McIntosh At Foreign Ministry: Employees reject Bush and Greaves’ nomination

Pleads With Senate Not To Confirm Both Nominees….

 Jetee J. Tarr (intern Reporter) 05479629 holy4christ.tarr@gmail.com

Employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have rejected the appointment of Miss Angela Cassell-Bush and Mr. William Greaves as inspector General and Assistant Minister for European affairs of the Foreign Service respectively.

In opposition to the appointments, the employees sent out numerous press statements cautioning the Liberian President against appointing Madam Bush who have reportedly undermined several officials and ambassadors of the Ministry, resulting to a lot of dismissals at the Ministry during the “poor and dark administration of former Min. Olubanke King Akerele”.

Accordingly, during their first interactive meeting with Minister Toga McIntosh Gayewea following his confirmation, the workers openly requested the Minister to have Madam Bush removed from the Ministry, if the Ministry was to regain its status as the point line Ministry of government, but Minister McIntosh greatly disappointed them by turning down their request.

The workers stated that Madam Bush does not have the vigor, moral rectitude and technical expertise to operate the dedicated office. They stated that Miss Angela Cassell-Bush emphatically is inexperienced, inept, unprofessional, incapable and lacks basic diplomatic training for the post, as she is on record for lobbying for the retirement of the former Inspector General and several Ambassadors-At-Large, including the dismissal of over 50 employees as-well-as dozens of Foreign Service officers during the failed administration of former Minister King Akerele.

“She is the one that indirectly runs the financial bureau at the ministry and decides who receive monthly allowance and gas slips, as well as who get on the payroll, while the Deputy Minister for Administration’s office is being remotely run by the ghost of the former Foreign Minister”.

She also runs the show at the ministry and on a daily basis feed former Minister Akerele with information relative to happenings at the Ministry. She undermined former Inspector General Francis Johnson and senior Ambassador at large Karlton Karpeh and three other ambassadors at large, leading to their forceful retirement”, the employees stated.

 The workers have made it known that they are never going to work neither cooperate with Madam Angela Cassell-Bush and will resist her confirmation for the post of inspector General of the Foreign Services Department.

They are also calling on members of the Liberian Senate not to confirm Madam Bush and Mr. Greaves and appealing to the President to withdraw their appointments.

“For Mr. William Greaves, Jr., who has been nominated to the post of Assistant Minister for European Affairs, he is a High School dropout and holds no college or university degree, this contradicts the government’s policy that to occupy a Ministerial post, the individual must hold a university degree. His apt naïveté, inexperience, gullibility, plus his greenness as a playboy and above all cannot compose or either express himself better disappoints us. Our officials of the ministry have violated every norms and laws of the ministry and are engaged in every vile act of administration and immorality from sexual exploitation and harassment, administrative malpractices, bribery, favoritism, corruption to nepotism.

Also the Deputy Minister for International Integration and Cooperation and the Deputy Minister for Administration and Finance and other senior officials are requiring sex from female staffers in return for their (female staffers’) official entitlements and elevation.

This ugly act is increasing: for a female staffer at the ministry to obtain cash allowance or get promotion, foreign assignment or go on foreign trip and obtain scholarship or given gasoline slip without having an affair in bed with the two Deputy Ministers and other officials in decisions making.

As a result of the unacceptable practices at the ministry, some ambitious female staffers including Ranisa Summon, Antoinette Wolor, Kartura Morgan, Christiana Tobey, Reginal Dortue, Annie Kennedy, Musu Kromah and Patricia Harris have failed to meet the demands of our officials. While other officials of the ministry ranging from Assistant Minister to Directors are also engaged into similar repugnant acts by constantly subjecting their staff members to sexual exploitation and harassment, while those who resist are sidelined”, the statement added.

The press statement: “Despite efforts that have been made by Minister Togo Gagwea to restore the Foreign Ministry to its pre-war status, immoral activities are being practiced including malpractices, sexual abuses and harassment, favoritism, bribery, corruption and nepotism, which are strenuous and killing the ministry”.

For a female staff to be included on the monthly allowance list, they have to sleep with officials responsible for listing individual names on the allowance list while those exempting themselves are either abandoned or cast aside from the list, which is one of the malpractices the employees are seeking to end.

Those securities officer that are assigned with guests visiting the country have had continuous complains about the unfair behavior of assigned protocol officers who usually demand money from visiting guests whenever the guests are about to leave the country, while female protocol officers usually sleep with guest for money.

The office of the Deputy Minister for Administration is drowned in administrative malpractices, nepotism, and preferential treatment by employing relatives and family members while at the same time being engaged in disparity into the distributions of allowances among the work force, bulk of who are left out in the process.    

One major negativity at the Ministry is the failure of the authority to combat corruption, especially at the Bureaus of Archives, legal, protocol and passports, where staff members at these bureaus usually demand illegal money before working on important documents such as articles of incorporation, verbal notes, duplication of legal instruments and documents and processing of passports to the detriment of the applicants.

The situation of administrative malpractice has dramatically become the order of the day, with those employed in recent time being either family members, close associates or friends of the Deputy Minister for Finance and the Assistant Minister for Administration as-well-as other officials of the Ministry.

The staff offices of the Assistant Minister for Administration and the Deputy Minister for Administration receives monthly allowance and gas slips and better allowance, while some  highly favored securities receive monthly allowance and gas slips, with nothing for other secretaries assigned in other bureaus and departments.

Some females at the ministry have continuously complained of the burden of sexual harassment by two deputy ministers assigned on the third floor,  in which the officials have manipulated their said position to abuse and exploit females sexually, having others falling prey to it.

This indecent practice is allegedly led by one black looking, light skinned, big-legs lady assigned on the fourth floor and another bright female assigned on the third floor, among several ladies who are involved due to greed of being promoted and assigned at foreign missions and also for cash, benefits, and preferential treatment from officials of the Ministry.

Another issue which has taken a center stage for the past three months is the issues of some low rank employees receiving high allowances and more gas slips than others like Directors and those with BSC and Masters’ Degrees.

Even those who were sent abroad to undergo studies have returned with Masters’ Degrees, but there has been no promotion with their monthly allowance for the month of January being US$125.00, while they still receive civil servant salary. Those assigned in Madam Angela Cassell-Bush’s office without degrees receive a monthly allowance of US$200.00-US$350.00, while some staff members gets between US$ 20.00-US$50.00 as allowances.

Of major concern are the attitudes of one Deputy Minister and Assistant Minister Offices on the ground floor and the third floor and the Chief of Protocol being the only one to attend all foreign trips without surprising their auxiliary to attend any.  These clandestine behaviors have made them unpopular in the eyes of their staffers.