Congress for Democratic Change Secretary General Jefferson Tamba Koijee has punched holes the recent public burning of seized cocaine, describing the exercise led by Police Inspector General Gregory Coleman as chaotic, poorly controlled, and lacking credibility.
Koijee said the disposal, which was staged around burning tires, “does not inspire confidence” but instead “invites suspicion” at a time when Liberia is grappling with nearly half a billion United States dollars cocaine trafficking scandal. According to the former Lord Mayor of Monrovia, it is now openly rumored that cartel operatives embedded within the security apparatus substituted the actual cocaine before the burn, returning the real product to criminal networks while the public was shown what he called a “symbolic bonfire.”
“If these reports prove true, this is not mere negligence. It is the surrender of a piece of Liberia’s sovereignty to a transnational criminal enterprise, staged in plain view of the nation,” Koijee said. The CDC Secretary General noted the decision by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to dismiss public officials connected to the investigation, but said patriotism demands scrutiny of whether the dismissals represent real accountability or “nothing more than camouflage.”
He alleged that the network reaches deep into the security architecture. Dismissed Deputy NSA Director Patrick Doe, he claimed, is a long-time operative of former Defense Minister Brownie Samukai and has documented proximity to National Security Advisor Samuel Kofi Owusu Woods and EPS Director Sam Gaye. At Roberts International Airport, he alleged that dismissed Deputy Director for Operations Mark Egon Kuiah and Director of Security Mohammed O. Gbowrah were personally recommended by the President’s son, Jojo Boakai.
He also questioned why LNP Inspector General Coleman rehired and promoted officers including Moses Jallah, Johnny Bolar Dean, and Patrick Komasu, who had previously been dismissed for corruption. Koijee said 57 days after the $19 million cocaine seizure bound for London was uncovered, government has failed to tell Liberians the origin of the drugs and the nearly half a billion dollars worth of narcotics seized since. He warned that using Liberia as a transshipment route to the United Kingdom threatens a historic friendship, noting the UK was the first nation to recognize Liberia’s independence in 1847. The CDC Secretary General rejected claims by EPS Director Sam Gaye that the cocaine trade originated under the CDC in 2022, calling it a “desperate deflection.”
He cited 2013 and 2015 UK Guardian reports of drug trafficking involving presidential security and a DEA sting that uncovered a cocaine processing facility in downtown Monrovia, both during the Unity Party’s first tenure when Boakai served as Vice President. Koijee commended Senators Amara Konneh and Edwin Snowe Jr. for demanding an independent investigation, and praised FrontPageAfrica’s Rodney Sieh and Press Union of Liberia President Julius Kanubah for their role in keeping the story alive. He criticized Montserrado Senator Abraham Darius Dillon for his silence on the crisis. He concluded that Liberians deserve the full story – “the origin, the network, the protectors, and the true fate of every kilogram seized.”
