/3) of the total number of member organizations of FLY accredited for such purpose and present for the assembly.

Contrary to Amos' claim that County Coordinators were not present during the election, Patrick Wee, County Coordinator of FLY, shared on Facebook that he was present at the General Assembly where the elections took place, along with other county coordinators. 

We also received a signed copy of the attendance sheet from the Fardolo bearing the signatures and names of individuals believed to be County Coordinators of FLY. “11 of our 15 County Coordinators were present, and 2 sent proxies who led their delegations. 

 

One County, without a coordinator since the death of the late Coordinator of Rivercess, and with only the Grand Kru Coordinator, Ms. Josephine Wleh, absent, who was without excuse.

Also, the Constitution does not state clearly that the absence of County Coordinators at the General Assembly makes the results of an election or the outcome of the Assembly invalid, as claimed. 

 

On Williams' claim that the Constitution says “That in the event a sitting leadership failed to take us to elections, the MYS shall intervene in setting up an interim leadership,” this is what we found in the Constitution under what is described as Transitional Arrangements in Article 16 a:

 “Article 16: Transitional Arrangements

In the case where a sitting leadership of FLY stays six months beyond their official mandate, the Board shall consult with the Ministry of Youth and Sports on a transitional arrangement in which a three-member team shall be appointed to manage FLY for a period not more than six months for a General Assembly.” 

 

It does not give the Ministry of Youth and Sports the sole authority to appoint an interim leadership if a sitting leadership fails to take the organization to elections. 

The Board of Advisors, according to Article 16, in consultation with the MoYS, can appoint a three-member transitional team to manage FLY for not more than six months only IF a leadership stays six months beyond their official mandate. 

Has it been six months since the leadership tenure of FLY's embattled President Banica Stephanie Elliot ended to warrant the appointment of an interim or transitional leadership, according to the Constitution? 

We reviewed publicly available information and found out that Banica, FLY’s first female President, was elected on October 22, 2022, and inaugurated on Thursday, November 24, 2022. According to Article 9 (section 1), elected officials of FLY are to serve for a tenure of three years. 

This means Banica's leadership tenure ends on November 24, 2025, and given the constitutional provision as stated in Article 16(A), which talks about a grace period of six months, any appointment of an interim leadership should take effect after May 24, 2026, at which time it will be more than six months after Banica's tenure expired.

 

We contacted Amos Williams on October 26, 2025, to inquire with him if we could get the Constitutional references or a copy of the Constitution to verify his claims, but no response. If he responds, we will update the story.
 

Conclusion: Based on a thorough review of FLY’s constitution and available public information about the elections, all four claims made by Amos Williams about the membership regularization and publication procedures, County Coordinators' presence at General Assembly, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports' appointment of an interim leadership or President are misleading.