Monrovia-Pastor Regina Joe, a prominent advocate against female genital mutilation and a long-time campaigner for justice and human rights, has called on Liberian civil society organizations to stage a massive demonstration demanding accountability over the country’s recent cocaine trafficking scandal.
Speaking from exile, Pastor Joe urged President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to dismiss any government officials found to be connected to the alleged trafficking network and to establish an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the large-scale drug seizure.
Her call comes amid growing public concern following remarks attributed to Liberia’s Inspector General of Police, Gregory Coleman, who said the operation was allegedly “sanctioned by state actors at the very, very senior level” of government. Coleman did not publicly identify the officials he was referring to.
Liberian authorities recently seized nearly four tonnes of cocaine valued at approximately $318 million, following an earlier seizure of about 238 kilograms valued at more than $19 million investigation.
Pastor Joe’s advocacy is rooted in years of activism. In 2022, she became involved in the case of little Yassah Mulbah, whose grand mother reportedly gave her to a 65-year-old man, Oldman Musa, as a wife, after Musa reportedly healed the grandmother of some terminal illness.
Musa allegedly demanded that the then-15-year-old girl undergo female circumcision before he would accept her as a wife.
Pastor Joe later led a demonstration into a Sande Bush where the girl was reportedly scheduled to undergo the procedure.
During the confrontation, she was severely beaten and left critically injured before being rescued. When asked about constant threats to her family due to her advocacy she replied, “i am afraid,” “but I cannot stop advocating for the children of Liberia, many of whom the civil war left with drug addiction and destitution.”
One of Pastor Joe’s cousins has faced numerous attacks in a case of mistaken identity.
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