The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | Liberia’s president George Weah on Thursday denied breaking the law by firing the head of a government agency overseeing the mining and forestry sectors.
The mining of iron ore and production of latex to make rubber constitute the bulk of Liberia’s exports, and are rare sources of tax revenue for the poor West African nation.
Campaign group Global Witness has said that the replacement of Konah Karmo as Head of the autonomous Secretariat at the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) was illegal.
But Weah defended his decision telling journalists “everyone works at the will and pleasure of the president, and the president decides who is capable”.
“I have not broken any law, I am making appointments, those names I am bringing forward I believe that they can run this country, go to the constitution and you will know that the president did not break any law,” he added.
Karmo was replaced by Gabriel Nyenkan, an appointment announced on March 5 when Karmo was still in his position.
Global Witness alleged in a March 19 statement that only a LEITI board decision could remove someone from the Head of Secretariat position, a mechanism which they said was “critical for the maintenance of LEITI’s independence”.
They cited LEITI Act of 2007 as the basis for calling Weah’s actions illegal.
Weah was forced to withdraw his pick for justice minister in February after it emerged that nominee was once stripped of his legal licence for embezzling a client.
