LIBERIA – Foreign Minister Dee Maxwell Kemyah is yet to make a report to President George Weah on how Sheik Bassirou Kante who was arrested in the United States a few weeks ago, obtained a diplomatic Liberian passport.
The Liberian leader had ordered Minister Kemayah to investigate the circumstances leading to the issuance of Liberia’s diplomatic passport to Sheik Bassirou Kante and authorized the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dee Maxwell Kemayah to immediately suspend the issuance of diplomatic passports.
Minister Kemayah was instructed by the President to submit a full report detailing a review of how Liberian diplomatic passports are issued.
The Liberian Foreign Minister was to report to the President in one week as of May 10, 2022.
But after the one-week expired, Minister Kemayah requested additional two weeks from President Weah to complete the Investigation, which has also expired.
President George Weah has ordered an immediate halt to the issuance of diplomatic passports following a report that a Liberian diplomatic passport was discovered in the home of Sheik Bassirou Kante during a search by U.S. authorities.
Mr. Kante was arrested for alleged money laundering conspiracy by FBI agents in the United States in April and is currently in pre-trial detention.
As part of its full coverage of the case, local media reported that the Liberian businessman could not secure a bail bond as the court has taken into consideration several factors, including his possession of a Liberian diplomatic passport and his very close ties with the Liberian government.
It remains unclear how Mr. Kante obtained the diplomatic passport as he is not an employee of the government of Liberia, nor is he known to be a representative of the government at any of Liberia’s Foreign Missions.
However, the investigation revealed, “The Defendant’s ties to Liberia, moreover, are especially deep. The email search warrant production revealed that Defendant has a close personal relationship with the Vice President of Liberia.
The diplomatic passport purportedly issued to Kante on August 12, 2020, listed him as a Chief of Staff in the office of Representative A. Vamuyah Corneh III (District#14, Montserrado County).
Foreign Minister Kemayah himself has become an embarrassing figure in the Weah Government with the expulsion of his wife from the Liberian Consulate in New York by the US Government; and his alleged link to some undiplomatic activities while serving in New York.
It’s almost two months since he was mandated by President Weah to conduct the Investigation into Kante’s diplomatic passport scandal.
What do we expect of criminals who want nothing short of destruction? Why since that time the president has not called for the report since the magnitude of the problem has been carrying him down the drain? Everyone has been doing their own thing for their own selfish purposes. They have been meeting since the diplomatic passport crisis started but they have swept it away just like how the counterfeit money issue will soon become an issue of the past