George K. Fahnbulleh

Ideas and Opinions...

In Liberia: George Werner Unqualified for Minister of Health

 

 

At a time when Liberia’s health system has been decimated by the Ebola Virus Disease, and the management has shown inept and incompetent, the President of Liberia, has chosen to name a person totally unqualified to lead in the building of the healthcare system.

Liberians have quickly forgotten, just a few months ago, our President was begging the world for help or the country would die.  The international community has rushed in, and seeing the need to make a change at the Ministry of Health, the President appointed George Werner as the new Minister of Health.

The problem is Mr. Werner has no background in healthcare, zero, nada, zip, nothing!  He has taken to embellishment of his work in a Philadelphia Group Home (6 years and 9 months) and referred to his title as a “Clinical Therapist.”  Much of the information which follows was garnered directly from Mr. Werner’s LinkedIn page, and further research into the institutions he lists.

Sadly neither the Government of Liberia, nor the Liberian newspapers even took the time (all of 3 hours) to research and validate any of the claims made by Mr. Werner.  They have all simply parroted Mr. Werner’s statements and wished him well.

According to Mr. Werner’s LinkedIn page:

June 2003 – March 2010 
Therapist
Pennsylvania Clinical Schools

Pennsylvania Clinical Schools was a residential treatment facility (a group home) run by the State of Pennsylvania for wayward youth.  The facility was closed in 2010.

Because the facility was closed, there is no way to verify, what Mr. Werner actually did at the facility other than being a group home aid.  There are however, several studied deductions we can make which support the fact that Mr. Werner was not, repeat, was not a “Clinical Therapist.”  

To be a Clinical Therapist, in most US states, requires a state occupation license.  The State of Pennsylvania is one of those states.  Fortunately Pennsylvania publishes the license of every practitioner.  Pennsylvania also grants licenses by reciprocity with other states, and those licenses acquired in other states are documented in the database.  You can search the Pennsylvania License Database here

The Pennsylvania License Database show NO RECORD of GEORGE KRONNISANYON WERNER ever having a license as anything, in Pennsylvania or any other state, let alone a “group/clinical” therapist.

In a 2005 piece written for the Perspective, entitled “Perceptions and Beliefs about Interpersonal Violence” Mr. Werner was already brandishing his 2 years as a group home aid (he began working at PCS in June 2003), and referring to himself as a “clinician.” 

Mr. Werner wrote:

As a clinician, one hopes to help ameliorate the effects of interpersonal violence on society’s most vulnerable and to be a part of discovering the causes of interpersonal violence. However one evaluates interpersonal violence, there are grim consequences for victim, perpetrator, and the wider society. Individuals who commit acts of violence against others, like my father, are human beings in need of some degree of rehabilitation.

This leaves me wondering why Mr. Werner did not channel his expertise to the rehabilitation of ex-combatants in Liberia?

March 2010 – September 2010
Clinical Coordinator
Resources for Human Development, Inc.

Resources for Human Development, Inc. is an organization which among other things, provides staffing and management of group home workers.  A search of employment opportunities from their website (http://www.rhd.org/RHDCareers/JobListings.aspx), the job of a Care Coordinator is described here:

The Care Coordinator is responsible for providing supportive services to individuals with mental illness living independently in the community. The Care Coordinator assists the program participant to identify and connect with community resources, monitors the progress of each participant toward obtaining goals, and provides ongoing coaching to support participant’s wellness.

This was the last job Mr. Werner held in the United States, for 7 months.  Can any person read the job description and try to make the case that this job provides the requisite experience to be Minister of Health of Liberia? 

Civil Service Agency:
2013 – Present

Mr. Werner as served for 14 months as the Director General of the CSA.  Somehow after 14 months at CSA, with his other experience shown above, we are to accept that he is qualified to be Minister of Health.


I would challenge Mr. Werner to go beyond phrases like “I was admitted into the prestigious program.”  Being admitted to a program means nothing. Why did he not say “I completed..”

None of what Mr. Werner has presented of his background and experience qualifies him to be Minister of Health.

There are far more qualified Liberians, IN LIBERIA and Internationally whose leadership, experience, and domain knowledge far exceed the group home knowledge of Mr. Werner, who are qualified for the job.  

President Sirleaf needs to take the lives of the Liberian people, and her job, much more seriously.