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LNBA debunks McGill’s claims

The Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) has refuted claims by Minister of State and Presidential Affairs Nathaniel F. McGill that he provided funding for LNBA’s 2019 African Bar Association (AfBA) conference in Monrovia.

In his reaction to call by the immediate past President of LNBA Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe that he (McGill) be sanctioned by the United States Government for his alleged involvement in “pay for play politics, McGill claimed that Cllr. Gongloe begged him for money to support his African Bar Association program in Liberia and other activities that he (Gongloe) didn’t include in his sanction advocacy against him.

But in a release issued over the weekend by the leadership of the LNBA, it says Minister McGill totally misrepresented the facts during his live interview on Spoon TV on Tuesday, December 28, 202, when he asserted the Bar Association benefitted from his personal financial contribution to host the 2019 AfBA Conference in Monrovia.       

The LNBA explained that at no time did the leadership of the LNBA ever make a request to Mr. McGill seeking his personal financial support or gesture to hold the AfBA conference in October 2019.

The LNBA further explained that when the AfBA made the request in August of 2019 for the annual conference to be hosted in Liberia in October of the same year after Egypt had declined to host same earlier in July, both the Government of Liberia (GOL) and the LNBA were excited and saw the request as a great opportunity to showcase the country under the George Weah Administration.

It noted that both the GOL and the LNBA felt it was an honor for Liberia to host lawyers of the African Continent for the first time in the history of the LNBA. Predicated upon these discussions and due to the short notice given the LNBA, the AfBA delegation and the LNBA leadership met with Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor who was the first senior official that met with the AfBA delegation and pledged the GOL fullest support for the successful hosting of the conference. VP Howard Taylor made the initial commitment of making the Ministerial Complex available for the holding of the event.

The LNBA said that in the preparation leading up to the event, the Government of Liberia made a commitment to contribute Fifty Thousand United States Dollars ($50,000USD) which was not a personal request by Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe, President of the LNBA, to Min. Nathaniel McGill, but rather it was to the Government of Liberia.

The LNBA said the 2019 Conference was hailed as the best AfBA Conference in recent years, for which the LNBA and the Government received commendation and accolades at home and abroad for the fine partnership and collaboration which made the event a big success. 

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The LNBA in its release further clarified that in a further show of support for the event, President George Weah extended an invitation for the conference delegates to have dinner at his condominiums near his Forkle Krohn Prayer Chapel.

The LNBA further maintained that under no circumstance will the Bar ever ask Minister McGill as an individual to provide US$50,000.00 or to give personal support to the LNBA and neither was such request ever made to him and never will such a request ever be made to him.

The LNBA noted that it wishes to make it emphatically clear that it will never fan for handouts from government officials including Min. Nathaniel McGill.

The LNBA said that the contribution received in 2019 was a fulfillment of a commitment by the Government and people of Liberia to contribute to the hosting of the AfBA Conference.

The Bar said it is constrained to correct the misinformation spewed out in the public domain by Min. McGill in his quest to gain personal gratification at the expense of the LNBA. The LNBA said resources of the Government are not the individual funds of Min. McGill, except this, is the impression he is creating, in which case it is a cause for concern that Government resources have been personalized by Min. McGill.https://thenewdawnliberia.com/mcgill-to-cllr-gongloe-complete-hypocrisy/

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The New Dawn is Liberia’s Truly Independent Newspaper Published by Searchlight Communications Inc. Established on November 16, 2009, with its first hard copy publication on January 22, 2010. The office is located on UN Drive in Monrovia Liberia. The New Dawn is bilingual (both English & French).
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