Monrovia – More than Me has refuted statements made by Minister Williametta Saydee Tarr of the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) that the charity had no childcare policy in place before and after the serial rape of several girls.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
The American charity says Minster Tarr “must correct” the statement made to the media on November 15, 2018 during a press briefing at the Ministry of Information. Minister Tarr had mentioned that MTM exposed the students to sexual abuse.
But responding to the allegation, MTM termed the statement as false, adding that Child Protection Policy had been in place since 2013. It said the current policy was provided through a request by the Ministry.
“We received the request for documents on October 19, 2018, and supplied the requisite policies on October 24, 2018. However, we only provided the current policy to the MGCSP),” the charity said.
The charity also listed Child Protection Policy created from 2013-2018 along with fraternization policy, whistleblower revised policy revised 2018 and the code of conducts and disciplinary policy created 2014, which was revised in 2015 and 2018.
MTM urged the ministry to take the documents into consideration, as they did not ask for the full policy of past years.
At the same time, FrontPage Africa has obtained documents that the MGSCP has records on MTM contrary to statements made by Minister Tarr.
It can be recalled that at the MICAT press briefing, the MGSCP boss said the ministry had no records and was working with the Ministry of Justice to know the outcome of the trial.
“Plans are underway to see what we can do to make sure these girls receive the needed care,” Tarr said during the briefing. “Sadly, no records exist at the ministry about the case in 2014 and or what actions the ministry took during the trial of Johnson.”
The record shows that former Gender Minister Julia Duncan Cassell received a communication from MTM founder Katie Meyler dated June 25, 2014.
It was later confirmed by a former minister in 2014 that the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection received a tip off about abused of girls attending a school run by the charity.
The ministry immediately responded through its SGBV Division by using the Referral Pathway or RP. RP is an emergency response mechanism put in place by the Ministry for reporting, providing assistance and care (health & counseling) to survivors/victims of rape incidents across the country.
Following preliminary fact gathering and considering the initially reported numbers of girls involved, the matter was elevated to the SGBV Task Force comprising the Liberia National Police, Ministry of Justice, MICAT, Health, Education, Youths & Sports, Criminal Court E, NGO Secretariat, and civil society.
During the fact-finding process, it was then established that 10 of the girls were sexually abused, and the alleged perpetrator was identified, arrested, and turned over to the LNP and the Ministry of Justice for further investigation; the Ministry of Gender, Education, Youths & Sports along with SGBV actors provided care and protection to the victims while the ministry monitored their progress.