By By: Staff Writer
Monrovia — This week at the House of Representatives did not look like justice. It looked like public shaming.
Ambassador-at-Large Sheikh Al-Moustapha Kouyateh was called before lawmakers. He came with the Minister of State, Deputy Foreign Affairs Ministers, and the President’s Legal Advisor. He was there to say sorry for claiming that lawmakers took bribes from European companies to pass business deals.
Officially, Kouyateh said he was sorry and promised not to say it again. But it did not look like his choice. He was surrounded by top officials, scolded by the same House he accused, and then given a harsh punishment — like a child, not a senior diplomat.
Rep. Dixon Seboe made a motion that controlled everything. Kouyateh must write an apology to the House. He must publish it in four newspapers, four times, from Tuesday to Friday. He must also go on OK FM radio to take back his words. This is not peace-making. It is a forced confession played over and over.
House leaders called his first statement “serious” and said it could scare investors. But the House did not try to find out if the bribery claim was true. Instead, they worked to silence Kouyateh and write his apology for him. If the claim was false, why not prove it? If it was true, why is the House more angry about being exposed than about the bribery?
The House says diplomats must “show Liberia in a good way” to the world. But what message does it send when the whole House works to force an apology on TV instead of dealing with corruption? Many people are now asking: Did Kouyateh take back his words because he was wrong — or because the House left him no choice?
A House that worries about its “good name” may look worse when it bullies a diplomat and ignores his claim. That might make people believe the bribery story even more.
