Despite accusations of her alleged involvement in economic crimes, Vice President, Jewel Howard Taylor has been from all allegations, following a thorough investigation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In a document obtained by FPA online, the TRC clarified that it investigated Madam Taylor and found her blameless of any economic crimes.
On April 9, 2009, the Economic Crimes Unit of the TRC certificated Madam Howard Taylor for coming out of their investigation with flying colors and that she did nothing wrong during her time as first lady and immediately afterwards.
“Having attended several hearings before the Inquiry Unit (IU), responded to our questions and provided information and evidence, the Inquiry Unit of the Economic Crimes Unit of the TRC is satisfied that you have given us all the information we needed and there is no basis to hold you accountable or answerable further to claims and allegations of economic crimes. Our investigations have cleared you of all allegations levied against you,” the Economic Crimes Unit of the TRC said.
In spite of the TRC certification of no wrongdoing, former TRC Commissioner, John Stewart took to social media Facebook to brand the Liberian Vice President as a product of dishonesty and arms from the war.
Before becoming first lady, Madam Taylor served as Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Liberia (Now Central Bank of Liberia), and as President of the Agricultural Cooperative Bank (1996) and Mortgage Financing Underwriter of the First Union National Bank.
But her critics, including Mr. Stewart think that her marriage to former Liberian President Charles Taylor makes her as guilty as her ex-husband despite the abounding evidence that she has been living an impactful life and raising her voice on societal vices especially corruption by introducing a bill for the establishment of a specialized court in Liberia to prosecute those accused of corruption -a menace that is depriving the ordinary citizenry.
She has consistently argued that the rule of law is the panacea to sustainable peace in any given society, as such the establishment of a corruption court in Liberia is critical to put impunity in check.
To her unsolicited defense, some individuals in Taylor’s former inner circle claim Jewel Howard Taylor had little influence over the president and say Taylor was capable of deep subterfuge.
Peter Bonner Jallah, Taylor’s former Justice Minister, told international media that the man [Charles Taylor] was “cunning” and “secretive,” claiming that Jewel would likely have known very little about the details of the president’s actions.
“He was the sort of man who could send people to have one of your family members killed and make you feel like he had done nothing,” Jallah said. “You would never have thought he had anything to do with it.”
Jallah—who resigned in 1998 over the unsolved murder and mutilation of a former Taylor comrade, Sam Dokie, and his wife, last seen being arrested by security forces—adds that as an African wife, Jewel would have had little power over her husband.
The Vice President remains resolved that in spite of the barrage of unfettered bullying from those who think she should not be where she is, her work over the years across Africa and the lives she has impacted must be adjudged without biases.
She has incessantly been the subject of slander and name-calling, bullying, especially by those pinned on her insistence on speaking out against wrongs in society and making her voice heard on critical national issues -all in an attempt to subject her to the abyss of incommunicado -reminiscent of the customary maneuvering to tyrannize women into silence.
Her critics are marveled at how she has defied all odds through storms to become tailwinds that landed her to becoming one of the most powerful women on the continent of Africa.
