Chaos erupted at the headquarters of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) on Monday, June 3, 2024 with Director General Abraham Kromah and his deputy for operations, Al Hassan Fadiga taking center stage.
The situation became tense and uncontrollable that the Liberia National Police (LNP) had to be called in to restore calm.
According to our reporter who had gone at the LDEA for a press conference, journalists were greeted with high tension between Kromah and Fadiga. It is not known what brought the argument.
Our reporter said Fadiga was seen entering the LDEA compound using pepper spray randomly, a situation that saw officers and journalists in disarray.
He was also seen displaying firearm threatening to shot if anyone attempts to disarm him. Out of fear, the LNP was invited by Director Kromah to bring the situation under control.
Speaking during a press conference, Kromah claimed that it is regrettable that the same people he personally incorporated are fighting him.
He indicated that he thought that they could work together and correct some of the shortcomings at the LDEA and move on but it seems not to be possible.
“They have to put up the attitude to fight against drugs and not focusing on the feelings of those who are hurt,” stressing that if his deputy or anyone else has problems with him, they should be professional to reach out to him.
Kromah indicated that the same Fadiga that told the Liberian people that there is a new drug called “Zombie”, is the same man telling the public that there is no Zombie in the country.
He frowned that the attitude of Fadiga is disheartening. “He has no right to give the public misinformation. He is on record and the public is his witness.”
The tension and disagreements at LDEA between Director Kromah and his deputy for Operations, Fadiga is not new, a commotion which appears to be far from over.
It can be recalled that Kromah and Fadiga along with other officers were in a meeting on Monday, April 15, 2024, when Fadiga walked out of the meeting on grounds that he did not want to hear what Kromah was talking about.
During the meeting according to the source, Director Kromah was expressing his dislikes among other things, as to how Fadiga was bent on taking unilateral decisions without his (Kromah) approval.
According to our source, while Fadiga was walking out of the meeting, Kromah reportedly stated that Fadiga was setting a bad example by disrespecting him in the presence of junior officers and should not expect those junior officers to respect him (Fadiga).
Prior to the April 15 meeting, Kromah was said to have instructed that all LDEA officers should not take orders from deputy director Fadiga until otherwise order.
The reported mandate by Kromah for officers not to take instructions from Fadiga, was said to have caused problem at the LDEA.
At the time, this is what Kromah said “He is the deputy for operations; he goes about changing officers’ assignments without my knowledge. Fadiga is in the habit of releasing suspects who have been arrested for drugs without my consent.”
