October 20, 2003

October 19, 2003

His Excellency Gyude Bryant
Chairman
Liberian National Transitional Government
The Executive Mansion
Monrovia, Liberia

Your Excellency:

 

I have the honor to gently draw your Excellency's attention to the appointment of Mr. Bass-Golokeh as Adviser on International Affairs as a very grave and serious error of judgement.

For starters, the burden of carrying out the mandate with which you are entrusted depends to a large extent on the level of cooperation you will receive from the international community. That cooperation and support will be a function of their perception of the seriousness with which you attach to the overwhelming task before you.

Mr. Golekeh's knowledge about international affairs is extremely limited, and he does not possess the savvy nor the experience in the intricate affairs of the conduct of diplomacy to be worthy of being useful to you as Adviser on International Affairs.

Secondly, Mr. Bass-Golokeh's service in the Foreign Ministry, especially in the 1990s was characterized by the indiscriminate selling of Liberian Diplomatic passports and Honorary Titles to dubious characters in the International Criminal World, in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, and the Far East. His unscrupulous activities in this area led to many complaints from Foreign Governments to the Liberian Foreign Ministry requesting Liberia to stop the criminal activities of its officials from spilling over into third countries.

This made Counselor Momolu V. S. Sirleaf to establish an Inter-Governmental Task Force to investigate Fraud in the Issuance of Liberian Diplomatic Passports to Foreign Nationals. The Task force which was comprised of experts from the National Security Agency, Bureau of Immigration, National Police Force, Ministry of Justice, The Executive Mansion, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was chaired by Ambassador Thomas Bestman, and the undersigned as Co-Chairman.

We established that some officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and our diplomatic Missions abroad were involved, but the kingpin was Mr. Fred Bass Golokeh. Between 1991 and 1995, Liberia Printed over 2500 ranking passports (diplomatic and official) and most of them were sold by Fred Bass-Golokeh and his partners. This led to the decision to change the Liberian Passports altogether.

Your Excellency, you had personally committed yourself to transparency in Government. If you had submitted Mr. Fred-Bass-Golokeh's name for proper vetting, you would have known that he neither has the academic training nor the practical experience to advise you on International Affairs. Those who made the recommendation, only took into consideration their own very parochial interest which is the same as that of Mr. Fred Bass-Golokeh.

However, if your Excellency's intention to send a message to the international community, especially Mr. Fred Bass-Golokeh's criminal partners who may also be involved with international terrorism, you could not have made a better choice. But should this not be your intention, and you just got deceived by those you trusted, may I suggest the names of the following Liberians, who are eminently qualified to advise you on any aspect of International Affairs:

Ambassador George W. Wallace, Christopher Minikon, Peter Johnson, Soni Sherman, William Bull, Henry Reed Cooper, Ernest Eastman, and many others in Monrovia, Liberia. In these days of advanced communication, you can also utilized people outside Liberia, such as Dr. D. Elwood Dunn, Dr. H. Boima Fahnbulleh, Jr. , Dr. Amos C. Sawyer, Dr. Togar Macintosh, Dr. George Toe Washington, Dr. James Teah Tarpeh, Cllr. Winston Tubman, Ambassador Eugenia Stevenson, among others.

Your Excellency may have also heard of the International Crisis Group, which is comprised of all prominent policy makers in the international community. Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is on the Board. She would be the superb adviser on International Affairs. She will not only advise, but could open doors for you through her contacts in that very important organization.

Finally, Your Excellency may have to utilize the services of Special Envoys, it is my ardent hope and fervent prayer that your will not attempt to use Your Current Adviser on International Affairs on any Mission, because of the reasons mentioned above. The national interest will be better served if you were to re-consider the appointment of Mr. Fred Bass-Golokeh forthwith.

With sentiments of esteem.

A. Sayku Kromah
Philadelphia, USA

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