CHILDREN ARE NOT POLITICAL AMMUNITION: MO ALI AND MGCSP MUST ACCOUNT FOR THE EXPOSURE OF VULNERABLE CHILDREN
Monrovia, Liberia — The public disclosure of personal information belonging to vulnerable Liberian children by Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation Managing Director Mohammed “Mo” Ali is deeply troubling, demands an immediate investigation and someone must take accountability.
On Friday September 11, 2026, in a Facebook post, Mr. Ali stated:
“We will even publish names of kids we have taken from the streets and schools they are in.” A statement that was accompanied by images of documents containing what appears to be children’s names, ages, classes, schools, caregivers, telephone numbers and addresses.
That was not transparency. It was a serious child-protection concern.
One question that must immediately be answered is: How did these records come into the possession of the Managing Director of LWSC, and who authorized him to disclose them publicly?
If it is established the information originated from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP), then Minister Gbeme Horace-Kollie has a serious institutional responsibility to explain how confidential information concerning vulnerable children could leave the custody of the Ministry and become material for public and political Facebook commentary.
The Ministry cannot protect children by exposing them! This concern is made even more troubling by the fact that, in October of 2024, the MGCSP itself publicly posted a photograph of Minister Horace-Kollie sitting with an underage sex worker from Kakata identified as a beneficiary/victim on the Ministry’s Facebook platform. The issue is not whether the Minister intended harm. The issue is whether the Ministry understands that protecting vulnerable children includes protecting their identities, images and personal circumstances from unnecessary public exposure. A child who comes under the care or protection of the Government does not surrender his or her right to privacy. Government custody is not public ownership.
The Children’s Law of Liberia, 2011, section 18.1 states that ‘Every child shall have a right to have her or his privacy protected. The protection of this right shall extend to publicity which places the child in a false light in the public eye.’
The law in its totality also places the best interests of the child at the center of actions affecting children and establishes a broad obligation to protect children from abuse, exploitation and harm. The Liberian Constitution Article 16 states that: “No person shall be subjected to interference with his privacy of person, family, home or correspondence except by order of a court”
Liberia’s own Ministry of Justice acknowledges that the law requires government institutions to take children’s age and vulnerabilities into account and strive to protect and reintegrate them. And finally, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) addresses a child’s right to privacy specifically in Article 16.
It states that “No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation.”
So what is in the best interest of a vulnerable child? Having their name, school, caregiver and personal information displayed on Facebook? Clearly not, as Liberia has already recognized the need to shield victims and survivors! Liberia’s legal framework surrounding sexual offenses recognizes the particular vulnerability of victims. Criminal Court “E” proceedings for rape may be conducted in camera, with authority to seal the names and addresses of rape survivors and provide protective measures for child victims/ survivors. That principle exists for a reason: Victims/survivors must not be subjected to further harm through unnecessary public exposure.
Even the present numbers coming from the MGCSP itself, demonstrate just how serious the vulnerability is. MGCSP reported 3,957 GBV cases in 2024, including 2,759 rape cases. Of those, 1,485 involved statutory rape of persons under 18. Montserrado alone accounted for 2,143 reported GBV cases, including 1,902 rape cases. For the first three quarters of 2025, the Ministry reported 1,735 rape cases, representing approximately 56 percent of reported GBV cases. These are not merely statistics. Every number represents a person. And where that person is a child, the State’s obligation to protect is even greater.
Minister Horace-Kollie, cannot remain silent while information involving children under her Ministry’s protection is publicly displayed. She must answer the questions of:
1) Who authorized the release of these children’s information?
2) How did Mr. Ali obtain the records?
3) Was any parent, guardian or legally authorized representative informed or asked for consent?
4) What confidentiality safeguards were in place?
5) Has MGCSP launched an investigation into the disclosure?
6) What steps are being taken to protect the affected children from further exposure or harm?
If the information did not come from MGCSP, then the Ministry should say so clearly and explain how it intends to protect the children whose identities are now circulating publicly. If it did come from the Ministry, then the Liberian people deserve to know who authorized the disclosure and why.
Mr. Ali’s position as Managing Director of a government corporation does not give him unrestricted authority to publish personal information concerning children and he owes the public answers! His own words are particularly troubling because he did not merely publish information once. He threatened to publish even more by writing: “We will even publish names of kids … and schools they are in.” That should alarm every parent, every child-protection professional and every responsible government official in Liberia.
A child rescued from the streets is not a public-relations asset. And a government program does not give officials the right to put a child’s identity, school or personal circumstances on social media.
This is about the children and not politics. We are not asking the Government to hide its achievements. We are asking the Government to protect the children it claims to serve. MGCSP must investigate the apparent disclosure. Mr. Ali must explain how he obtained the information and under what authority he published it. And the appropriate oversight and human-rights institutions, especially the UNICEF, must determine whether applicable child-protection safeguarding policies, privacy or confidentiality obligations were breached. The fact that the post may subsequently have been deleted by him in shame, does not make the disclosure disappear. Screenshots exist, the information was publicly accessible, and the potential harm to the children remains.
Children are not content.
Children are not political ammunition. Victims are not statistics. Confidential information is not Facebook material.
Meanwhile, where are all the Women groups, the Civil Society actors, who used to take to the streets with placard screaming “We Are Not Protected”?
The question now is: Are WE NOW Protected!?!?
Most importantly, the Government of Liberia must answer one simple question:
WHO IS PROTECTING THE CHILDREN?
W. E. Saydee-Tarr
Former Minister of Gender, Children & Social Protection (2018-2023)
