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Monrovia – Liberia’s newly commissioned Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah has told President George Weah that “History will judge him if he were not to recognize the Liberian leader for appointing into his administration more citizens of Lofa County, from where the new Liberian envoy hails.
“History will judge me if I don’t recognize your preferment of the people of Lofa including me to positions of trust into your government,” Kemayah said Wednesday when President Weah commissioned him as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, its Organs as well as Cuba.
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For his preferment, Kemayah lauded the Liberian leader, saying, his appointment is indicative of the values and principles President Weah brings to the presidency of the country.
President Weah appointed Kemayah following the Government of Liberia’s immediate recall in late August, of former Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Lewis Brown.
Foreign Minister Gbehzohngar Milton Findley, in a communication dated 20 August, informed Brown that upon the directive of President George Weah, he was being recalled from the post with immediate effect.
True to report gathered by PUNCH from impeccable sources at the time that President Weah’s political ally and outgoing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kemayah, was the man to likely replace Brown, the president did nominate him for the top UN job within few hours’ time.
Our sources, who are well versed in international diplomacy, divulged at the time that choosing a replacement for any country’s Permanent Rep at the UN requires picking your best, an individual with the hands-on diplomatic acumen and a worth of experience in the field of diplomacy, with an emphasis in foreign relations.
Our sources argued that in such a crucial time in the country’s history, where she needs her foreign relations machinery well-polished and functional to make her case externally and attract the world’s attention to her plights, it would take someone more than a person from the background of business administration, who has worked for just a little over seven months at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Brown’s recall from Liberia’s permanent mission in New York was hasty, and is diplomatically unhealthy, according to seasoned diplomatic sources who spoke with PUNCH on condition of anonymity.
The sources wonder why would the George Weah led government chose to, according to the sources, recall the country’s Permanent Rep at the eleventh hour to his (President Weah) trip to the UN, which is headquartered in the United States that he has not visited since he took over as president, more than eight months ago.
The action leaves the country with a void at the UN that looks likely to be filled hurriedly, as President Weah prepares to make his debut appearance at the General Assembly within few days from now, according to one source, who noted that the process of confirming Brown’s replacement and the time it would take such individual to get settled down at the Permanent Mission, ahead of the president’s trip in September, are all complicated and may go a long way in working against the country as far as its apt representation at the UN is concerned.
But performing the commissioning ceremony of Kemayah Wednesday, President Weah, called on his political ally of the opposition Movement for Economic Empowerment (MOVEE) to justify the confidence reposed in him, a call the new Permanent Rep committed himself to fulfill, bragging that he will rely on his skills of consultations and coordination before making decisions.
“We want to urge you to do your best because only your best is required. Remember we have allies and the friends of our allies are our friends,” President Weah cautioned Liberia’s new envoy to the UN and Cuba.
.In response, Kemayah pledged not to leave no stone unturned in representing Liberia’s interest, as well as the interest of President Weah whose direct representative he is.
