Monrovia – President Joseph Boakai on June 26 suspended the Director Normal of the Liberia Agriculture Commodity Regulatory Authority (LACRA), Christopher D. Sankolo, alongside along with his Deputy for Administration and Finance, Mr. Chea B. Garley.
By Selma Lomax, [email protected]
The official rationalization cites the necessity for transparency and accountability, with ongoing investigations being carried out by the Liberia Anti-Corruption Fee (LACC) and an audit from the Normal Auditing Fee (GAC).
However beneath the floor, a a lot deeper energy wrestle has been simmering —one pushed by inner rivalries, political alliances, and, on the heart of all of it, a person many at LACRA consider ought to have been the one dealing with suspension as a substitute: Godia Alpha Kortu Gongolee, the Deputy Director Normal for Operations and Technical Companies.
The President’s transfer comes simply weeks after LACRA had been named the “greatest performing entity” of 2024–2025, a recognition that highlighted its unprecedented turnaround underneath Sankolo’s management. When he took the helm, the company was all however bankrupt.
Its account steadiness was at an all-time low. Registered cocoa exporters numbered simply six, and export transactions have been barely trickling in at a meager 2,660 yearly.
By mid-2025, these figures had skyrocketed. LACRA was sitting on over a million US {dollars} in reserves, had elevated the variety of exporters to twenty-three, and logged greater than thirty-five thousand export transactions — a staggering leap of over 1,200 %.
These outcomes weren’t by chance. Sankolo, a well-trained administrator of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) launched reforms that have been swift and far-reaching. He launched new verification methods on the Freeport of Monrovia to stem the unlawful smuggling of cocoa and mandated direct approval of exports via his workplace. It was a daring technique that stepped on many toes—particularly these of his Deputy for Operations and Technical Companies, Godia Alpha Kortu Gongolee.
In line with a number of sources, together with leaked inner paperwork and employees testimonies obtained by FrontPageAfrica, Gongolee had been working a smuggling ring contained in the company. A report submitted by LACRA’s inner investigation committee earlier this 12 months paints a disturbing image of cocoa being exported off-the-books, exporters paying unofficial charges in money on to Gongolee, and shipments cleared with out correct documentation—all orchestrated underneath Gongolee’s watch.
Regardless of the mounting proof towards him which has since been submitted to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Fee (LACC), Gongolee has remained in his publish and the LACC being pressured by Mr. Samuel Stevquaoh.
FrontPageAfrica reached out to Gongolee for a response concerning the allegations. His reply was terse and dismissive: I’m not going to conduct an interview with you on this.” Efforts by FrontPageAfrica to achieve Morie proved futile.”
Deputy Minister of State with out Portfolio for Particular Companies and Miss Morine Yaude Nemah has reportedly taken no step to ask Gongolee. In line with sources throughout the Govt Mansion and LACRA, his continued presence on the company could also be linked to his political patronage.
Gongolee was reportedly really useful to President Boakai by his long-time secretary, Miss Morie Nemah. Staffers at LACRA say she has referred to Gongolee as her “eye” on the establishment, and there are rising allegations that she has intentionally withheld the interior report implicating Gongolee from reaching the President’s desk.
That report, dated Could 6, 2025, accuses Gongolee of supervising unauthorized exports, accepting bodily money funds from exporters, and reassigning inspectors that raised alarm with out HR session. In a single notable incident, Mr. Alieu Feika was faraway from APM Terminal after elevating alarm over unlawful cargo.
One other challenge was two 40-foot cocoa containers that have been being exported via the Freeport throughout a public vacation with no legitimate documentation and have been arrested by a Particular Taskforce Inspectors assigned on the principal Freeport Gate. A junior finance staffer, Ama Y. Gwaikolo, stated she was referred to as in on directions from Gongolee’s administrative assistant, Edward Jusu Soko, to course of a US$2,500 cost.
Inspector Romeo Cheatoe confirmed receiving a cellphone name straight from Gongolee ordering the discharge of the containers regardless of these containers being smuggled. However the Taskforce Inspectors refused to yield to Gongolee’s instruction to launch smuggled cocoa.
Gongolee additionally allegedly oversaw the seizure and sale of 500 kilograms of cocoa beans, bypassing police and inner reporting constructions. A number of staffers, together with Abu F. Fofana and Lans Kamara, filed formal complaints accusing Gongolee of threatening or pressuring them after they tried to implement laws.
But, even with the gravity of those findings, it was Sankolo—not Gongolee—who was faraway from workplace. His suspension has prompted outcry and confusion, particularly throughout the establishment he labored to reform. In line with sources inside LACRA, the interior Board of Administrators submitted the investigation’s remaining report on to the Workplace of the President.
Nevertheless, it seems the report by no means reached President Boakai’s arms. Workers consider that Morie Nemah, the President’s secretary and a long-standing confidante, might have intercepted or delayed the transmission of the report.
“This was by no means concerning the investigation alone,” stated a senior LACRA official who requested to not be named. “That is political. Sankolo’s reforms uncovered too many individuals and threatened the flawed networking of felony cartel. Gongolee had safety. Sankolo didn’t.”
The fallout is especially shocking given the timeline. In early June, simply weeks earlier than his suspension, Sankolo was being praised publicly by President Boakai as the top of Liberia’s top-performing public company. By the top of the month, he was relieved of his duties, ordered to show over institutional property, and positioned underneath investigation.
Critics of the transfer argue that the President’s suspension of Sankolo—whereas Gongolee continues to carry energy—sends the flawed message about accountability. Civil society organizations and commerce companions are calling for readability, and a few are demanding a broader, impartial investigation to find out who knew what, and when. Liberia’s cocoa trade, which had begun to regain worldwide belief due to LACRA’s reforms, now faces renewed scrutiny and skepticism.
Within the corridors of energy, some insiders say the transfer to droop Sankolo is as a lot about management as it’s about oversight of LACRA. The Boakai administration, now one 12 months into its time period, is reportedly targeted on consolidating loyal allies in strategic establishments. For some, Sankolo’s independence and refusal to play politics might have made him expendable, no matter efficiency.
In the meantime, Gongolee’s alleged community of smuggling and casual management stays largely intact. Exporters identified to have sturdy ties along with his workplace—corresponding to AYA Group Inc., Randlyn Holding Liberia Inc., and CA & M Buying and selling Restricted, Premier Sources Restricted, Cocoa Enterprise—reportedly refused to cooperate with the interior probe.
In distinction, corporations like Granex Group, American International and Atlantic Cocoa Processing collaborated with the investigation.
For now, the LACC and GAC have been tasked with attending to the underside of the matter. However many inside LACRA and the broader public are skeptical that justice can be served except the political dimensions of the case are additionally acknowledged. Till then, the establishment stays in limbo, its management in query, and its progress in peril.
As one former LACRA staffer put it bluntly, “If Sankolo could be eliminated for doing the correct factor, then nobody is protected. Not at LACRA, not on this authorities.”
Whether or not President Boakai was misled, intentionally shielded from the information, or complicit in a political maneuver stays unknown. What is evident is that the interior energy wrestle at LACRA has claimed its highest-profile casualty up to now—and the true struggle for reform might have solely simply begun.
