A female employee of the Division of Passports and Visas Extension at the Foreign Ministry, who was accused of assaulting an army officer, says her action was inadvertent.
By Emmanuel wise Jipoh
Monrovia, Liberia, April 4, 2024 –A staff in the Division of Passports and Visas Extension at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia breaks silence here, nearly a month after she was accused of assaulting an officer of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) Sergeant Noah Donzo, saying her action was never intentional, as she has no character of an aggravated offense.
Madam Charlotte Mason, a secretary in the office of the Director of Passport and Visas, Joseph W. Mendin, at the ministry, issued an apparent open apology in a clarification regarding the allegation of assaulting Sergeant Donzo, who had gone to obtain a passport.
It all started on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, when Sergeant Donzo, officially attired in his military uniform, went to the Division of Passports to inquire about an application he had earlier made for an ordinary Liberian passport but was upset over delay when he and Miss Mason resulted to hot verbal exchanges that led her to assault the AFL officer.
However, she has since denied assaulting Sergeant Donzo had initially refuted the allegation.
In her official response to the allegation during an interview with the NEW DAWN Newspaper, Madam Mason said her action should not be equated to an incident of physical assault, as she had initially apologized to Sergeant Donzo, emphasizing it was never intentional, as she was “only trying to caution him.”
“I did not assault Sergeant Donzo. I had no point in time, insulted him; Sergeant Donzo was standing at my desk, and when he came for his passport application to my boss, I ushered him in at the time the Director wasn’t in office, so I took up responsibility and decided to inquire how can I be a help to him. Still, he was so abusive, using profane language in the office, because he was already angry and felt he couldn’t be processed, so I decided to caution him”, she narrates.
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Instead, she accused him of deliberately raining insults, using the word “bull-shit,” and she had only calmed him down to refrain from such a negative word, as he was going to be processed.
“I’m not the person who will see people and talk to them roughly; it has not been my character; I’m not one passport official who will see people and insult them. Never a point, Sergeant Donzo and I were in commotion. He did nothing to me. He’s a customer, and I was never annoyed with him.”
She continues that even when Sergeant Donzo used the profane word, she thought, being a military officer, they sometimes use such expressions in the barracks, “so I only tried to caution him that this was a diplomatic area and you cannot use such a word here.”
She admitted touching him because he was standing in the pathway to her desk, and she needed to do her work. Then, she tipped Sergeant Donzo, asking him to excuse himself and walk to her desk.
“Where the officer was standing was my desk, the road leading to my desk, so I had to touch him, to allow him to get aside so that I could come to my desk, but it was never an aggravated assault, as being mentioned in the media, because he didn’t offend me in any way.”
According to her, when Sergeant Donzo felt offended by her touch on his uniform, she immediately apologized and calmed the situation.
But she notes that reports published in the media damaging her character were only meant to side with Journalist Christopher Onanuga, proprietor of Kool FM, who had also gone to obtain a passport but was already in an aggravated mood.
“Even when he took it at that time point of my hit on him, my first word to him was, officer, I’m sorry; I’m not one person who will assault you.” But she notes that Officer Donzo had taken the incident differently.
Madam Mason discloses that the CEO of Kool FM 91.9, Christopher Hayes Onanuga, allegedly blew the situation out of proportion, explaining that Mr. Onanuga was the one who allegedly initiated commotion with staffers of the Division Passport and Visas when he started insulting her Boss, Mr. Joseph W. Mendin, out of anger that he wouldn’t be processed.
She adds that by then, department officials had come to defend their boss to prevent Mr. Onanuga from using abusive language and causing serious conflict.
However, Mr. Onanuga counters that he was allegedly abused by staffers at the Division of Passport and Visas when he had gone to obtain a passport form.
According to him, he was denied access to the office for the second time, having been there on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, and was told to come the following day, Wednesday, to be processed.
For his part, Sergeant Donzo had earlier told reporters that he had gone to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a day earlier and was scheduled by the Division of Passport and Visas Service to pick up an Express Passport form the following day only to return the next day based on the schedule to purchase and fill the form, he was aggressively attacked and hit in the chest by Madam Charlotte Mason.
However, he added that he was handed the form after calling other journalists to inform them about what was happening at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Editing by Jonathan Browne
Am still trying to figure out whether a typical Liberian woman will have the gut to assault a uniform AFL personnel? Well, I wasn’t there, but am not too sure whether this is possible. Even civilian man are afraid of AFL personnel not even to mention a lady.