Published: November 13, 2026
MONROVIA — The Kemayah Saudi rice case returns to Criminal Court ‘C’ on Friday, when Judge Ousman F. Feika is scheduled to rule on former Foreign Minister Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah’s motion for a new trial, with sentencing possible if the court rejects the request.
A notice of assignment issued Wednesday by the court’s clerk, under Feika’s authority, summons the parties to court at 1 p.m. Friday for a ruling on the motion, and for the court’s “final ruling and sentencing” of the parties.
Kemayah and the other movants argue that the jury’s verdicts were inconsistent with the weight of the evidence presented at trial.
The 12-member jury returned a split verdict on Oct. 9 after a trial lasting about 40 days, convicting several former officials of the George Weah administration and acquitting others. Kemayah was convicted on multiple counts, but the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on two charges against him, theft of property and criminal conspiracy. Published accounts of the verdict differ on which counts were left unresolved, and The Liberian Investigator has not seen the certified verdict sheet.
A hung count is not an acquittal. The state may retry the two unresolved charges against Kemayah or dismiss them.
The notice lists two groups of movants. The first includes Kemayah, former Internal Affairs Minister Varney A. Sirleaf, Thelma Sawyer, former General Services Agency Deputy Director for Operations Edris Bility and Momolu Johnson. The second includes Augustine Kollie, director of disaster victims at the National Disaster Management Agency; Archievego M. Doe; agency communications director Edwards Konneh; and logistics officer Rosetta L. Gbassay Gbowah.
The Republic of Liberia, represented by the Ministry of Justice and the Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Taskforce, is the respondent. After the verdict, taskforce chairman Cllr. Edwin K. Martin said the state would also defeat the defendants at the Supreme Court if they appealed.
The case centers on 29,412 bags of 25-kilogram rice donated in April 2023 by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center for disaster victims and vulnerable Liberians. Prosecutors alleged that 25,054 bags, valued at about US$425,918, were diverted or misappropriated as the rice moved among the Foreign Ministry, the National Disaster Management Agency and the General Services Agency.
Kemayah facilitated the donation as foreign minister and was central to the prosecution’s case. Throughout the trial, the defendants maintained that the decisions surrounding the rice were administrative and institutional arrangements, not crimes. During the trial, Sirleaf disputed allegations that Kemayah directed the transfer of rice from the disaster agency to the General Services Agency.
To win a new trial, the defense must show Feika that the verdict rests on legally recognized grounds for relief under the Criminal Procedure Law; dissatisfaction with the jury’s decision alone is not enough. The prosecution is expected to oppose the motion.
If Feika grants it, the affected proceedings would be reopened within the scope of his order. A new trial would not be an acquittal. If he denies it, the court can move to judgment and sentencing, and the defendants would retain the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.
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