Monrovia — A local rights activist picks bones with Ambassador Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh, Interim Head of the University of Liberia, calling President Boakai to withdraw his appointment.
A Liberian human rights defender Titus B. Pakalah is calling on President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., to withdraw the appointment of Ambassador Al-Hassan Conteh for allegedly facilitating and compromising a rape case involving a seven-year-old minor at Liberia, Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.
Speaking to the NEW DAWN via WhatsApp, Mr. Pakalah calls for the withdrawal of Dr Conteh's appointment as Acting President of the University of Liberia and future Ambassador to the United States of America.
He reminds President Boakai that Amb. Conteh is on record for intentionally supervising and compromising a rape case of a 7-year-old Liberian girl right on the premises of the Liberian Diplomatic Mission in Abuja, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where he has been an Ambassador for over 15 years.
He indicates further that, strange enough, the victim, a daughter of another Liberian diplomat, was gang-raped multiple times by two dependents of a fellow diplomat from 2020-2021.
"Instead of doing the needful as Liberia's Ambassador under whose watch these gruesome acts took place right under his noses, and amb. Conteh rather chose to cover up the incident. And when it became public, Amb. Conteh provided cogent argument in defense of the rapists instead of even showing empathy to the 7-year-old pitiful victim", Mr. Pakalah recounts.
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The human rights activist notes that Amb. Conteh's alleged actions knowingly violated Article 3, Section 21.1 of the Children Law of Liberia, which states that: "Every child shall have the right to be protected from sexual abuse and exploitation, including prostitution and pornography".
Furthermore, he laments that Amb. Conteh, now interim management head of the University of Liberia, did not implement a safeguard policy to protect the 7-year-old girl from rape while serving as Ambassador in Nigeria.
He adds that in 2021, a medical report from the Nigerian Police Medical Center in Abuja confirmed that the minor was, indeed, gang raped.
"We filed a formal complaint to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, but no one could listen to us since Amb. Conteh was part of a political power system. We led several indoor meetings and sit-in actions explaining our discontentment, but there was extreme reluctance from the George Weah Administration to take any meaningful action against the ambassador nor the rapists."
According to him, he has received confirmed reports that President Boakai will shortly appoint Amb. Conteh as Liberia's Ambassador to the United States.
Mr. Pakalah points out that Amb. Conteh, who couldn't intervene in a rape case that almost took the life of an innocent seven-year-old Liberian girl, should not be heading, even if temporarily, the UL, where there are thousands of female compatriots pursuing quality tertiary education.
