A heated controversy has emerged around President Joseph N. Boakai’s national initiative to rebury former Presidents William R. Tolbert and Samuel Kanyon Doe, following a sharply worded statement from former First Lady Nancy B. Doe targeting Grand Gedeh County Senator Zoe Emmanuel Pennue.
At the heart of the dispute is a misunderstanding — and now, a very public rebuke — over Senator Pennue’s role in the Boakai administration’s officially sanctioned Reburial Committee. In a statement issued by the Executive Mansion on February 19, 2025, Senator Pennue was named as one of 14 members appointed to the National Committee tasked with overseeing the dignified reburial of Liberia’s two assassinated leaders. The initiative is part of President Boakai’s broader reconciliation and national unity agenda, announced during his Annual Message to the Legislature on January 27, 2025.
But on April 3, nearly six weeks after the committee was formally constituted, Mrs. Doe released a fiery public statement condemning what she called “unauthorized memorial plans” by Senator Pennue, accusing him of pursuing a “sinister agenda” and asserting that he had “no rightful claim or authority over the Doe family.”
“No individual or group of individuals, especially led by Senator Zoe Emmanuel Pennue, has the right to interfere with my husband’s remains without the expressed approval and involvement of myself and our appointed spiritual leader,” Mrs. Doe said. She warned that any further involvement by the Senator would be met with “full legal resistance.”
However, the Executive Mansion’s February 19 press release makes it clear that Senator Pennue’s involvement is not independent or rogue, but rather part of a state-sanctioned effort under the leadership of Education Minister Dr. Jarso Maley Jallah. The committee also includes senior religious leaders, legal experts, military representation, and members of civil society — signaling the government’s intention to ensure legitimacy, inclusivity, and dignity throughout the reburial process.
Mrs. Doe’s fury appears to stem from both personal history and longstanding animosity. In her statement, she accused Pennue — a nephew of President Doe through his mother’s family — of having seized portions of the late President’s estate and having previously declared, “That’s why Samuel doesn’t have a grave, and I will make sure… that he will never have a grave.” She characterized such behavior as “malicious,” “spiritually manipulative,” and “utterly unacceptable.”
The friction has inadvertently cast a shadow over President Boakai’s widely praised initiative, which aims to bring national closure to the traumatic chapters of Liberia’s history. In addition to promising the reburial of Tolbert and Doe, President Boakai has backed war and economic crimes accountability, signed executive orders to establish relevant investigative institutions, and pledged to reform Liberia’s security and governance architecture.
Doe’s case, however, is uniquely complex. While President Tolbert and 13 top officials executed in April 1980 have already been exhumed and reinterred ahead of a July ceremony, the location of Doe’s remains uncertain. In a recent op-ed, journalist and former diplomat Gabriel I.H. Williams called on the government to launch a forensic search at former warlord Prince Johnson’s base in Caldwell, where Doe may have been killed and possibly buried — or as Johnson once claimed, burned, with his ashes discarded in a river.
The mystery has persisted for decades, aggravated by both contradictory accounts and the lack of physical evidence. Prince Johnson’s testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008 offered one version, but according to Williams, a high-ranking member of the Interim Government of National Unity recalled Johnson once throwing a skull onto his lap during a meeting, claiming, “this is Samuel Doe.”
With that ambiguity in mind, Mrs. Doe’s desire for direct involvement and oversight is understandable. But her characterization of Senator Pennue as an interloper, rather than a government-appointed representative, may reflect a deeper mistrust rooted in family and political dynamics — and possibly a breakdown in communication between the Doe family and the Boakai administration.
Indeed, while President Boakai has received praise for his quiet but firm leadership on reconciliation, the discord between a key committee member and the Doe family could jeopardize the success and solemnity of this historic undertaking. As Mrs. Doe put it, “The Doe family stands firm in ensuring that my husband receives the honorable resting place he deserves, free from interference and spiritual manipulation.”
Whether that can be achieved in partnership with a committee that includes Senator Pennue remains to be seen. For now, what was meant to be a unifying national project risks veering into divisive territory — unless President Boakai’s team can broker a respectful compromise between the Doe family’s sensitivities and the integrity of the committee it appointed.
As Liberia prepares for the reburial of two of its fallen heads of state, the government must now also manage the emotional and political complexities that inevitably surface when history, grief, and power converge.
