Published: August 27, 2026
MONROVIA — Gender Minister Gbeme Horace-Kollie’s invitation for unemployed husbands to report working wives who refuse to support them has set off a legal dispute over whether joblessness meets the Domestic Relations Law’s stricter test that a man be incapable of supporting himself and at risk of becoming a public charge.
By Roseline Gbessagee
Horace-Kollie made the call Thursday in a Facebook post citing Section 5.3(e) of the law, which states: “Wife liable for support of her husband if he is incapable of supporting himself and is or is likely to become a public charge.”
Writing in Liberian parlance, the minister told married men who are unemployed or not earning an income that they could seek the ministry’s intervention if their wives refuse to support 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,” Horace-Kollie wrote.
“We will invoke Chapter 5.3(e) of the Domestic Relations Law of Liberia and make sure you get your support. But he who comes into equity must come with clean hands, ya.”
The post quickly shifted attention to language absent from the minister’s initial explanation: The law does not merely require a husband to be unemployed. It says he must be incapable of supporting himself and be, or be likely to become, a public charge.
The disagreement now centers on what “incapable” means and whether it can include unemployment or is limited to circumstances such as physical disability, serious illness or mental incapacity.
Minister Defends Interpretation
Speaking later Thursday at the Ministry of Information’s regular press briefing, Horace-Kollie framed her position around a husband who had previously supported his family but later encountered financial hardship.
“We are talking about a man who has taken care of his family, but at some point, life got difficult, and the woman is working but refuses to take care of the children and the husband,” she said. “According to the law, there is an obligation to take care of the family.”
The minister said the broader problem of nonsupport threatens children and families and requires the government to examine the remedies available under Liberian law.
“The persistent issue of nonsupport remains a very big challenge to the next generation of this nation,” she said. “We have been going through the laws to understand what measures we can impose.”
Horace-Kollie said about 20% of complaints received by the ministry are filed by men, while women account for the remaining 80%.
Family Lawyer: Unemployment Is Not Incapacity
Family law counselor Cllr. Moriah Yeakula challenged the minister’s interpretation, arguing that Section 5.3(e) applies only under narrow conditions and does not require a woman to support her husband simply because he is unemployed.
“Madam Minister, you are wrong. Terribly wrong,” Yeakula wrote on Facebook. “This is not what the law says.”
Yeakula said the statute requires two conditions: The husband must be incapable of supporting himself, and he must be or be likely to become a public charge.
She argued that incapacity could arise from a serious illness, disability, accident or mental health condition that prevents a husband from earning an income.
“Unemployment is not incapacitation/incapability,” Yeakula wrote. “A capable but lazy man sitting home all day, not looking for a 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 also cited Section 5.3(c), which addresses a mother’s responsibility to support a child when the father is dead, cannot be found, or is incapable of providing support.
She maintained that the Domestic Relations Law places the primary obligation to support wives and children on husbands. Section 5.3(a) states that a husband is liable for the support of his wife.
Yeakula cited several Supreme Court decisions, including Dean v. Dean (1939), Vincent-Harding v. Harding (1983), Garnett v. Garnetts (2007), Brown v. Kollie (2014) and Kogar v. Kogar (2023).
She said the court has repeatedly held that financial hardship does not automatically free a husband from his legal obligation to support his wife.
“In fact, in Dean, Harding and Garnett’s cases, the Supreme Court clearly said that ‘the financial capacity of the parties will not necessarily relieve the husband of his legal obligation to support his wife since a plea of poverty is to no avail to relieve him of such obligation,’” Yeakula wrote.
She urged Horace-Kollie to ask the ministry’s lawyers for Supreme Court opinions supporting the claim that an employed wife must support her husband and children whenever the husband is unemployed.
Mamey: Law Leaves ‘Incapable’ Undefined
Development specialist Ambulah Mamey defended the minister’s position, arguing that Section 5.3(e) does not define what makes a husband incapable of supporting himself.
“The Gender Minister is right because the law does not define who qualifies as an incapable man,” Mamey wrote.
He argued that the provision does not expressly limit incapacity to physical disability, mental illness, serious injury, or another medical condition.
Mamey pointed to Section 5.6, which specifically uses the phrase “physical or mental condition” when addressing circumstances in which someone else may file a support petition for a dependent.
Because lawmakers used that specific language elsewhere but not in Section 5.3(e), Mamey said the term “incapable” should not automatically be confined to physical or mental incapacity.
“For incapable men under §5.3(e), the law left the meaning open,” he wrote. “Therefore, it is reasonable for the minister to call on men to approach the Gender Ministry and make their case of being incapable.”
Mamey said claims could be assessed individually until Liberia’s courts provide a definitive interpretation of the provision.
“Until the court can decide the precise meaning of ‘incapable man,’ listen to the minister,” he said.
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