MONROVIA – American charity More Than Me, recently slapped with the exposure of major sex scandal and child molestation in Liberia, has announced the closure of its operations in country.
A ProPublica investigation published about eight months ago, exposed how a senior faculty member, Macintosh Johnson, sexually abused several female students from the impoverished community of West Point in exchange for free education opportunities.
More Than Me, under its education program, ran nine girls’ school since September 2013.
Investigation into the matter established that the charity organization did little to prevent the rapes from happening; some of the girl tested positive to HIV/AIDS, which Macintosh was also positive to when in died.
The founder, Katie Meyler, resigned shortly after the ProPublica’s investigative report which drew condemnation from all quarters in Liberia.
Both the Liberian Government and the organization’s Board of Directors commissioned two separate independent investigations in to the allegation.
The Board of More than Me initially announced that it would continue the charity work while it restructures a Liberian leadership.
The charity won US$1 million grant awarded by JPMorgan Chase on national television at the end of a competition for online votes in 2013 for its operations in Liberia.
However, according to its statement on the closure from the Board of Directors, it’s winding down operations because of “severe financial pressure due to our inability to fundraise” as well as its ‘consideration’ of the recommendations of the two reports.”
Below is the statement from More Than Me
The Board of Directors of More Than Me writes to announce that we are closing down our operations as of June 30th, 2019. We have previously shared this news with appropriate ministries in Liberia. This decision has been made given severe financial pressure due to our inability to fundraise as well as our consideration of the recommendations from the McLane Middleton and Independent Panel reports.
As we take this action, we sincerely apologize for the past failures of our institution. No child should ever have to endure sexual abuse, and we are profoundly sorry some of our students were victimized. We have sincerely apologized to those who were harmed, and we deeply regret their suffering.
We recognize that we have an utmost responsibility to support the 11 survivors going forward. We have set aside funds for this purpose.
We are working to ensure a smooth closure of our More Than Me Academy and LEAP activities for this Academic Year. We are also working on plans for how to utilize our limited remaining resources to further support the children of Liberia, particularly those at More Than Me Academy. We will share further information on this as it is available.
We personally want to thank our dedicated staff who have shown great care and worked tirelessly on behalf of children. We are also indebted to all those who have supported More Than Me over the past decade. Lastly, we are grateful for the honor we have had to partner with Liberia in this work.
Sincerely,
Board of Directors More Than Me Foundation