MONROVIA-The Chief of Staff in the office of the political leader for the Alternative National Congress-ANC, Alexander Cummings, Isaac Vah Tukpah left Liberia Wednesday onboard SN Brussels for the United States of America, diplomatic sources told this paper late Wednesday.
“Mr. Vah left last night on board SN Brussels for the United States,” the source who declined to be named said.
It can be recalled that Mr. Vah was prevented from leaving Liberia early Tuesday by the Liberia Immigration Service by 11:45 PM without any valid travel documents to an unauthorized border point near the Liberia Sierra Leone border.
He resigned following a book publication he co-authored with Emmanuel Clark last year December in which unpleasant language was printed against the first lady of Liberia, Clar Marie Weah. He was asked to resign by Mr. Cummings.
Madam Weah is a Jamaican American who has been married to president Weah for over two decades.
Pages of the book titled: “George Weah: ‘The Dream, The Legend, The Rise to Power’,” were published last December 2021, and posted to Facebook by one of President Weah’s staunch critics — Henry Pedro Costa. Costa himself has used profane language against president Weah and his parents on radio and on his social media page. He escaped Liberia a few years ago after he was wanted to answer criminal charges.
He was released on Wednesday by the Liberia Immigration Service after he was brought to Monrovia.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of Information Culture and Tourism said he was never arrested by the government. Also, he was never charged
“Mr. Tukpah was without the appropriate travel documents, in addition to attempting to cross when the borders were officially closed. This claimed the attention of the assigned immigration officer who acted in accordance with law and decided that he be held for safety reasons, given the late hours of his surreptitious attempt to leave the country.
The President has said Mr. Tukpah is not being sought after by the Government, and he is, therefore, free to live in Liberia or travel out of the country if he so chooses.
“There is a legal recourse, whether here or in the U. S. That decision is left to the President’s family and all those maligned”, Information Minister Ledgerhood Rennie said, in the statement while emphasizing that the Government believes in the rule of law and human rights.