Dep. Sports
Minister In US$13,000 Scandal
By Julu M. Johnson, Jr.
What is done in the dark must surely come to light. This is probably
what has occurred to the Honorable D. Max Leboe, Deputy Minister of
Youth and Sports for Administration
.
It is said that while Youth and Sports Minister Counsellor Wheatonia
Dixon-Barnes was attending a women's conference in Libreville, Gabon
last year, Hon. Leboe allegedly stretched his hands into the
Ministry's coffers and drawing out US$13,000 even though the MYS seems
to be among the least income-generating agencies of government such
that it often cries for funds.
Hon. Leboe, consequently, was suspended by the head of state Gyude
Bryant after the allegations reached the Executive Mansion. Hon. Leboe
was subsequently sent to the Justice Ministry for probe and from
information gathered, the findings are on the desk of Chairman Bryant.
If found guilty, he stands the risk of being ejected from a position
he labored sufficiently to acquire, not to exclude the fact that the
Youth and Sports official jumped twice (on separate occasions) from
the Ministry's second floor to the ground when aggrieved members of
the All-Liberian Coalition Party (ALCOP) attacked the Ministry to
protest his appointment by the then ALCOP Chairman, David Kortie.
Efforts have been exerted to talk to Hon. Leboe, but his phone, if not
presently, has been persistently noting, "The Lone Star number you are
calling is either switched off or out of coverage area. Please try
again later. Thank you."
Hon. Kortie was contacted to provide information on the whereabouts of
the suspended Deputy Sports Minister, but the former did not know
where Hon. Leboe might have been. "I only came home one day and was
told that his wife came here," Kortie said.
Hon. Kortie confirmed meeting the Sports Minister, Counsellor Barnes,
at which time he was informed about the matter. Kortie did show his
displeasure over the act allegedly performed by his confidant.
Investigation conducted revealed that Leboe has fled Monrovia for
Nimba County (his home county) for fear of Government's reprisal.
Due to Hon. Leobe's "not too friendly attitude," not any Youth and
Sports worker appeared to be in solidarity with him. Some of the
workers, encountered, refused to provide information on him.
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