Mr. Sebastian Muah, the former Deputy Finance Minister for Budget at the center of the Patrick Sawyer Ebola scandal says Sawyer deceived him(Muah) and the Ministry regarding his travel to Nigeria, revealing for the first time that Sawyer’s travel was made possible not by the Government of Liberia but by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Said Muah: “Upon checking his government emails I was able to uncover that he was communicating differently and directly with ECOWAS Commission (both using his Yahoo and gov.lr) and got an e-ticket from the Commission’s travel Unit. He did NOT even inform the ECOWAS Ambassador in Liberia, who was traveling with him about his situation. His email to folks at ECOWAS only said he had lost his sister.”
In an email response to FrontPageAfrica, Mr. Muah, who was recently transferred from the MoF to the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LIBTELCO) as Managing Director, explained that his former office had a review and approval process for ECOWAS related travel.
According to Muah, Sawyer was asked not to report to work in the aftermath of his sister, Princess’ death. Princess was reportedly taken to the Catholic Hospital by her brother, Patrick bleeding profusely. Initial reports suggested that she was suffering from hemorrhaging due to pregnancy but it was later discovered that she had Ebola. At least six doctors and nurses who came in contact with Sawyer and his sister has since died from Ebola at the hospital. In Lagos, at least one doctor, a nurse and an ECOWAS official, Jatto Abdulqudir have died of the dreaded Ebola virus.
Muah: ‘Sawyer was Asked Not to Come to Work’
The London Guardian quoting a Nigerian diplomat who was on the plane with Sawyer, Wednesday, reported that Sawyer acted strangely even before he boarded the plane, “hunching over in pain and avoiding physical contact with other passengers milling around the airport in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital. Once airborne, he was sick several times. By the time he disembarked in Lagos airport – one of the busiest in the continent – he was no longer able to stand unaided.”
The report noted: “Those who rushed forward to help didn’t know Patrick Sawyer was in the final stages of an Ebola-induced breakdown, when the deadly disease is at its most contagious. More than 24 hours passed before the Liberian-American civil servant was diagnosed, allowing the virus to gain a toehold in Africa’s most populous city and, for the first time ever, turning the threat of an urban outbreak into a nightmarish possibility.
“The fact that he requested e-tickets and I was NOT copied on those communications says that he did not want me informed. But I have a process of approval and believed that any such travel would meet that approval process; hence my assertion as to making the approval.”- Sebastian Muah, former Deputy Minister of Finance for Budget
On Wednesday, Muah offered the following explanation: “Sawyer, if you must know, was asked not to report to work even at the Ministry of Finance. The fact of the matter, this many of us now know, is when you’re tested for Ebola right after contact, your test will come back negative. Being a non-medical officer, and seeing his emails from the time he was still supposedly employed by Mittal as their Public Health Manager (which he was still employed until his death deceiving us that he was no longer in their employ), he said he was in NO direct contact and that he had submitted himself for testing, but anyone can claim they’re “Ebola Free” if tested right after contact (something his email claimed he had NOT made with his sister [Direct contact with fluids]).”
Muah’s explanation contradicts an earlier stance he had on the issue, in a social network discussion which has now gone viral in various Liberia and Nigerian discussion rooms on the worldwide web.
In a July 25, 2014 discussion on Facebook with another discussant, Muah defended his decision to give Sawyer the greenlight to travel, stating: “The man was on NO watch list. I approved his travel. He emailed us several weeks earlier that his sister had died from the disease and that he had asked that his blood be taken for testing. That test result did not come back positive. So to say someone made him travel and exposed him to others is pure hate and mis-use of a tragedy that have somehow brought the message home to the many who are in denial of this deadly disease, which by the way has NO CURE.” Muah went on to say that he owed no one an explanation on why he give Sawyer the approval to travel.
“A friend is dead, I DO NOT OWE YOU any explanation on your monday night quarter backing. POS was a public health practitioner if you MUST KNOW. The Uganda doctor was a MEDICAL DOCTOR if you again MUST KNOW. They are no longer. So the freaking issue is not why he lied or didn’t lie to travel. But how we address the freaking disease. IF you don’t have jack to say in that direction then frankly shut up on the subject.”
On Wednesday, Muah somersaulted, suggesting that Sawyer deceived him about his travel plans.
Muah asserted: “The fact that he requested e-tickets and I was NOT copied on those communications says that he did not want me informed. But I have a process of approval and believed that any such travel would meet that approval process; hence my assertion as to making the approval. But apparently, people were self contracting on an “honor” system of quarantining themselves. Because I did not get a watch list to know who were to be quarantined or not. But shifting blame is NOT a part of who I am, I believe institutions should be the basis of functionality and not individuals.”
Approval System was Not Followed
Muah added that the system of approval for travel was NOT followed and for the record, Sawyer’s trip was not approved by the system I had in place and hence did NOT meet my approval. “My folks indicated to me that no request was made through the system. He traveled because he did NOT inform the ECOWAS commission who purchased his plane tickets and paid perdiem for his travel; and because we did not have this ticket information to actually alert relevant authorities to stop such.”
FrontPageAfrica had gathered from a highly-placed Finance Ministry source that Sawyer had a heated argument with Angela Bush, the former Deputy Minister of Finance for Expenditure and Debt Management over his travel per diem. It is unclear whether that per diem was in addition to what ECOWAS was providing Sawyer.
Muah explained: “Further to that if you read this article correctly, he WAS in the employ of Mittal, this was information I was NOT made aware. So it is has nothing to do with Cronyism, because I only met this man in 2008 when he came to work for the Ministry of Planning as a County Development Officers. I have NO political aspirations and DO NOT (for all that know me well) promote or reward people because they’re battling for me politically. When there is a broken system of communication and silo institutional structure, someone intending to deceive can get away with such.”
Continued Muah: “So is this case. Minister Konneh would in NO way be connected to this as in my capacity, I was delegated to serve as the Minister in Charge of ECOWAS affairs by him [Konneh]. And was able to do this for over 6 years successfully leading to Liberia ascension to the Vice Presidency of ECOWAS. The ticket below shows who actually paid for Mr. Sawyer’s travel to Nigeria. No senior management at MoF saw Sawyer from the inception of his letter until his demise. Key here is when there is no strong integration around institutional communication, people can dupe the system. In this case Sawyer for no reason whatsoever I can imagine decided that he was going to travel while sick. A fundamental challenge with the fight that we have to make against this Disease. Ebola is a disease that can thrive on deceit, self-denial, pride, envy, non-patriotic behavior, something we Liberians have a whole lot of.”
A More Complicated Debacle
Muah’s explanation complicates the Sawyer debacle, leaving more questions than answers especially in the wake of an indictment of the Liberia health care system by Sawyer’s widow, Decontee, who insinuated in a posting on Facebook Wednesday that her husband may have ignored the advice of local doctors and the government because he wanted a second opinion in Lagos as she criticized the health system in Liberia. “He has expressed to me many times in the past that he felt passionately about helping to be a part of strengthening Liberia’s healthcare system, but he knew it wasn’t there yet, and he wouldn’t want to take a chance with his life because a lot of people depended on him… Patrick had a passion for life, and he wouldn’t have wanted his to end. So, I bet anything that he was thinking, if I could only get to Nigeria, a way more developed country than Liberia, I would be able to get some help.”
Mrs. Sawyer said her husband’s misjudgment was a cry out for help.“Some have gone as far as calling him a terrorist… he is no terrorist, and his act was far from malicious. It was actually a cry for help. I knew Patrick better than anybody else (including himself). He had told me many times in the past how much he didn’t trust the Liberian healthcare system. He would tell me about how a person would get checked in for one thing, and get misdiagnosed and get the wrong treatment as a result. On top of that, Patrick was a clean freak, and told me how filthy a lot of the hospitals were.”
Below is the flight itinerary released by Mr. Muah regarding Patrick Sawyer’s travel to Lagos. Sawyer’s widow had previously told the U.S. Cable network CNN that her husband was heading to the U.S. after his Nigeria trip.
FLIGHT W3 638 – ARIK AIR MON 21 JULY 2014
DEPARTURE: LAGOS, NG (MURTALA MUHAMMED INTL), TERMINAL D – 21 JUL 11:00
DOMESTIC TERMINAL ARRIVAL: CALABAR, NG (MARGARET EKPO INTL) 21 JUL 12:20
FLIGHT BOOKING REF: W3/FYSUH6 RESERVATION CONFIRMED, ECONOMY
DURATION: 01:20 – – – – – – – – – BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE:
20K NON STOP LAGOS TO CALABAR
OPERATED BY: ARIK AIR, W3 EQUIPMENT:
BOEING 737-700 FLIGHT W3 639 – ARIK AIR FRI 25 JULY 2014
DEPARTURE: CALABAR, NG (MARGARET EKPO INTL) 25 JUL 12:50
ARRIVAL: LAGOS, NG (MURTALA MUHAMMED INTL)
25 JUL 13:55 FLIGHT BOOKING REF: W3/FYSUH6
RESERVATION CONFIRMED, ECONOMY DURATION: 01:05
BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE: 20K NON STOP CALABAR TO LAGOS
OPERATED BY: ARIK AIR, W3 EQUIPMENT: BOEING 737-700 FLIGHT(S)
CALCULATED AVERAGE CO2 EMISSIONS IS 169.93 KG/PERSON
SOURCE: ICAO CARBON EMISSIONS CALCULATOR
Courtesy: Frontpage Africa, Liberia.