Former NDMA Chief Says He Gave Staff Saudi Rice, Denies Stealing 4,317 Bags

Published: September 28, 2026

MONROVIA – The former head of the National Disaster Management Agency told a jury he authorized the distribution of 185 bags of Saudi-donated rice to agency employees, while denying that he stole 4,317 bags from a consignment meant for vulnerable and disaster-affected Liberians.

By Melvin Jackson

Henry O. Williams, who led the agency from March 2018 to January 2024, testified Thursday before Criminal Court “C” as the defense’s seventh witness, on the 39th day of jury sitting. He said the employees received the rice because they had unloaded, transported and stored the consignment without the funding the agency requested for that work.

Williams denied an allegation attributed to John Kumeh, an investigator with the Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Task Force, that he stole 4,317 bags of 25-kilogram rice. He said the agency distributed those bags through its disaster-response process, at the request of the population identified in the project document, and that 35 were damaged, leaving 4,282 bags delivered.

On the staff rice, Williams cited Section 4.3 of the project document, which he said allocated US$46,116.90 for transportation, loading and related activities. He said the agency requested that money and never received it, that disaster operations often required employees to take on extra duties without separate funding, and that he therefore authorized rice for those who helped unload and store the donation.

The court disallowed a question asking Williams whether he had thereby initiated a “misapplication” of the rice.

Williams first testified that the agency received 28,412 bags. Records before the court show 29,412, and when confronted with the difference, Williams said his figure was an “oversight.”

He said the agency’s warehouse could not hold the full consignment, so 11,200 bags were moved to the General Services Agency warehouse and the rest stayed with the disaster agency.

Distribution stopped, Williams said, after concerns that the rice was being mishandled and was appearing on the market. He said then-Foreign Minister D. Maxwell Saah Kemayah and then-Internal Affairs Minister Varney Sirleaf, who chaired the agency’s board, summoned officials and ordered the distribution halted. An investigative team was formed and found no misappropriation, he said, after which officials directed that about 13,895 bags be moved from the agency’s warehouse to the General Services Agency warehouse.

Williams was also questioned about 5,000 bags prepositioned for the Gbarnga hub and handled by his principal deputy. He acknowledged that his deputies and assistants reported to him and that requests for rice passed through his office. But he said the distribution was designed to run six to seven months with comprehensive reports due at the end, and that the agency’s distribution lasted about a month before responsibility for supply and distribution was taken over.

Williams rejected the suggestion that the rice was limited to victims of floods, fires and heavy rainstorms. Pointing the jury to the project document, he said it covered vulnerable groups including women, children, elderly people and displaced persons, and could also go to vulnerable communities during occasions such as Ramadan. Kumeh had told the court the donation was intended for disaster-related purposes.

Asked why one family that lost four members received 150 bags while another with a similar loss received 50, Williams said assistance depended on the gravity of each incident, the number of people affected, the timing and the supplies available. He said the agency did not favor particular victims.

Earlier, a former youth chairman of Norvlin Town testified that the community received 250 bags from the agency for residents whose homes were destroyed by flooding. Under cross-examination, he confirmed that he signed a waybill for the rice on the community’s behalf.

A witness from Garza testified that the community received 500 bags on Aug. 15, 2023, and shared them among 2,110 flood victims at three buckets each. He said beneficiaries did not sign individual receipts; community leaders checked residents against lists of those affected.