MONROVIA – President George Weah has dismissed with immediate effect Dr. Mosoka Fallah has Director-General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia following an investigative report into his management of NPHIL and the continuous contradictory COVID-19 reports.
His dismissal was recommended by the investigative team headed by Dr. Linda Birch who was mandated by the President to investigate reports of irregularities at the NPHIL.
The President has also instructed that the committee’s report be published and promised to fully implement the recommendations of the Committee.
The investigative committee found that Dr. Fallah willfully refused to attend meeting meetings of the Incident Management System for several weeks because he was not appointed to head one of the COVID-19 Response Pillars of the IMS.
Dr. Fallah also, according to the investigative findings, developed a parallel system and protocol contrary to the IMS policies which he had endorsed.
He also unilaterally started approving certificates for travelers without endorsement by the IMS. The committee stated that Dr. Fallah admitted that he did not inform his staff that this was not a system endorsed by the IMS, but indicated that it was a convenient system to save the country from the lapses of delayed results.
The dismissed Director General was also found liable of issuing letters, instead of certificates, to 14 Nigerian diplomats to leave the country under the instruction of the Secretary of the Minister [not specified] even though the secretary is not a member of the IMS to instruct him to do such. The letters were issued pending the outcome of COVID-19 test results.
He also issued hundreds of letters for traveling without approval of the IMS which the committee viewed as putting the country and the whole world at further risk. The investigative report indicated that the about 50 percent of the letters were physically signed by him while others were electronically signed by his office staff.
Dr. Fallah was also nailed for unilaterally dismissed three employees without the knowledge of the Human Resource manager.
The investigative committee stated that the “findings are in flagrant and complete systematic breaches in the reporting procedures of COVID-19 results and violation of policies and ethics of the IMS, thus leading to mistrust in the government’s response to the Covid pandemic and presenting a negative image of the country globally”.
In addition to asking Dr. Fallah to relinquish his responsibilities as head of NPHIL, the committee also recommended a complete restructuring of NPHIL through the board.
The committee has called for the review of all financial records or audit of the COVID-19 funds to address Dr. Fallah claims for funds he used for the response.
Mr. Fahn Tarweh has also been recommended to be reinstated to as role as Deputy Manager for the National Reference Lab.
