MONROVIA – Cllr. Pearl Brown Bull, renowned for her advocacy for women rights says she can prove that Ambassador Dee Maxwell Kemayah, Liberia’s Foreign Minister-designate is rather the victim in the sexual harassment allegation leveled against him by a Liberian staff at the Liberian UN Mission, Ms. Whynee Cummings Wilson.
Cllr. Bull who is also a founding member of the Association of Female Lawyers (AFELL) expressed disappointment in the Association for paying deaf ear to allegations of the granting of government jobs to Liberian women, including members of AFELL in exchange for sex, but has elected to take on a case where the accuser who she said is being used politically.
According Cllr. Bull, documents in her possession show that Ms. Cummings was still going to work and signing in contrary to her allegation that upon being harassed sexually by Amb. Kemayah, she suffered emotional shock and trauma which eventually led to her suffering grand mal seizure that kept her from work for an entire month.
Cllr. Bull emphasized that Ms. Cummings was going about her normal duties within the same time frame she mentioned that the incident had occurred.
She further disclosed that Ms. Cummings never complained Amb. Kemayah to the United Nations until September 3 when he was nominated by President George Weah to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs. According to her, the letter to the United Nations was not dated.
Cllr. Bull also said she has audio evidence of a plan for a girl to falsely testify against Mr. Kemayah in order to corroborate the allegation against him.
She alleged that the allegation of sexual harassment was orchestrated a current employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who had wanted to be Minister.
“The man and the woman who wanted that job to be Foreign Minister and didn’t get it, I’ve got all the information on them. One of them was sponsoring her to do this lie. I said to Mr. ‘Gbekugbeh’ [Pres. George Weah], the Liberian people made you but those people you have around you are bad,” she said.
According to Cllr. Bull, Amb. Kemayah has received several congratulatory messages from the UN family and other foreign missions for his preferment and subsequent nomination as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
She also said she’s willing to share her pieces of evidence with Montserrado Senator Abraham Darius Dillon who said the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee acted wrongly by going ahead with the confirmation of Amb. Kemayah when he had not been cleared from the allegation.
According to the Committee Chairman, Senator Dan Morais (NPP, Maryland County), after administrative probe, it was realized that there are limitations to the
extent to which the investigation can continue.
The Committee recognized that there is a thin line between the Legislature and the judicial branch of government.
The Committee also claimed not to have the tools of police and investigative agencies to establish a legal merit and or demerit of this case and chose to do what the Constitution provides of the Legislature to do in such a case, which is to do an administrative hearing.
“Further to the above, an administrative hearing has been conducted, and finds the nominee fit and suitable in all other aspects that require our consent except for the allegation of sexual harassment which has been assessed but not conclusive. the committee as such, understanding its limitation in adjudicating a judicial matter of the parties to take this matter to court, that will give them the appropriate remedy or justice,” Sen. Morais added.
During his appearance before the Committee last Friday, Amb. Kemayah termed the allegation against him as a “takedown campaign” that was planned against him even before his nomination as Minister of Foreign Affairs designate.
Kemayah: “I don’t fear that my integrity is being questioned. What I fear is that, it is a sad day for our country. This is a takedown campaign. We are aware that globally there are false allegations that has come against world leaders. This is a smear campaign before even my nomination when it was speculated that I would be preferred for the position of foreign minister.
“It is not about my integrity. My integrity remains respected even at the UN. We are one of the champions on women’s issue at the UN. There is awareness at the UN that these things occurred for political reasons.”