-Amid Stalled Salaries of 81 staff and Locked Offices
By Jerromie S. Walters
For more than seven months, the National Council of Chiefs of Liberia has been embroiled in confusion. Approximately 81 staff members have found themselves blocklisted from receiving their salaries, allegedly due to directives from the Minister of Internal Affairs.
Chief Zanzan Karwor, the former Chairman of the then National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia (NACCEL), lost his position to Chief Arthur W. Dowah following an election held on August 9, 2024, in Ganta City, Nimba County. Chief Zanzan Karwor was elected in June 2006. Chief Arthur W. Dowah, along with other chiefs, were inducted into their positions on Saturday, August 10, 2024, during a ceremony held at the EJS Ministerial Complex as the Chairman of the (new) National Council of Chiefs. But since his induction, the Council has experienced a severe division.
The situation has heightened to the point where he (Chief Arthur W. Dowah) is conducting business from outside of the Council Headquarters while over seventy staff members remain at the Council Headquarters on Camp Johnson Road, where the offices have been locked for an extended period. The lack of communication and support has created a palpable sense of distress among the employees.
The birth
Musu Coleman, the embattled Human Resource Personnel of the National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia provided insight into the origins of this crisis. “From March of this year, we heard that the Minister of Internal Affairs was going from county to county having chiefs elections to unseat the National Council of Chiefs and Elders (NACCEL). As we are all sitting here, once upon a time, the Minister of Internal Affairs brought a team here and said that he came to introduce the new Chairman who was elected to take Chief Zazan Karwor’s place.”
Despite the upheaval, the Minister reportedly assured the staff that they would continue to work together. “He told us that even though that has happened, they would have worked with us. In working with you, we will be taking some people to remain here to work, and we will pension people who have reached the age of retirement. Those we don’t want to work with or that will not remain in the system will be paid off, and no employee had a problem with that.” However, since that meeting in May, the staff has been denied their salaries.
Coleman further recounted, “When he left, he sent the Deputy Minister for Administration, Samuel Brown. He came and collected the keys to all the offices. We are still coming to work and signing in.” This situation arose after one of the Minister’s appointees, known only as “Mr. Cooper,” encouraged them to maintain their attendance. “He used the parable that no monkey works bamboo chop,” she explained, emphasizing the staff’s commitment despite their dire circumstances.
For over seven months, neither the new Chairman of the Council nor the Internal Affairs Minister has communicated with them. According to their controller, the Ministry of Finance informed them that a directive from the Internal Affairs Minister ordered a hold on their salary payments. Efforts to verify these allegations didn’t yield fruit as the Ministry of Internal Affairs Director of Press J. Nathaniel Vah didn’t pick up calls placed to his Orange number.
According to the disenchanted staff of the Council, the financial strain has led to severe inconveniences for them, particularly in meeting their basic needs. Throughout these seven months, they have reached out to various government offices, including the Office of the Pro Tempore, the House of Representatives, the Civil Service Agency (CSA), and even the Vice President. Unfortunately, their pleas have yet to yield a positive outcome.
Preparing to return?
On November 25, 2024, a team from the Ministry of Internal Affairs visited the Council Headquarters with the intention of assessing five of the offices. However, the aggrieved workers resisted their efforts, fearing that the assessment was a precursor to renovations that would allow the Chairman to resume work from the Council Headquarters. The angry workers insisted that no such processes should occur until their salaries were addressed.
Traditionally, heads and support staff of government institutions are expected to work from their respective offices. However, the aggrieved workers allege that the new Chairman of the National Council of Elders has been conducting business from the Ministry of Internal Affairs since his election and induction. Meanwhile, some newly appointed staff claim that the Chairman has been working in the counties. Nonetheless, this publication confirmed that the newly appointed staff have office spaces on the second floor of the back side of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where they are stationed.
Stanley Kar, the Inspector of the 15 counties of the Council, expressed frustration over the situation. “It is tradition for appointed officials to be replaced, but not civil servants. The ongoing situation has caused serious inconvenience for us.”
Like Kar, Oretha Vambo, the Chief of Maintenance, lamented, “Today we have become beggars. We are greatly affected by this sudden attitude.” The employees are feeling the weight of their circumstances, struggling to navigate their daily lives without the salaries they depend on.
Pleading for Intervention
In a plea for intervention, Coleman stated, “The next thing that we are looking forward to is our just benefits. If they want us, we stay; if they don’t want us, they give us our just benefits, and we go home. We are asking the President of the Republic of Liberia—these are his citizens who are sitting here and are very much disturbed and embarrassed. We are asking him to talk to his minister to pay us.”
Chief Dowah’s Ascendancy
Chief Arthur W. Dowah emerged victorious in a competitive three-man race, defeating Chiefs Bob Koffi Zah from Rivercess County and Nelson Neow from Maryland County. Chief Zah garnered nine votes, while Chief Neow received one vote. Unlike the case of his predecessor, Chief Dowah has a 2-year tenure as mandated by the Local Government Act of 2018.
The election aligns with the provisions of Chapter 3 of the Local Government Act (LGA) of 2018, which abolished the former council and established the current National Council of Chiefs. Others elected were Paramount Chief Ballah Gbotorlu from Lofa County National Vice Chair for Culture and Traditional Affairs, and female Paramount Chief Rhoda Garmu of Grand Gedeh County, who will take on the role of National Vice Chairperson for Peace-building and Reconciliation.
A noise ahead of the elections
On Friday, August 2, 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Francis Nyumalin announced the end of Chief Zanzan’s leadership as the Chief of the National Traditional Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia. “The 15 Chairpersons of the County Council of Chiefs will elect their National Chairperson and other members of the leadership of the National Council Chiefs, which now replaces the erstwhile National Traditional Council of Chiefs & Elders then headed by former Chairman Chief Zanzan Karwor,” he noted.
Ex-officials of the National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia (NACCEL) did not attend the events in Ganta because they felt disrespected by the Internal Affairs Minister’s approach towards the matter. ”The only thing I know is that the Minister went to the office and said everybody should turn their keys over (Some part of last month). The keys my office staff had and the one I had we put all together, and I think they (Officials of the Internal Affairs Ministry) are already in possession of all of the offices.” To understand better, our source was quizzed if they had been to work since the time of the request by the Minister: “If the authority comes and says I don’t want to see you, who am I to stay? So I just back off,” one of the ex-officials told this paper.
On the other hand, Chief Trokon Jonathan Cee, the former Vice Chair for Elders, Culture and Traditional Affairs of the Traditional Council of Chiefs and Elders of the Republic of Liberia, alleged that the Minister’s move contravenes the Local Government Act. “This Country called Liberia is a country by law and the local government Act for which he is speaking. We have a serious problem with the Local Government Act because the act that enacted us into law. We came up with a name called National Council of Chiefs and Elders, but the Act they repealed is the National Traditional Council of Chiefs and Elders, and we were not created with that name. Even if you check the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you will see that name called National Council of Chiefs and Elders.”
