Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon has sharply reacted to Labor Minister Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah’s allegation linking his continuous Work Permit advocacy to personal gain, while terming the Minister’s statement as childish and dangerous politics.
By Lincoln G. Peters
Speaking on a local radio talk show in Monrovia on Monday, July 7, 2025, Sen. Dillon repeated his allegation against Cllr. Kruah, accusing him of deliberately violating the Decent Work Act by giving Liberians jobs to foreigners
He, added that he will continue to push for jobs in the private sector that Liberian are qualified for.
” In closing on the labor issues, Minister Kruah gives the impression that Sen. Dillon is personally attacking him because he is from Nimba County. I want to make this very clear here: this is not only childish but a dangerous political tactic he needs to stop. I confirmed with the Minister of Labor. In fact, I championed his confirmation. During his confirmation hearing, which is available on my Facebook page, I asked him about how we would secure jobs for Liberians. He stated that, as Minister of Labor, he would ensure that no work permit would be issued for jobs that Liberians are available and qualified for. During that hearing, I told him that I would call him back after six months to get an update. Now that I am doing my oversight responsibility, he sees it as an attack,” Sen. Dillon stated.
Providing an update regarding Minister Kruah’s appearance at the Liberian Senate, Sen. Dillon argued that Minister Kruah didn’t appear to be honestly cooperative during his appearance at the Senate.
Dillon explained that the Minister was very disrespectful because he failed to tell the categories of jobs for which he gave work permits to foreigners.
Dillon noted that Cllr. Kruah issued work permits to more than ten thousand non-Liberians, and when he was asked to bring the list, he took more than a month, which he said indicated a sinister plan.
The Senator further explained how the Senate Committee later discovered that Cllr. Kruah provided a work permit without doing due diligence.
” Now, the Senate is going to insist that no active work permit will be renewed. The current active work permit can’t be revoked because it’s a contract already. Once we receive the work permit fees, it’s a contract. The only way it can be revoked or expire before the timeline is when you deceived the country. Where a person took a plumber’s work permit but is doing a managerial job, all ten thousand work permits are jobs that Liberians can do. It was shown and justified by the Civil Service boss,” Dillon added.
Addressing the tribal card
Sen. Dillon bemused by Cllr. Kruah’s tribal card raises questions as to whether, when he voted on the record and confirmed Minister Kruah, he was not a Bassa-man, nor a Kru, but when he asked him how the job was going, he was talking about tribe.
” Now, his poor performance on the job should not be used as Dillon is running after Nimba people. I confirmed Post Minister from Nimba and all those from Nimba nominated by President Joseph N. Boakai. Whether you are from the Rescue Mission or not, our oversight will still be effective. When we go deeper into these labor-related issues, Cooper Kruah will not be Minister before the close of today. Kruah is giving a work permit on a waiver, which violates the law. I told the Senate to pass a vote of no confidence in the Minister when he said that he inherited the seven thousand work permits. Now, he added it to ten thousand. There is no active work permit from the Weah administration because the work permit ended,” Dillon asserted.
He urged the Minister not to use the one thousand United States dollar work permit fees to deprive Liberians of jobs, describing this as a serious problem, while asking him to refrain from raising revenue at the expense of Liberians.
” Where in the Budget Law or line does it tell the Minister to go and raise ten million from work permits? There are other avenues to raise money. We want to give our people equal pay for equal work. Western Cluster and Bea Mountain, the Minister of Labor, five months ago, told the Senate at a public hearing that the company has one hundred drivers operating heavy-duty equipment, fifty-five of whom are non-Liberians and forty-five Liberians. The Minister told us that there was no Liberian to operate the equipment, for which no Liberian was awarded the entire job. Now, the pay grade between Liberians and foreigners is very far and inequality is high,” he noted.
” Most times,” Sen. Dillon continued, “our people say the government and our lawmakers are not doing anything for us. It’s because they are not working, and they can’t find job. We create the environment for the job, and then we, the very government or any branch thereof, can’t allow them to give the jobs out. This appears to our people as though we are not creating jobs.”
