Monrovia – Mr. Sheikh Al moustapha Kuyateh, a former Senatorial Candidate in the 2014 Montserrado County Senatorial race has accused Madam Mary Broh, the temporary head of the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Liberia of attacking him and labeling a “Mandingo Dog”.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recently ordered Broh, the Director-General of the General Services Agency (GSA), to temporarily take charge of the Bureau of Vital Statistics at the Ministry of Health so as to restore order, cleanliness and systems.
The President observed during a surprise visit at the bureau in June, that important documents were haphazardly scattered on the floor with no proper filing system
The visit followed numerous complaints regarding operations at the department.
But Mr. Kuyateh told FrontPageAfrica that this was not case when he showed up there last Thursday.
He said he had gone to check on his brother whom he left at the center to pick up his Birth Certificate at 9:30am when the incident occurred.
“I got to him around 2:45PM. We waited up to 4:15pm without receiving a document that should have been given by 9:30am. “
“When I asked one of Madam Broh’s staffers as per the delay, he told me to contact Madam Broh.
Mr. Kuyateh went on to explain that when he put up his hands for permission to speak with Madam Broh, she allowed me to come forward but just as he approached her, she asked, “what is the problem?”
Mr. Kuyateh explained that he informed Madam Broh that he and his brother had been waiting in line along with other people since morning to pick up his cousin’s birth certificate and was curious about the delay.
“We had been there since 9:30am and it was 4pm without the Birth Certificate. But as I started to explain, she started chanting and later turn to me and said: “Oh my God! How can I respond to a Mandingo dog like you.”
Mr. Kuyateh said Madam Broh went on to say: “I don’t know how these foreigners take themselves to be. A Guinean telling me what to do.”
“She continued insulting me until Chief Kiazolu told her to stop and she angrily said that she’ll leave.
This was when everyone started begging her to stay and I was told to leave. As I was leaving, she followed me with more insults and called me bastard, Mandingo dog from Guinea.”
Mr. Kuyateh said that when he responded to her that he was no dog as she was labeling him, but a proud Mandingo from Liberia, Madam Broh angrily rushed to him, questioning what gave him the right to respond to her.
“It was during that time she tried to slap me. When I blocked her hands, she ordered her bodyguards to drag me.”
Mr. Kuyateh said one of the guards held his two hands behind him while Madam Broh had her hands on his neck as another guy hit him under his eyes.
“They tried to undress me naked that led my clothes to be torn and there’s a video recording of the incident.”
Mr. Kuyateh said his brother then called the police and Deputy Police Chief Abraham Kromah appeared.
“He saw me and asked people at the scene and later went to Madam Broh and he later came back to me and said that he’s sorry but he cannot do anything.
It was due to that that I asked him to please drop me at the police headquarters where he was going.”
Mr. Kuyateh explained that it was there when madam Broh bodyguard destroyed the evidence by taking away the memory card out of his camera and smashing the Ipad of a journalist who was on the scene.
When contacted, Police Spokesperson Mr. Sam Collins said that Mr. Kuyateh had filed a complaint against the two GSA staffers but not Madam Broh.
“We have a complaint here but not against Mary Broh,” Mr. Collins said.
Madam Broh is no stranger to controversy.
In September 2009, Muslim residents in Monrovia expressed concern over the Special Presidential Task Force to clean the city streets after an incident at the Benson Street mosque created an inconvenience for worshipers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
In 2011 and 2012, Broh was involved in the destruction of public market places, physical altercations with Senate staff members and heated verbal exchanges with legislators and journalists.
In February 2013, she came to the aid of another embattled Montserrado County Superintendent, Grace Kpaan, whom security officials apprehended as a result of bribery allegations she made against Representative Edward Forh (CDC-district #16 Montserrado County).
Broh was cited with obstruction of justice when she intervened in Kpaan’s arrest and both were suspended by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
Under pressure, Broh submitted her resignation to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, effective February 28, 2013.