Published: October 13, 2026
The movement of a senior public official into private criminal defense can raise difficult questions about conflicts of interest, confidential information and public confidence in the justice system. Those questions deserve careful examination in the case of Atty. Gbawou Kowou, a former Deputy Director General for Administration of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), left the agency in 2024 and is now reportedly representing people accused of drug-related offenses.
By Saye-Maye Cole, Contributing Writer
The central issue is not whether a former government Official may ever represent a criminal defendant. Every accused person is entitled to counsel, and defense work is an essential part of the rule of law. The narrower legal question is whether any current representation concerns a specific investigation, prosecution or matter in which Gbawou Kowou participated personally and substantially while at the LDEA, or whether the representation could involve confidential government information obtained through his former office.
Liberia’s professional-ethics rules and its 2014 Code of Conduct provide the proper starting point for that inquiry. The Code of Conduct is designed to guard against conflicts of interest and to promote impartiality, objectivity, transparency and integrity in public service. Any claim that a particular rule requires disqualification or a mandatory “cooling-off” period, however, should be tied to the exact statutory language and the facts of the individual case rather than assumed from a former official’s change of employment alone.
A credible ethics review would therefore ask several factual questions: Did Kowou have personal and substantial responsibility for the same defendants, investigations, or evidence while serving at the LDEA? Did he receive nonpublic information that could materially benefit a private client? Has the government raised a conflict before the court? Has Kowou sought an ethics opinion, disclosed the potential conflict or been screened from any affected matter?
If those questions show that a current case is the same matter Kowou handled in office, recusal or disqualification may be appropriate. If the matters are unrelated and no protected information is at risk, the ethical analysis may be different. The appearance of a conflict can damage trust, but appearance alone does not prove professional misconduct.
Confidentiality remains the most serious concern. Information about informants, investigative strategy, surveillance, evidence or internal decision-making belongs to the government and cannot ethically be used to the disadvantage of the state or the benefit of a private client.
The public record also requires precision. President Joseph Boakai removed Kowou and other LDEA leaders in November 2024 after a Ministry of Justice investigation into a disturbance at the agency’s headquarters. Public reporting did not disclose the full investigative findings. It would therefore be unfair to describe the dismissal as proof that Kowou committed an ethics violation in private practice, but that is something to determine.
If credible evidence of a conflict exists, the proper course is to present documented facts to the court or to Liberia’s Grievance and Ethics Committee, which receives and investigates complaints of professional misconduct and makes recommendations to the Supreme Court.
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