Monrovia – Monrovia City Mayor Mr. Jefferson Koijee has debunked allegations levied against him by United States Congressman Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Africa, linking him to gross human rights violations in Liberia amid looming threats of sanctions.
Rep. Smith, in a scathing indictment of Liberia under President George expressed concerns in a statement this week, that the political situation in Liberia was deteriorating and worsening.
The statement from Congressman Smith, who was instrumental in pressuring Nigeria to turn over former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes trial in Sierra Leone, has already drawn a response from the Weah administration who have said the Congressman’s concerns does not reflect what is happening in Liberia today.
The Weah government, through diplomatic channels, declared that the Congressman’s position, based on complaints from the International Justice Group(IJG) was flawed.
Now the Monrovia City Mayor is separately adding his voice to specific allegations against him by the US lawmaker, declaring in a statement Thursday that he has never participated in any acts of violence in his life.
In his statement Monday, Rep. Smith wrote:
“Human rights advocates are increasingly alarmed by the deterioration of civil and political rights and the corruption that is occurring in Liberia under President George Weah. I am especially concerned by allegations surrounding Monrovia Mayor Jefferson Koijee and the thuggish behavior of the Congress for Democratic Change Security Force he heads. Credible allegations of serious human and civil rights violations–including attempted murder, rape, unlawful arrest, detention and torture–have been attributed to Mayor Koijee by the International Justice Group, a US-based non-government. organization. Especially in light of our historic ties to Liberia, the United States Congress will be closely monitoring the mass public demonstration that is scheduled to occur on December 30 in Monrovia, and I call upon the government of Liberia to respect the free speech and assembly rights of Liberian citizens. Anyone who suppresses these fundamental rights, or engages in ongoing corrupt acts, may very well become subject to targeted Global Magnitsky sanctions.”
Responding in a boxing day statement, Mr. Koijee penned the communication below:
The Honourable Chris Smith
4th Congressional District of New Jersey
United States House of Representatives
United States of America
Dear Representative Smith:
I write in reference to a statement you released in Washington D.C on the 23rd of December 2019 in which you expressed concerns about what you described as “deterioration of civil and political rights and the corruption that is occurring in Liberia under President George Weah.” You added that you are “especially concerned by allegations surrounding Monrovia [City] Mayor and thuggish behaviour of Congress for Democratic Change Security Force he heads.”
This is unsettling as your statement not just deviates dramatically from the truth, but brought immense psychological pain to my family, friends and colleagues in and out of government as well as justice advocates like myself during this season of Christmastide.
First, I have never at any point in my life participated in acts of violence. Additionally, while I have played many roles in the Congress for Democratic Change, I have never held any called “Head of Security Forces” and in this party that I know very well, such position does not exist. I am also bewildered that you cite as “credible” statements from a little known “International Justice Group” which was formed just in 2017 by Liberians , some of whom live in the US and on that basis use your country in their address. Meanwhile, I am surprised that as an official of a nation whose government produces annual reports on multitude of issues, including the State Department Annual Report on Human Rights, you chose to ignore and relegate the hard and meaningful work produced by committed US civil servants paid by US taxpayers, in order to provide an unmerited platform for a group of persons seeking attention from the general public on one hand or a group of individuals seeking to reverse Liberia’s hard earned democratic gains on the other.
Let me say categorically, that I take very seriously your allegations that I am linked to crimes you described in your statement. As a product of the US Government International Visiting Leaders Program as recently as 2016, I have gone through extensive character and background checks by the US Government and applied the skills acquired from that experience in ensuring that tensions associated with the subsequent 2017 Elections held in Liberia did not result in violent confrontation between my partisans, then in opposition and the partisans supporting the former government now in opposition.
Additionally, I have been a good friend of the US and as Mayor of the largest city outside the US that is named after a US President, it comes with the job I occupy. I have found myself answering multiple and repeated bipartisan calls from my friends and friends of Liberia at multiple levels in the US government who are themselves very concerned about these allegations.
As your statement relies on a third-party source and I have no record of correspondence or interaction with you in either public or private life, I cannot overlook the possibility that you know very little about me and even that little is hearsay. As it would be wrong for you to leave this letter still in that state, I would like to share with you a few facts about my person and public service. I was born in 1985 to parents in Monrovia. One of them did not survive the Liberian Civil War which began when I was four-years old and continued till I turned 18. As a pacifist, upon reaching voting age, I joined a party led by an anti-war figure, a UNICEF Peace Ambassador and my generational hero, who is now President George Weah.
As President of the National High School Students Union of Liberia and later as Secretary General of the National Students Intellectual Council of Liberia, I articulated peace messages and am on record for using the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report produced by the Commission headed by Cllr. Jerome Verdier to challenge the eligibility of one of the candidates in the 2009 Senatorial By-Elections. Not satisfied with the handling of this matter by the National Elections Commission, I became a founding executive of one of the pressure groups calling for the full implementation of the TRC report.
Please note that each of the roles above were voluntary, unpaid and fraught with risks. In fact, I was once a political prisoner of the previous government. With all these said, a Liberia under the rule of law is all that I have worked for and one which I have given my life to see become a reality.
We are in trying political times in our country. Individuals who have lost democratic elections and intra-party arguments have taken to outlandish propaganda to undermine our government and every effort we make to prosecute corruption. The only allegations you pointed to in your statement against me are those from the International Justice Group headed by Mr. Jerome Verdier, a founding member and former lawyer of our party, the Congress for Democratic Change.
Since his failure to be a leader of our party after his service as Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he has taken to propaganda and has been levelling unfounded allegations against people who disagree with him or oppose his leadership in the name of campaigning for human rights. Democracies, including ours, are sustained by debates on our different policies and ideological positions and the directions we aim to take our country.
It is by these debates that we must all seek to participate in and nurture, rather than resorting to fiendish and devious means to undermine the credibility and progress of our opponents. I would not have ordinarily responded to Mr. Verdier’s allegations as I still value the many years in which we worked together as friends and am aware that he really does not believe these allegations. I am however, constrained to respond to you because of the high office you hold, and to call your attention to the background of his allegations.
Finally, I inform you that Liberia continues to highly value its relationship with the United States, not just as a government to government exchange, but a people to people intercourse. Our country is advancing along its intended purpose of being a place where persons of my race are able to attain positions of leadership and trust including those that are young. The nexus of our two nations’ histories, which happens to be the departure of previously enslaved American blacks to a land where they would have liberty and quiet enjoyment of their rights, place us all under obligations and burdens each of us with expectations of goodwill in our interactions with each other. As the leader of the Youth League of the Congress for Democratic Change, and Mayor of Monrovia, I remain committed to working for the development of Liberia, the growth of its democracy and advancement of our mutual relations.
Please be aware that I am taking the liberty to send copies of this letter to the President of Liberia, Embassy of the United States of America in Liberia, regional and continental institutions, the press and my friends in government at the federal and state level across the United States as they are interested in the nature and substance of my official response to your allegations.
Please accept my sentiments of high esteem.
Sincerely yours,
Jefferson T. Koijee
Mayor
CC: The President of the Republic of Liberia
The African Union Office in Monrovia
The European Union Office in Monrovia
The ECOWAS Office in Monrovia
The US Embassy in Monrovia
[email protected]
+231-886 40 79 69/ +213-776 40 79 69