By Stephen Binda
Liberia’s former Defense Minister Thomas Woewuyi has died from the deadly COVID-19 virus in the US.
He was 75 and suffered breathing complications, a closed member of the family said Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, how the victim contracted the virus remains a mystery as family sources claimed he remained home during the early and peak seasons of the virus.
“We don’t know how he got it cause he never went anywhere,” a closed family member claiming anonymity said.
“He was home all throughout. It stated of like a cool or flu and we all overlooked it, until he was taken to the hospital and the doctors said it was COVID-19.”
Deep sound of weeping and screaming could be heard in the background while explaining on the phone on Sunday following his passing.
Lived in Collingdale, Philadelphia, Pennsylvinia, Woewuyi was a grandfather and former spokesperson and defense minister for Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).
In 2018, he became the highest-ranking official to be found guilty of crimes tied to the numerous documented atrocities that occurred during Liberia’s first civil war a multifaction conflict that ravaged the country between 1989 and 1997.
The late Woewuyi during his arrival in the US mid 50’s, led the creation of several Liberian organizations in the US, some of which include but not limited to Union Bassa Organizations in the Americas (UNIBOA), the Liberian Assocation of Pennsylvania (LAP Inc.) and the Union of Liberian Associations in the United States (ULAA) among others.
