-Female Lawyer Yeakula Clarifies Wives’ Support Role
By Jerromie S. Walters
Monrovia: A social media post by Liberia’s Gender Minister, Gbeme Horace-Kollie, ignited an intense legal and public debate on Thursday, after she encouraged unemployed married men to report their working wives for failing to provide financial support.
Minister Gbeme Horace-Kollie took to her Facebook page, urging men who are not earning an income to approach the Ministry of Gender for legal recourse against spouses who neglect them and their children. “Men your morning o…particularly married men. So, if you na geh work or not earning an income, and your wife is working or earning an income and she is not supporting you and the children, please be courageous enough to come to the Ministry of Gender and report it,” she wrote.
The Minister added, “We will invoke Chapter 5.3 (e) of the Domestic Relations Law of Liberia and make sure you get your support.”
While her comments drew praise from some male social media users, they were met with sharp criticism from women, including prominent legal voices who argued that the minister had misinterpreted the law.
Prominent Liberian female lawyer Moriah Yeakula publicly challenged the minister’s assertion. Taking to her official Facebook page, Yeakula insisted that the law cited by the minister does not support her interpretation.
“Madam Minister, you are wrong. Terribly wrong. This is not what the law says,” Yeakula wrote, noting that as a Family Law specialist, she felt compelled to respond to the deluge of messages she received regarding the post.
Yeakula clarified that Chapter 5, Section 5.3, Subsection 5.3(e) of the Domestic Relations Law only requires a wife to support her husband if he is “incapable of supporting himself” and “is or is likely to become a public charge.”
She defined “incapable” as being unable to earn, citing examples such as being bedridden, suffering a stroke, experiencing a serious accident, or mental illness. She stressed that unemployment does not constitute incapacitation.
“Unemployment is not incapacitation/incapability. A capable but lazy man sitting home all day, not looking for job or keeping one should go to Gender and y’all tell his wife to support him? No Madam Minister, that is not the law,” Yeakula stated.
The lawyer further cited other provisions of the Domestic Relations Law, pointing to Section 5.3(a), which clearly states that “husband is liable for support of his wife.” She argued that the law places the primary burden of financial support on men and that the conditions for women to support their husbands are “extreme circumstances”—and unemployment does not qualify.
She also referenced multiple Supreme Court rulings, including Dean v. Dean (1939), Vincent-Harding v. Harding (1983), Garnett v. Garnetts (2007), Brown v. Kollie (2014), and Kogar v. Kogar (2023), which she said consistently affirm that a husband’s obligation to support his wife remains even when he faces financial hardship.
“In Brown, the Court said ‘in as much as the husband can eat and drink on a daily basis, it is also the privilege and right of the wife to do likewise,'” Yeakula noted. The lawyer warned that the minister’s interpretation could prove dangerous to the welfare and safety of women and children, and urged her to retract her statement if her legal department cannot produce Supreme Court opinions to support it.
“Please do the right thing to retract such policy of awarding men spousal support just because they are unemployed and kindly correct the information given to the public,” Yeakula advised.
