MONROVIA – Since former Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) Commissioner General Steven H.J. Zargo got suspended in November 2024 by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai for “improperly handling official duties” and was recently replaced by his deputy for administration Elijah F. Rufus, the former Lofa County Senator has remained taciturn about his next course of action. Since then, many Lofaians have been speculating as to former Senator Zargo’s next move, whether he has been lobbying quietly behind the scenes with his traditional uncle President Boakai for another posting, or whether he might have to find his way back to opposition life with the Liberty Party which he once served as a party National Chairman. Well, as The Analyst reports, Mr. Zargo says he remains an ardent supporter of President Boakai’s development goals for Liberia, and that rumors surrounding the reasons for his suspension and replacement are nothing but rumors, with no iota of truth.
Speaking over the weekend in Lofa County in a simulcast interview with community radio stations in Lofa County, the national broadcaster LBS and other media outlets about the reasons behind his suspension in November 2024 against the backdrop of media reports that that he had refused to arrest former Finance Minister Tweah when he had already returned to the country; and that he had helped to send a Guinean dissident who reportedly got killed in Guinea, the former LIS boss refuted everything as mere rumors.
“None of that information is true. Oral testimony cannot vitiate what is written. My letter of suspension speaks to the judgment in the mind of the chief executive that I didn’t mean well based on information he had gathered. It had nothing with misapplication of entrusted funds. I have a clean record. It had nothing to do with Zargo making a determination of someone being sent back to Guinea. No. You can do your own investigation. If the timing of the communication that informed my suspension is anything to go by, then it should border around the ne exit republica. Nothing more, nothing less. The ne exit republica is a document emanating from the court that says do not allow a person to leave the republic. And no one left the republic,” former Senator Zargo said.
Explaining the rationale behind his media engagement in Lofa County yesterday Sunday, the former LIS Commissioner General said he thought it wise to have a conversation with the local press in Lofa because what he wanted to say had to be contextualized considering the culture and tradition of Lofa County.
“For the past few days, weeks, months, there have been a lot of conversations. So, our traditional people have asked that I return to Lofa to hear from me. I kept delaying until they sent a group of women to Monrovia. They said that they’ve been hearing my name over the radio. So, this is why I came.
“We worked in the county from 2003 with the UN Mission, established all the court systems, law enforcement institutions, and few later, worked as a roving prosecutor, subsequently became senator, and for the past nine months enjoyed the confidence of the president at which time we served as Commissioner General, our people wanted me to come and talk to them. They didn’t want to be told. I met them, we had a good conversation, and they thanked me. Above all, they wanted to know the relationship between the Kehkeh and I, and I told them the relationship is cordial, unique. I enjoy the confidence of the President; we have good relationship. He has implicit confidence in me, and I support the president 100%.
“Who determines who works in the Executive? It’s the president. If you work for a good number of months and he feels satisfied that you performed there and he asks you to be relieved so that someone else continues with the torch, you must thank him. So, I want to use this public manner to thank the president. Our chiefs themselves said they were going to thank the president. But as a product of our culture, in adherence to the call of our chiefs and elders, thank you very much,” Mr. Zargo said.
Referencing the recent spate of suspensions, dismissals of prominent citizens of Lofa County, evidenced by Amin Modad of the Ministry of Commerce, LRRRC, and now LIS, Mr. Zargo said he cannot speak for the president.
“He’s the chief executive. We work at his pleasure. I worked for nine months. We were able to do 185 in-service training; 517 recruits were trained in Lofa at a base that was named in honor of the president, Joseph Nyuma Boakai Training Academy. It lay in ruins, no one was using it. We revived it. There was no budgetary appropriation made for that training. We did it by innovation, teamwork, and outreach. Let me thank the former Minister of Finance, Boima Kamara. At the time we took over they had retired more than 300 LIS officers, and to fill that vacuum we needed to train. There was no budgetary allotment because the past government did not make an available budget for that. So, if we were to venture into that, we would be risking other line areas. But at least they allowed us to do some shifting and that training was done.
“We also had in-service training of 185 persons. Today we have sufficient pickups. No commissioner, neither deputy commissioner rides a pickup again. We all rode a new Prado. In nine months, all our personnel are on payroll; our budget has increased. In nine months, when the LRA went to report, they admitted during one of the recent cabinet meetings that we met our benchmark and exceeded our revenue generation. We did well. So, in nine months we played our part,” former Senator Zargo said.
Speaking further, when quizzed about his expectations from President Boakai, Zargo said as a traditional nephew to the President, he is sitting down and awaiting the next order from his uncle.
“The nephew is sitting down. This government is our government, the Lofa people’s government. It’s the Liberian people’s government. I am sitting down waiting. The only thing, in my sitting down, I am spending more time in Lofa,” he said.