Ex-Foreign Minister faces Criminal Court “C” over 29 000-bag Saudi rice scandal first flagged by Assets Recovery Team on 14 April 2025
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah was on Thursday, 26 June 2025, led into Criminal Court “C” at the Temple of Justice by Liberia National Police officers and court sheriffs. The dramatic arrival came two hours after his co-defendants – former General Services Agency head Mary Broh and former National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Executive Director Henry O. Williams – were brought under heavy escort.
The charges
Prosecutors read a nine-count indictment charging the trio with:
- Theft of Property Economic Sabotage Misuse of Public Office
The indictment alleges that between April 2023 and January 2024 the defendants “diverted, re-bagged and secretly redistributed” at least 25,000 of the 29,412 bags of 25 kg rice donated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for disaster victims, valued at US $425,918.
How the case surfaced
Liberia’s Assets Recovery & Property Retrieval Task Force (AREPT) resumed work on 18 February 2025 after winning a Supreme Court case that affirmed its legality.
Less than two months later the task force publicly named Kemayah, Broh and Williams in a letter dated 14 April 2025 summoning them for questioning over the “rice saga”—the first time their names appeared on AREPT’s suspect list.
Broh angrily dismissed the summons on live radio, threatening to sue the task force if it “played politics” with her reputation. Williams was questioned on 22 April; Kemayah ignored two invitations, prompting an arrest warrant that was executed at his Paynesville residence shortly before dawn on 26 June.
Origin of the rice
The rice was part of a humanitarian grant signed on 10 February 2023 between Liberia and the Saudi-based King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Center. Then-Foreign Minister Kemayah personally negotiated the US $500,000 food-aid package, which was consigned to the NDMA for distribution to flood and fire victims across Liberia.
Inside Court “C”
Judge Blamo Dixon denied a defence motion to dismiss and ordered the accused held in Monrovia Central Prison pending a bail hearing set for 30 June. State lawyers disclosed that 4000 bags of the rice were found re-bagged under a private label in warehouses in Kakata and Buchanan. Defence counsel insisted the rice had been “redeployed to regional hubs” under a 2023 disaster-response plan.
Wider implications
The case is the first high-profile corruption prosecution to reach open court since AREPT regained its mandate. It will test President Joseph Boakai’s pledge of “no sacred cows” in the fight against graft.
Civil-society groups welcomed the move but urged swift, transparent proceedings. “Justice delayed on this matter would further erode public trust in relief-aid management,” said attorney Cllr. Augustine Toe of the Center for Justice & Accountability.
What’s next
30 June 2025 – bail arguments Mid-July – expected start of evidentiary hearing; AREPT says more indictments may follow as its probe widens to “at least 17 related cases.”
The nation will watch closely: a conviction could recover hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of relief food – and signal that Liberia’s new anti-corruption architecture is finally biting.
