15/09/2026
Veteran Liberian Media Guru, Philbert S. Brown weighed in on Stanton A Witherspoon 2029 Presidential Candidacy in Liberia.
" FROM WHERE I SIT"
By Philipbert Semogai Jabba-Wleh Browne.
STANTON WITHERSPOON, THE MAN WHO LIED ON PRESIDENT WEAH TO MAKE JOSEPH BOAKAI PRESIDENT, WILL ALSO BE ON THE PRESIDENTIAL BALLOT BOX COME 2029:
The Constitution of Liberia is clear about who can become president. Under Article 52 of the 1986 Constitution, a candidate must be a natural born Liberian citizen of not less than 35 years of age, must own unencumbered real property valued at not less than twenty-five thousand dollars, and must be resident in Liberia for ten years prior to the election. The issue of dual citizenship adds a second layer. After years of debate, President George Weah signed the amended Aliens and Nationality Law in July 2022 allowing Liberians to hold another citizenship, but the law specifically bars dual citizens from serving as President, Vice President, Speaker or Chief Justice. A dual citizen who wants to contest must renounce the other citizenship at least one year before applying to the National Elections Commission. With the 2019 Supreme Court ruling in the Alvin Teage Jalloh case which said citizenship can only be revoked through due process, any dual citizen candidacy can absolutely be challenged in the Liberian courts, and the challenger would have a strong legal standing if renunciation did not occur in time.
Stanton Witherspoon is a Liberian-American media entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Spoon Group of Companies which owns Spoon FM, Spoon TV, Fabric FM and Super FM in Monrovia. He is the host of Spoon Talk, one of Liberia's most influential political talk shows, and his network was ranked among the most watched in a 2024 GeoPoll survey. During the 2023 presidential elections he was a vocal supporter of Joseph Nyuma Boakai and the Unity Party Alliance, using his platforms to campaign for Boakai both in Liberia and in the United States. In December 2025, he publicly admitted on Spoon Talk that he and other commentators had deliberately promoted false narratives linking former President George Weah to the mysterious deaths of government auditors and the disappearance of three boys in 2020. He described those claims as politically motivated and acknowledged that routine deaths and accidents were misrepresented as targeted killings to damage Weah.
Unlike most presidential aspirants, Stanton Witherspoon does not have a publicly verifiable record of university education. His profile is built on business and media ownership, not academia. His only connection to the education sector is through his ownership and management of private for-profit nursing schools in South Florida. Court filings identify him as managing Siena College of Health in Broward County, Florida, a private school licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education that offered Practical Nursing and RN programs. This is not the well-known Siena College in New York. His entire public career has been as a talk show host and media businessman rather than as a trained professional or scholar.
The nursing school connection led to his major legal downfall. In January 2023, Witherspoon was indicted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Federal prosecutors alleged that he and others operated a massive scheme selling more than 7,600 fake nursing diplomas and transcripts from Siena College, Palm Beach School of Nursing and Sacred Heart International Institute, generating about $114 million. The government said he recruited persons seeking nursing licenses and arranged for fraudulent documents claiming they had completed coursework and clinicals when they had not. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, ordered to pay about $3.5 million in restitution and forfeit properties. The U.S. Department of Justice said the scheme put patients at risk because unqualified persons obtained licenses and jobs in hospitals across the country. He later cut a deal, cooperating with the FBI and Department of Health and Human Services, testifying against other operators like Carleen Noreus and providing information to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing to track down holders of the fake diplomas.
Whether he is fit to be President of Liberia will be decided by both law and the Liberian people. Legally, Witherspoon resides in Burlington County, New Jersey, holds U.S. citizenship, has a federal felony conviction, and would need to prove he has lived in Liberia for ten years and renounced his American citizenship at least one year before filing. Failure to do so makes his candidacy vulnerable to a Supreme Court challenge. Morally, his record raises deep concerns. A man who was convicted for selling over 7,600 fake nursing diplomas that endangered public health, who confessed on live television that he lied on a sitting president to help make another president, and who has been described by public officials and civil society as a serial defamer, is now asking Liberians to trust him with the highest office. In a country where the ARREST Agenda depends on rebuilding health, education and the rule of law, that history does not inspire confidence.
Courtesy of Philbert S. Brown
