Monrovia – Lawyers representing several former high-profile government officials currently detained at the Monrovia Central Prison say they were denied access to their clients by police and correction officers.
The detained officials include former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah; former Deputy Foreign Minister Thelma Duncan Sawyer, widow of the late Dr. Amos Claudius Sawyer; and former Director-General of the General Services Agency (GSA), Mary T. Broh. They are facing charges of corruption and economic sabotage.
The charges stem from the alleged mismanagement of 29,412 bags of rice, valued at US$425,918, which were donated to Liberia in April 2023 by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.
The legal team, led by former Associate Justice Kabineh M. Ja’neh and prominent human rights lawyer Cllr. Pearl Brown Bull, was accompanied by relatives of the accused, including Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe. They stood outside the prison compound for over an hour but were not granted access to their clients.
FrontPage Africa reporters at the scene observed that all attempts by the legal team to gain entry proved unsuccessful.
At one point, former Justice Ja’neh appeared visibly frustrated and was seen in a heated exchange with one of the prison officers.
