Claim: Shine Liberia, a blog in Liberia, claimed that “the first CDC government official to be nominated by President Joseph Joseph is Madam Emma Metia Glassco.”
Verdict: Misleading. According to the Executive Mansion, Madam Glassco has not been appointed.
Full Text
On Thursday, April 11, 2024, a local blog, Shine Liberia made a post claiming that Madam Emma Metieh Glassco of the former ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) is the first person from the immediate past government (CDC) to be appointed by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to serve in his government.
According to the post, “First CDC government official to be nominated by President Joseph Joseph! Congratulations, Emma Glassco; you have paid your dues so well, and any responsible government would love to have a team player like you. National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority boss.”
Also, a similar claim was made by Madam Metieh Glassco herself on her official Facebook page, thanking President Boakai and the Board of the National Fisheries and Acqucture Authority (NaFAA) for the appointment.
In both claims, they relied on or used the recent list of appointed government officials as evidence, as seen below.
Madam Metieh Glassco is currently serving her second four-year term as director general of NaFAA since being appointed by former President George Weah on January 18, 2022.
Chapter 3.4 under the title “Appointment of the Director General” subsection (2) of the act creating the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA), the head of NaFAA, The Director General of NaFAA shall hold office for a term of four (4) years and can be renewed for an additional term of four (4) only.
There have been calls by some supporters and partisans of the ruling Unity Party for Madam Emma Metiah Glassco to be replaced by President Baokai or step aside as head of NaFAA even though she has a four-year tenure, a call she has since rejected.
According to a Front Page Africa news report, the calls are being made regarding allegations of corruption, unfair labour practices, and bad labour practices by Madam Glassco at the entity, an allegation she has since denied.
Verification
DUBAWA launched an investigation into the facts to verify whether President Boakai has appointed Madam Metieh Glassco, as Shine Liberia and Madam Glassco claimed.
To begin with, our researcher used the evidence provided by the two claimants, which is the April 11, 2024, list of appointments of new officials of government by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, which was published both on the official website of the Executive Mansion and its official Facebook page.
During the research, it was discovered that President Boakai made new appointments in government, affecting several government agencies and setting up boards of some agencies, including the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA).
It was also discovered that the board members of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) were named by President Boakai. They include the Minister of Agriculture as Chairman; the Ministry of National Defense, a Statutory Member; the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning as a statutory Member; the Ministry of Commerce & Industry as a statutory Member; Liberia Maritime Authority, a Statutory Member; and the Director General of NAFA), as Statutory Member Ex-officio, and Board Secretary with no voting rights.
The Liberian leader’s decision to appoint members of the Board of NaFAA is in line with Section 3.12 under the title “Appointment, Membership, and Tenure of the Board” of the act establishing the entity.
Under this section, the director general of NaFAA is on the board as a statutory member ex-officio and board secretary with no voting rights; by this act, whoever is the head of the entity automatically serves on the board of NaFAA.
Does this mean President Boakai has appointed Madam Emma Metieh Glassco? The answer is no because she is already the head of NaFAA, which by law automatically made her a member of the board of NaFAA.
Did President Boakai appoint Madam Glassco? No, she was appointed by former President George Weah on January 182022.
Conclusion
Based on all of the evidence available following thorough research conducted by our researcher about the claim made by a local blog, Shine Liberia, that President Boakai has appointed Madam Emma Metieh Glassco as the first former ruling CDC member in the Unity Party government, it is safe to say the claim is misleading.
