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Claim: Lenn Eugene Nabge, the national campaign manager of the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), claimed, “Former President Sirleaf appointed five ambassadors between the 2017 elections and when former President Weah officially took over as president.”
Verdict: Misleading! According to the Executive Mansion of Liberia, only one ambassador was appointed and commissioned after former President Weah won the 2017 elections in Liberia.
Full Text
The national campaign manager of the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), Mr Leen Eugene Nagbe, claimed that former President Johnson Sirleaf appointed five ambassadors despite her party losing the 2017 election.
The former head of the Liberia Maritime Authority (LiMA) indicated that between the 2017 election and the official assumption of office of former President George Weah, Madama Ellen Johnson Sirleaf appointed five ambassadors outside the country.
Mr Nagbe made the claim when he appeared on a talk show, Freedom Hub, aired on a local radio station, Freedom Radio Liberia, 87.9FM in Monrovia, on March 19, 2024.
Mr Nagbe made the claim between 1:35:37 and 1:36:40 hours/seconds/minutes of the over two-hour show.
The show was also broadcast live on the station’s official Facebook page with 1,000 comments and over 40 shares.
As a result, DUBAWA thought it necessary to ascertain the facts in Mr Nagbe’s claim to set the record straight.
Verification
The assertion comes as Liberia’s Foreign Minister, Madam Sarah Beysolow Nyanti, has issued a mandate recalling all diplomatic, official, and service passports on the grounds that there were no proper records of those bearing such passports in and out of the country.
The mandate was to ensure that those allegedly acquiring Liberian passports illegally returned them.
“Starting March 19, 2024, individuals who do not meet the official requirements for these passports are urged to return them to the ministry by April 8, 2024, for cancellation. Failure to do so would result in the passports being deemed invalid and unusable,” the mandate stated.
To begin with, our researcher contacted the claimant via WhatsApp for evidence regarding his claim, but Mr Nagbe did not reply to a message asking for evidence.
Knowing that all government appointments are published on the Executive Mansion’s official website, our researcher also launched a search to ascertain the facts. Through the Executive Mansion‘s official website, it was discovered that there is no evidence to show that former President Sirleaf appointed any five ambassadors.
Instead, only one ambassador (Richelieu A. Williams) was appointed to the Kingdom of Morocco and commissioned after former President Weah won the 2017 Liberia elections.
Conclusion
Based on the research conducted by our researcher and the evidence available through the executive mansion website, Mr Nagbe’s claim is misleading. Only one ambassador was appointed and commissioned between the time former president Weah won Liberia’s 2017 election and took over officially as president.