Lawyer, Feminist, and Political Activist
Moriah Kou Dwehde Yeakula is a Lawyer, Political Activist, Feminist and Administrator. She is currently the Chief of Staff to Liberian presidential candidate Mr. Alexander B. Cummings (former Coca-Cola Executive Vice President) and Junior Legal Counsel for the CIH Group Ltd. She previously worked in public service in senior administrative roles at both the municipal and national government levels.
Moriah began her career in administration over a decade ago at Liberia’s National Port Authority, in the Office of the Managing Director, providing support to the Board of Directors. She later worked with the City Government of Monrovia serving as Executive Assistant to the Mayor. In 2014 she was appointed by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as Assistant Minister for Administration (Ministry of Labor. She transitioned to the private sector in 2018 and began law practice with the Heritage Partner & Associates (HPA) Law Firm, a leading law firm in Liberia. The focus of her law practice is family and public interest law and providing pro-bono legal services to indigent women and girls. She has also provided legal consultancy to several national and international women-led NGOs in Liberia with focus on creating awareness on women’s rights and access to justice.
As a woman in politics, member of the opposition and feminist, Moriah advocates for good governance, anti-corruption, women political participation & rights, ending gender inequality and all forms of violence against women and girls in Liberia. She became the Communications Director and a member of the National Executive Committee of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), and of the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP). She was instrumental in getting the CPP to include a mandatory 30% quota for women representation in its framework document and to exceed the quota in Liberia’s 2020 Senatorial election by 33%. She’s helped plan and attend protests against rape and worked with other female lawyers on a legal analysis document against the proposed amendment of Liberia’s New Rape Law, which sought to reduce punishment.
In 2016, she co-founded and served as Executive Director of the Liberia Cancer Resource Initiative (LCRI), a non-profit organization providing awareness and assistance for screenings and treatment to women battling breast and cervical cancer. LCRI hosts Liberia’s Annual Breast Cancer Walk every October and is currently the lead on aUS$100,000 grant for health justice and the fight against cancer in Liberia. As a feminist and champion for women, Moriah recently launched an Annual Women in Leadership event dubbed “The Gathering”, to create a safe space for women in leadership to share experiences, celebrate each other and inspire the younger generation of women.
Moriah is a member of the Liberia Feminist Forum (LFF) and a founding member of the Liberian Women Humanitarian Network (LWHN), and has served on several boards, including member of the Board of Trustees of the Nimba County Community College (NCCC), and is a current member of the Board of the Girls for Change organization. She holds a Masters of Law degree in Civil Litigation and Advocacy from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, USA, a Bachelor of Law degree from the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia, and two Bachelor of Art (B.A) degrees in Economics and Sociology respectively, from Wayne State University in Michigan, USA. She is a Counsellor-at-Law of the Liberian Supreme Court Bar, a member of the Liberian National Bar Association and the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL). She is a lifetime member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. and a proud mother of a 10-year-old boy.