Emmanuel at his grandmother’s funeral. Credit: Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh
MONROVIA, Liberia – In 2021 Emmanuel Tuloe became a hero for a weary nation. When the then 19-year-old commercial bike rider found a bag of $US50,000 cash – enough to change his life forever – he did what many considered unthinkable: he gave it back.
By: Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh & Khushali Haji with New Narratives
Emmanuel had been raised in Nimba County by a devoted grandmother who had instilled in him a strong sense of right and wrong. So when Emmanuel discovered the bag on the roadside one day when he was riding, he never considered keeping it. Emmanuel heard a radio announcement from Musu Yancy, a local businesswoman, whose business partner had dropped the bag after collecting money from other business owners. Emmanuel found Musu and returned the money.
“When I found the money I was just honest for me to give the money because it was somebody’s sweat,” he said.
In a country where more than half of people live in poverty and corruption is baked into almost every transaction, Emmanuel’s actions stood out. He was celebrated across the nation. As his story spread, he received awards and gifts.
Emmanuel Tuloe when he received the Integrity icon award in 2021. Credit: Accountability Lab
President George Weah gave Emmanuel $US10,000, motorbikes, and committed to personally sponsor his education through college. The president also promised the government would pay him a $US500 monthly stipend to cover living expenses while he was in school.
More gifts rolled in. Spoon FM presented US $10,250 in cash raised when Emmanuel appeared on their nighttime show, The Spoon Talk. Orange Liberia gave him $US3,000, Ecobank and the Emmanzo Group of Companies were many among others who made donations. He won the Accountability Lab’s Integrity Icon Award.
This was a life-changing moment for Emmanuel,” says Dorwohn Gleekia, representative for Nimba County District 6 where Emmanuel lived. “Not many believed that people like Emmanuel existed. Even with his economic hardship, he still returned it.
But while most Liberians celebrated Emmanuel as a hero, not everyone appreciated his honesty.
“Some called me stupid, and some people were saying that I shouldn’t have given the money back,” Emmanuel says. “They said all kinds of things about how I will die poor.”
And over time it was not just strangers who were attacking him. At his beloved grandmother’s funeral in August this year, an uncle launched an embarrassing verbal attack on him.
“They feel that I am in Montserrado and I am getting all the money, but they don’t know what I am going through,” said Emmanuel sadly.
Emmanuel Tuloe at Ricks Institute. Photo Credit: Khushali Haji
Betrayal Within Family
At first Emmanuel’s future looked bright. With the assistance of Representative Gleekia, Emmanuel opened bank accounts. He moved to Monrovia to live with his aging grandfather and enrolled in 6th grade at Ricks Institute, a reputable private school on the outskirts of Monrovia. Though he was twice the age of his classmates Emmanuel worked hard. He dreamed of becoming a U.S. Marine.
But while Emmanuel’s integrity inspired the nation, people around him let him down. When his grandmother died, Emmanuel went to withdraw money for his travel expenses. He was shocked to find the account empty.
“The money I had in the two banks was almost $US37,000,” Emmanuel said. “But my brother went behind me and was withdrawing my money small-small until he emptied it while I was in school.”
Alvin and Emmanuel photo courtesy of Nimba TV.
Emmanuel and his grandfather reported Alvin to the police. He was arrested and jailed at the Liberia National Police headquarters until the grandfather persuaded police to release him pending trial. Alvin told their grandfather that he used “charms” that he got from Guinea to deceive bank officers into thinking he was Emmanuel when he went to withdraw money.
Alvin did not agree to talk to New Narratives/Front Page Africa in person but by phone, he confessed that he had stolen the money. He claimed he then lost $US20,000 to a Liberian man he used to do petty trading with at Duala Market who duped him. There is nothing left.
“I feel bad about what I did. I am only appealing to him to forgive me,” said Alvin, 27. “I tell the world sorry and beg for them to please help my brother in the process. Nothing I can do to sustain him, and nothing he can do too to sustain himself.”
Emmanuel in the Library doing his assignment, Photo credit: Evelyn Seagbeh
Emmanuel has not forgiven his brother. “When I call him, he does not even pick up my call,” said Alvin.
The final blows came from the highest offices in the land. President George Weah had committed the Ministry of State to pay the monthly allowance of $US500. But Emmanuel said the payments were halted by the new government.
In response to queries from FrontPage/New Narratives, Cornelia Kruah, Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of State, said she had no information about any payments made to Emmanuel.
“I informed him that no old staff (from the Minister’s office or HR) could verify this information when I asked and there is no record here of the said transaction,” she said by text message.
Sylvester Grigsby, Minister of State in the Boakai administration, did not respond to emails, texts, and WhatsApp messages seeking comment.
President Weah personally committed to pay Emmanuel’s school fees and they were paid until this year. But payments stopped this year, according to the school.
Emmanuel Potter, former deputy for administration at the Ministry of State, was in charge of making President Weah’s payments to the school. He did not respond to texts asking for a response.
The start of this new school has been rough for Emmanuel. His tuition for the 9th grade is $US2,980. He says he has no school supplies and no idea where funds will come from. The school is now threatening to kick him out.
An Uncertain Future
Blindsided by these letdowns and betrayals Emmanuel is trying to understand his change of fortune.
“Right now you can see my body. Inside of me, I am thinking about my grandmother and my money,” he said in an interview at the Ricks Institute where he is struggling to focus on his studies. “Some days I would spend the whole day on just Lipton tea. To even get food, it can’t be easy or some days I sleep on Gari. I am feeling bad, but what will I do? It has already happened.”
One promise has not been withdrawn: a full scholarship to Livingstone College in the US state of North Carolina.
“For a young man like Emmanuel Tuloe, who despite his economic situation, found such a huge sum of money and was able to stand up to his friends who were bullying him for returning it, speaks volumes of his character,” said Dr. James Y. Hunder Sr., president of the Liberian Organization of Piedmont (LOP), a U.S.-based non-profit, through whose arrangement Livingston College awarded Emmanuel the scholarship. “His scholarship to Livingstone College is still there for him as soon as he finishes high school.”
For now, the incredible dream of studying in the U.S. one day is driving Emmanuel on. Now in 9th grade, he has four years to complete high school. As he contemplates the improbable turns his life has taken over the last three years and the disappointment he has suffered, he says he still believes that honesty is the only way. He would do the same thing again.
“I do not regret giving the money back to the owners despite what my brother and those who promised me did to me,” Emmanuel said. “That money was somebody’s hard-earned sweat, and the training my grandmother put in me, I could not take it for myself.”
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the “Investigating Liberia” project. Funding was provided by the American Jewish World Service and Swedish Embassy in Liberia. The funders had no say in the story’s content.
