Christopher Hayes Onanuga’s Response to Snowe Jeers -Senate Hearing on Foreign Relations Ignites Verbal Feud   

MONROVIA – As U.S. President Donald Snowe continues to cause stirs in the global community, every nation is endeavoring to reshape their foreign affairs regime which is perhaps why the Liberian Senate cited Liberia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs to hold a hearing and to possibly fashion an approach. But things later turn awry between Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe, and Tourism Ambassador Christopher Hayes Onanuga over the lingering controversy concerning Liberian diplomatic passports, when the senator’s line of questioning sounded taunting, and provocative. As The Analyst reports, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CT COM Liberia Limited and Liberia’s Ambassador-at-Large on Tourism Christopher Hayes Onanuga also joined the fray to, as the Liberian parlance goes, “gave it back to Snowe hard”.  

It was Senate hearing on Tuesday and it was Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe turn to interact with the “witness” – Foreign Minister Sara Beyslow Nyanti.

And he said: “Madam Minister, I follow your visit to Burkina Faso. Do you care to tell the Committee the composition of your delegation to Burkina Faso. The two envoys you took to Burkina Faso are some of the issues we have with our passport. They boarded the aircraft, put the champagne by them; they took their red diplomatic passports and crossed their legs to show to the world that they have diplomatic passport.

“So, you need to talk to them. The representation of our foreign image is not been good. No diplomat or official should go sit on the aircraft, put your champagne glass, then you put our diplomatic passport and take picture and put it on Facebook to show that you have diplomatic passport. These are the people you chose to take to Burkina Faso to lobby for Security Council seat? How serious you are?”   

Foreign Minister Sara Beyslow Nyanti, the Liberia’s chief diplomatic navigator, retorted: “Point of clarification, Senator. I didn’t take them to Burkina Faso and I didn’t take them to lobby for Security Council seat. And the only reason they were in that country is because they were meeting companies. They were not with me when I and met privately with the President of Burkina Faso and later when I lobbied for the Security Council seat.”

Onanuga: ‘I am Respected in ECOWAS More Than Snowe’

Snowe’s taunting questioning of the foreign affairs delegation also attracted the ire of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CT COM Liberia Limited and Liberia’s Ambassador-at-Large on Tourism Christopher Hayes Onanuga.

Onanuga outburst came through a live interview on his Kool FM as a result of Snowe’s damning verbal attack on Foreign Minister Beyslow as she was meeting a senate committee to discuss status of Liberia’s foreign affairs, specifically on U.S. government-imposed travel ban on Liberians.

At the hearing, Snowe spoke of how ambassador Onanuga and Bah who were on the flight to Burkina Faso as members of the Foreign Minister’s delegation to Burkina Faso behaved extravagantly, posting photos and brandishing champagne. 

Snowe, the ranking of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee pointed to what he considered the flamboyant manners in which two ambassadors brandished with their diplomatic passports, glasses of champagne, which he thought was one reason why the US government might have proposed visa ban on Liberia.

Ambassador Onanuga in his reaction on KOOL FM, said “Edwin Snowe is questioning my character as to why I was on that trip because I am more respected in West Africa than Snowe. First of all the only reason why Edwin Snowe is able to get contacts in West Africa is because he having to have save his life by being Senator in Liberia.

Another thing people need to understand about Snowe is, who was Snowe? Snowe was a driver for Cyril Allen who was the Chairman for NPP. Snow has never work corporately for cash, was never a businessman”.

“Now, if Snowe graduated from that point, he had the opportunity to steal through the transition, after former president Taylor left this country. The moment Taylor left, he got an opportunity to go to LPRC. There is where Snowe made a break by stealing government money, by stealing government oil, to become success premier.”

According to the Ambassador, Snowe got into in-law relationship with president Taylor, and when Taylor was basically discussing one-China policy, Snowe was there going to collect boxes of cash from Tiawan.

“He was kick off from the House of Representatives as Speaker in a very nasty way,” Amb. Onanuga ranted. “He moved on to putting up a nude picture of people. Is that the character we talking about?  The same person who went ahead to host a nude pool party in his house is some who will question someone like me character?”

“When he saw that he couldn’t make it Monrovia, he ran to Bomi County,” he continued. “Imagine you disrespected our former president from Bomi. Don’t forget, a man that stands for nothing will die for action than nothing. Snowe is in this capacity.”

He said Snowe has forgotten to talk about the impact of what “we just did in Nigeria”.

According to the ambassador, Liberia has a unique opportunity and that he was pleased they represented the country.

“We doing a very good job. We don’t spend government money loosely like Snowe. We pay the costs to present Liberia to other African countries without getting a dime from anyone. Snowe does nothing without expectation. Snowe think I am Takun J who he can beat on the street. Myself, am from the street. Now, let take from another perspective. We enter the country with serious business forums.”

The categorically said Snowe has a wrong characterization of his hard-earned reputation, and that the senator is in no moral authority to question his integrity.

Onanuga said the Senator came to political affluence and power through criminal activities as opposed to him with a huge entrepreneurial record.

“Snowe has been married more than three times,” he said, adding that such a person like the Senator is not his peer in character.

The Tourism Ambassador cited a December 2011 reports alleging that Snowe offered US$1,000 to a Liberian woman to strip naked and swim in a pool at his (Snowe’s) residence.