September 23, 2024, Paynesville, Liberia: The former Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Hon. Worlea-Saywah Dunah wishes to categorically clarify that he was never involved in any way or manner with any of the audits of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications from 2018 to 2022 which implicate his predecessor and hold him liable on multiple fronts; for the record, Honorable Dunah was nominated on May 2, 2023, confirmed and assumed job on June 16, 2023. According to the General Audit reports all of these compliance audits were conducted, and responses were given under the administrative watch of Cllr. Cooper Kruah, the current Minister of Labor served as Minister of Posts and Telecommunications from February 2018 to May 2, 2023.
Honorable Dunah is a man of integrity, high professionalism as a lawyer, a public policy expert, and a committed patriot as his works at the National Legislature and his very brief but highly progressive stint at the Ministry of Posts show. Furthermore, it is indisputable that when Minister Dunah took office on June 16, 2023, there was absolutely no audit ongoing at that ministry as indicated on the audit reports published by the supreme audit authority.
This statement is in response to the current Minister of Labor’s assertion on Spoon Talks on Sunday, September 15, 2024, when he said, “Somebody went there and refused to answer the GAC” in a clear reference to his successor. That assertion represents nothing but a pathetic diversion to shield himself from the audit findings, Honorable Dunah was never contacted by the GAC concerning any audit, and neither did his office receive any audit inquiry or any form of audit-related information from the supreme audit authority of the Republic of Liberia.
For the record Cllr. Kruah himself and his administration answered the GAC; he must now answer to President Joseph Boakai and perhaps President Weah on these findings.
Today President Boakai has launched a very spirited war on corruption and Honorable Dunah supports that war on graft; Cllr Kruah who sits on President Boakai’s cabinet must note that audit reports from the GAC are the tool upon which many officials are facing investigations. We urge the Minister of Labor to answer to the supreme audit authority and stop the proliferation of falsehoods which cannot save him because the records are there that the audit responses were provided by him and the administration he headed.
When we got to know of this interview on September 17, 2024, we immediately contacted the management of the Spoon TV Network on the email address and the American phone numbers listed on its Facebook Page; spoontv13@gmail.com and +1 609-649-4206. Unfortunately, the email sent on September 18, 2024, at 08:41GMT has not been replied to the numerous calls to that United States of America number always went to a voicemail box that is filled leaving us with no means of communication with the management. The media consultant finally succeeded in contacting the local co-host of that night, one Diamond Slangar; we conducted a joint call with him on Thursday, September 19, 2024, at 14:24 GMT to arrange for the airing of our response since the assertion they aired is totally wrong.
Diamond Slangar, as one of the co-hosts on the September 15, 2024 Spoon Talk refused to grant us an opportunity to respond to the accusations made by Minister Kruah stating that it is the policy of the Spoon Network that someone who was accused on their airwaves must book and pay their network for the opportunity to make a rebuttal statement. We find this very strange as the purpose of the media is to provide a balanced report since every story has more than one side; we informed him that to allow someone to make uncontested assertion against the character and reputation of another person on your airwaves then demand money from the accused to provide his side of the story is counter to the basic foundation of media works. Slangar insisted that Minister Kruah paid for his time and anyone who seeks to provide clarification or his side of the story must equally paid.
Interestingly, Slangar cut off his phone when Hon Dunah pointed out to him that such Spoon Network policy engenders the spread of slander, false accusations, and baseless attacks on innocent people by the rich; and that a media network with such policy provides the public with unbalanced, biased news contrary to the role of the free press in a democracy.
However, it is important to note that Minister Dunah achieved much during his brief tenure at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and he is proud of his record. For example, the ministry lacked a financial reporting and management system and even a website; the ministry was owed its sole mail/parcel carrier, Brussels Airlines while mail services were irregular these plus many other challenges were inherited and resolved within a month.
In closing, we call on Cllr. Kruah to withdraw his statement as they are not founded on truth; as for the Spoon Network that aired the misinformation and has refused to balance the story let it be stated clearly that Honorable Dunah will not pay them, the Spoon Network, any money for rebuttal for lies broadcast against him over their system but will explore other options to defend his character.
Nathaniel Daygbor
Media Consultant
Mobile: 0886449267/0776820046
