Chief Justice’s driver quarantined

A driver of Liberia’s Chief Justice Francis S. Korkpor, Sr. has gone in self- quarantine, after his wife and mother-in-law died of the Ebola virus, Supreme Court spokesman, Sengbe Johnson, has told reporters in Monrovia.

Chatting with reporters on Thursday, October 9 at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia, Mr. Johnson said Isaac Adrick, who “basically drives the Chief Justice during weekends,” had alerted his boss via mobile phone of the Ebola situation that hit his family.

Though the health status of driver Isaac Adrick is not known yet, there have been reports that the Judiciary had earlier asked some of its staff in the janitorial department to observe 21 days each, after a colleague came down with the virus recently.

But the head of the janitorial department, Mr. Choma, in a follow-up via mobile phone told The NewDawn on Thursday that they have not been mandated to lift the observation of the staff and that they have not been called back to work yet.

Expressing Chief Justice Korkpor and the Judiciary’s concerns over the death of the driver’s family, the judiciary spokesperson said for more than three weeks, the Chief Justice had no personal contact with Isaac, and added that the Health Ministry is welcomed to do Ebola contact tracing at the Judiciary.

However, he told reporters that the Chief Justice has three drivers, naming them as Big Boy, who drives the Chief Justice, Payne, who drives the pilot car in his convoy, and Isaac, basically posted for weekends.

“But the main crux is: Isaac’s wife contracted this from her mother, who passed first; and when Isaac discovered that his mother-in-law had Ebola, he asked the Chief Justice to allow him [to stay off job]. So he’s self- quarantined”, said Mr. Johnson.

He said Isaac has been home for the past three weeks since asking the Chief Justice for a 21-day observation period upon discovering that his mother-in-law was an Ebola victim.

Mr. Johnson said two days ago [October 7], death news came of the driver’s wife, while he was still under the self-imposed quarantine. He said logistics and finances are being sent for the driver’s upkeep at home.

“The mother was an Ebola victim, and the daughter was taking care of her, so the daughter passed. Again, the daughter might not have known that her mother was… but by the time she discovered it, she had already been infected.”