Claim: Vice chairman of Liberia Anti Corruption Commission Kanio Bai Gbala says he heard the former vice president in a viral video in Bong County accusing President Weah of selling Kush to young people.
Verdict: Misleading! DUBAWA’s in-depth investigation and analysis of the video referenced by Mr Bai Gbala do not support the claim.
Full Text
It is not yet a campaign period, but Liberian politicians and their supporters have hit the ground running with allegations.
The latest of the claims is said by the outgoing vice chairman at Liberia Anti Corruption Commission, Cllr Kanio Bai Gbala, who told the OK Conversation that a major opposition candidate Joseph Boakai recently accused the president of being a kush peddler.
He said before a crowd of supporters in Bong County that the former VP also accused the Liberian leader of selling kush to young people in Liberia, making him a drug dealer.
“The Former Vice President goes to Gbarnga, Bong County, to a political rally and makes an allegation that President Weah is the one selling Kush to young people, labelling the sitting President of this country as being a drug dealer is something to look at,” said Bai Gbala.
The claimant’s disclosure comes at a time when the intake of drugs among young people has become a call for a national emergency. The government of Liberia recently failed to win a major US$100 million drug case against some foreign nationals.
The country was used as a transit for cocaine, and it took the U.S. government intelligence to expose the drug bust. The ensuing court case from the incident was poorly litigated by the government, leading to a defeat.
So when Cllr Kanio Bai Gbala, an ally to the President, revealed on radio against opposition politician Joseph Boakai about drug trade linking president Weah, DUBAWA took an interest in it.
Verification
It was established that during this month, the opposition Unity Party standard bearer Joseph Boakai went to Bong County as part of his ongoing county tour to the 15 counties.
DUBAWA decided to demand from the claimant evidence of his allegation against the president, as seen in the following screenshots.
In furtherance to queries from DUBAWA, he provided a video and link to a story in which the former vice president spoke on Liberia’s drug issue.
These were the exact words of the former vice president in the video which Kanio sent as a reply to DUBAWA on the drug claim,
“Instead of paving roads, instead of giving them education, they say we should give them Kush, and this is the time to push Kush out and bring development to this country.”
DUBAWA’s assessment of the video in Bong County showed that the former VP did mention Kush, but at no point did he mention the president selling it to citizens, as claimed by Kanio.
Conclusion
After a rigorous assessment of the claim, it is apparent that the former vice president did not accuse the president of selling kush.