The head of Liberia’s Traditional Council Chief Zanzan Kawor, distances himself from a clandestine audio recording that has gone viral here, in which suspended Bong County Superintendent Esther Walker is heard narrating an encounter with three officials, at President George Weah’s Jamaica Resort along the Robertsfield Highway that she claims Chief Kawor was present, among others.
In the audio, Superintendent Walker details her encounter with the Minister of Finance Samuel Tweah, State Minister Nathaniel McGill, and Monrovia Mayor Jefferson Koijee, revealing among others, an alleged plot to assassinate President Weah, conferring of a renowned traditional title [Dahkpannah] on Vice President Taylor.
But Chief Kawor, who heads traditional leaders in the country, vehemently denies he had never visited the Jamaica Resort, a private entertainment center of the President or being such company.
“I’ve never been to Jamaica before; from the time I get to know myself as Chief Zanzan Kawor, I have never put foot to Jamaica before. I heard about it and I know that our President owns the place, for me to go there, never. So, what she’s talking about is far from the truth. The only way that can be true is if I have been there before, since she said I was here that night,” Chief Kawor refutes.
Madam Walker had alleged that threats were issued her in the presence of Chief Zanzan Kawor and Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee.
His clarification comes in the wake of a leaked audio recording believed to have generated from Superintendent Walker, alleging that both Ministers Tweah and McGill intimidated and psychologically tortured her for her alleged involvement in conferring on Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor a traditional chiefdom title, ‘Dahkpannah’.
Speaking to the NewDawn in an interview at his 24th Street office in Monrovia, Chief Kawor explains that the Dahkpannah title is not for woman, and it is traditionally forbidden to discuss traditional titles in the media or even in the city.
“Dahkpannah business is not news people or the city. We talk Dahkpannah in the bush. The McGill and Tweah are people I can’t talk to about Dahkpannah title. Nobody should bring that thing to me and in fact, I will stop here.”
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However, President George M. Weah has suspended Superintendent Esther Walker with immediate effect.
According to the Executive Mansion website, Madam Walker remains suspended, pending investigation into allegations she made in the audio, which went viral on February 15, 2019. She is henceforth advised to turnover all government properties in her possession.
For his part, Monrovia Mayor, Jefferson T. Koijee, says he is taken aback by the mentioning of his name in the audio.
In a press statement issued over the weekend, Koijee said he is specifically shocked that Madam Walker would mention in the recording that he [Koijee] was at the President’s Jamaica Lodge on the day President Weah delivered his second Annual Message.
The Mayor categorically distances himself, saying his ill health at the time couldn’t permit him to attend either the official Annual Message ceremony at the Capitol or the after party at the Jamaica Lodge.
He challenges the suspended Bong County Superintendent to show any proof by means of audio, video or still image that he [Mayor Koijee] was present at any of these ceremonies.
By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor –Editing by Jonathan Browne
