Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
Monrovia – Two nights in prison at Liberia’s notorious Monrovia Central Prison, were enough to make a rather rowdy deputy minister Eugene L. Fahngon remorseful, as minutes after he was set free, he publicly apologized for what landed him behind bars.
On Wednesday, majority members of the House of Representatives declared Fahngon, a non-governmental material and sentenced him to two nights in prison on the charge of legislative contempt. He was also finned LRD$4, 999.99 by the Plenary of the House of Representatives, for what the lawmakers termed proven misconduct against two of their colleagues, Reps Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr. and Moses Acarous Gray.
Recently, a brawl ensued between Bomi County District #1 Rep, Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr., and deputy minister Fahngon, in which the latter aggressively hauled diatribes at the former.
In several video recordings that went viral on social media, Fahngon is seen and heard ceaselessly throwing out harsh utterances at Rep Snowe, at some point in the videos, the deputy minister even directed abusive languages at the lawmaker.
In an attempt to quiet down the MICAT deputy boss from further throwing jibes at Rep Snowe, an intervention made by Montserrado County District #8 Rep, Moses Acarous Gray, was met by stiff resistance, as Fahngon turned on Representative Gray, spewing out invectives at him and threatening to beat him up as well.
PUNCH has independently confirmed that during the fracas, Fahngon in his boisterous rants also took time out to slam Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor with some unkind words, speaking some unpleasant things about her as well.
‘In the beginning…’
It all started when a legislative staffer serving in the Legislative Budget Office, Kelvin D. J. Maltadi, allegedly took a photo of deputy minister Fahngon at a local entertainment center in Congo Town where the pair along with several others were socializing.
PUNCH has reliably gathered that Fahngon who believed Maltadi took his photo while he (Fahngon) was dancing, immediately demanded that such photo be deleted from the legislative staff phone – thereby calling on the attendant at the entertainment center to have securities there search the phone and have his photo deleted.
The attendant, PUNCH understands, instead called in officers from the Liberia National Police (LNP) Zone-3 Depot to intervene in the altercation then ensuing between Fahngon and Maltadi, a situation that at the time had turned very chaotic at the local entertainment center.
PUNCH is reliably told that while the LNP officers were on their way to the scene of the Fahngon/Maltadi standoff, the deputy minister placed a telephone call to an agent of the National Security Agency (NSA) who later arrived with a pick-up loaded with policemen and arrested Maltadi and a male friend of his identified as Christopher Neufville on the order of deputy minister Fahngon.
The NSA agent acting in concert with Fahngon, seized Maltadi’s cell phone and vacated the police depot, according to eyewitnesses who confided in PUNCH, with the eyewitnesses adding that since he was being held by the police while his friend Neufville was released, Maltadi thereafter, in frantic search for assistance, via a borrowed phone, texted Bomi County Representative Snowe, who the eyewitnesses said later arrived at the depot.
At the police depot, the Bomi County legislator enquired from LNP officers there about what actually was obtaining and he was told Maltadi was taken there by an NSA agent upon deputy minister Fahngon’s order, according to Rep Snowe, as he told the House Plenary Wednesday, his side of the standoff between him and Fahngon.
Snowe further narrated, without objection from Fahngon, that the police informed him (Snowe) that the LNP officers had searched Maltadi’s phone and there was not a photo of Fahngon found in it, yet, the NSA agent insisted he was taking the phone away for further check at the offices of the NSA, where he said there was sophisticated equipment to detect whether indeed there was a photo of Fahngon in the phone that may have earlier been uploaded to any social media site.
PUNCH has confirmed that while at the police depot, Snowe’s request to sign for Maltadi and return with him whenever needed, was turned down by the police – after which he made several calls, including two to Police Inspector General, Patrick Sudue and the Minister of Information, Len Eugene Nagbe, all of which did not materialize, as the police IG would not be reached via phone, and Minister Nagbe was said to be on his way out of the country.
Snowe then phoned Fahngon, pleading with him to come at the police deport, return Maltadi’s phone and release him from the custody of the police, adding that the deputy minister’s action was the abuse of power – “to get the National Security Agency involved in dancing in a nightclub and someone taking your picture in the public square, it was abuse of power,” Snowe told a legislative hearing that lasted close to 10 hours, after which Fahngon was sentenced to two days in jail and slammed with a fine of almost LRD$5,000.
‘Remorseful Fahngon’
On Friday, minutes after his release when the comfort of his bed eluded him as he spent two nights at the Monrovia Central Prison on legislative contempt charge brought against him by the House of Representatives, at a hastily arranged press conference at the ministry of information, in a rather somber posture, Fahngon regretted the incident that led to his incarceration.
“First of all, I will like to sincerely apologize to all Liberians – our mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters”, said a rather repentant Fahngon, adding that such apology was especially intended for President George Weah, “over the recent incident that led to my overreaction in a matter that was within the public glare.”
Remorseful Fahngon continued: “I will like to sincerely apologize to Her Excellency the Vice President, for my reaction that brought her name in a matter that was totally unnecessary.”
Fahngon did not stop there, he went on to also extend his apology to members of the House of Representatives who had earlier jailed him for two nights, a move about which scores of Liberians expressed shock, with many others wondering why the deputy minister did not choose to be apologetic when he was summoned by the House but had to do so after he had served a legislative punishment of two nights behind bars.
“To the Honorable national Legislature, I will never in my slightest imagination try to disrespect any member of the Legislature or the body as a whole,” said Fahngon, adding, “the matter which brought us here today is rather unfortunate and sad.”
“As a public official, it is not my place to get involved with matters that will challenge our positions to serve our nation and people – for this, I am greatly sorry, Fahngon pleaded.
