Liberia: Mary Broh Defends Officials in Saudi Rice Trial

Monrovia-Former General Services Agency Director General Mary T. Broh, delivered one of the defense’s strongest accounts Monday, September 28, in Liberia’s ongoing Saudi-donated rice trial, telling Criminal Court “C” that the government officials involved in handling the controversial donation “did a fantastic job” and questioning how they could be accused of stealing rice that, according to her testimony, was subsequently distributed to communities and government institutions. By: Willie N. Tokpah Broh, appearing as a Subpoenaed witness on Monday, September 28, maintained that the movement of the Saudi-donated rice to the GSA was carried out through an inter-agency arrangement involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Disaster Management Agency, NDMA, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the GSA. Her testimony provided a detailed account of how the GSA came to warehouse thousands of bags of the donation and sought to distance the accused officials from any suggestion that the movement of the rice was undertaken for personal benefit. And as she walked out of the courtroom after her testimony, Broh was reportedly heard making an even more direct statement about the accused, “The people are innocent, the people didn’t do anything.” The remark was made outside the witness stand and was therefore not evidence given under oath. But it underscored the position Broh had advanced during her testimony, that the officials involved were performing government duties and that the movement of the rice should not automatically be interpreted as theft. The People Did a Fantastic Job, Brohs most striking testimony came when she addressed the allegation that the Saudi rice had been stolen or improperly diverted. She questioned what happened to the rice that was actually distributed to communities and government institutions. According to her testimony, “the people did a fantastic job.” Broh challenged the suggestion that the movement of rice from one government institution to another, or its distribution to institutions and communities, in itself established that the officials had stolen the donation. Her testimony presented a different picture from the prosecutions case, one in which govand ernment officials were attempting to move, warehouse and distribute a large humanitarian donation through several state institutions. She raised a concern, in substance, whether the officials had stolen the rice, what became of the rice that ultimately reached communities and institutions. That question is central to the defenses effort to distinguish between accounting discrepancies, administrative decisions and proof of criminal appropriation. The People Are Innocent Brohs statement after leaving the courtroom added an unusually personal dimension to her testimony. As she reportedly walked away from the proceedings, she was heard saying, “The people are innocent, the people didn’t do anything.” The statement appeared to refer to the officials whose handling of the Saudi rice has become the subject of criminal proceedings. Broh did not make that statement while testifying under oath, and it therefore carries a different evidentiary status from her testimony before the judge and jury. But it closely reflected the position she presented while on the witness stand, that the officials were acting pursuant to government instructions and an inter-agency mandate. ‘When He Called, We Must Work for Him’ Broh told the court that she became involved after receiving a call from then Foreign Affairs Minister Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah. “When I got the call from Ambassador Kemayah, he said he needed my assistance in term of warehousing the Saudi Donated rice at the GSA,” Broh testified. She maintained, that Kemayah was a government colleague and that when he called for assistance, she agreed. A meeting was subsequently held at the GSA involving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs, NDMA and GSA. According to Broh, Kemayah chaired the