Published: September 30, 2026
MONROVIA – Youth and Sports Minister Cornelia Wonkerleh Kruah has publicly rebuked her own National Team Mobilization Chair, Rev. Dr. J. Luther Tarpeh, after his controversial statement following Lone Star’s 1-0 defeat to Mali in the AFCON Qualifier.
In a post meant to thank Liberians for the “amazing turnout” at the SKD and to say “Rome was not built in one day,” Tarpeh, who also serves as Unity Party Chairman, launched an attack on opposition CDcians. He asked if they were still bitter that he and others dislodged them from power, called them “mentally deranged” with “detestable reasoning capacity” and “crab mentality,” and threatened to “launch a campaign to donate these people called CDcians somewhere else.”
The comment section exploded. Many Liberians said a man appointed to unite the country behind Lone Star was instead dividing it. Commentator Moriah Yeakula wrote: “This post is EXACTLY why he should never have been made Chair… You must really think Lonestar is UP FC ehn? Your job is not to just mobilize govt, it’s to mobilize the country! Imagine talking about donating a group of Liberians somewhere else because they are your political opponents?”
Minister Kruah then issued a rare public disagreement: “As Minister of Youth and Sports, I do not agree with this post made by the Chair of the National Mobilization Committee. While I intend to have a conversation with Dr. Tarpeh about this, I want to firstly publicly state my disagreement. The role of Mobilization Chair is not meant to be divisive. It should be the bridge between us the politicians and the rest of the citizens who dearly love our Lonestar. This cannot be another CDC vs UP moment.”
The backlash has again raised the critical issue: Can Liberia build a formidable and competitive Lone Star when national football mobilization is being turned into a Unity Party vs CDC political battle?
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