The former Legal Adviser & Company Secretary of Rokel Commercial Bank has come out for the first time to speak to the Press about the humiliation and sexual harassment she encountered during her time at the bank.

Mrs. Margaret A. L. Davies in a Press Conference on Wednesday 19 October 2022 at the Africell-America Corner explained that she joined Rokel Commercial Bank in November 2016, eight months later Dr. Walton Ekundayo Gilpin was appointed as Managing Director of the bank. According to Mrs. Davies, shortly after Dr. Gilpin joined the Bank, he started making sexual advances on her.

“I found the sexual advances very unwelcoming, but strenuously tried to manage our working relationship by entertaining his flirting WhatsApp chats from August to October 2017. I entertained him because I wanted to protect my job and most importantly I did not want to be stressed considering my high-risk pregnancy then. I told my husband about his advances and he was furious and wanted to approach him but we later advised that I should try to get witness or evidence in contemplation of such moment”, Mrs. Davies stated. She expounded that she and Dr. Gilpin were working without any form of intimidation or bullying until when he requested that she sleep with him, which prompted her out-rightly refusal.

“In November 2017, I sent him a very strongly worded message and told him expressly that I was not comfortable with his WhatsApp exchanges anymore. Ever since, he started using his “position of authority” to continuously harass, victimize, suppress, bully, marginalize and intimidate me. This became a pattern and intensified when I resumed work from maternity leave in September 2018. He became persistent and resorted to sending me unsolicited sexually explicit images and indecent materials with a foreign (UK) number” she indicated.

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The former Legal Adviser & Company Secretary of Rokel Commercial Bank continued that Dr. Gilpin mentioned to her on many occasions that she need to meet him at home and some other social places (to exercise, talk deep, take drinks, etc.) and also told her that they cannot work together if they do not talk deep and be close to each other.

“This persistent act prompted me to start recording him to have audio evidence of his advances; particularly when I realized that he was not relenting” she revealed.

“As a result of my outright refusal to sleep with him, he constantly disrespected my person in so many ways in and outside the office. He started referring my official duties to my assistant when they should be directed to me. He would introduce my assistant to people and institutions as Bank’s Legal Adviser & Company Secretary when I was the substantive head. On many occasions, he even usurped some of my responsibilities thereby executing them himself or giving them to other staff. This was all in line with his motive to strip me of my duties, victimize me and leave me redundant. The working environment became so toxic and uncomfortable that I woke up in the morning and don’t want to go to work. My Husband most times would talk to me and drop me off at work. His harassment got to a point where I was left apprehensive, frail, and psychologically unsteady at work and it was my husband and my assistant that helped me regain my strength. I also confided in a few colleagues and Board Members” Mrs. Davies stated.

Mrs. Margaret A. L. Davies elucidated that she informed the Board Chairman about Dr. Gilpin’s behavior towards her as the Bank has no policy, no internal mechanisms, or grievance procedures on sexual and other workplace harassment.

She added that the Chairman was taking offense in her bringing up such a discussion, as she was expecting the Chairman to investigate the complaint to settle the matter in-house; instead, the Chairman persistently condoned Dr. Gilpin’s acts against her amidst several letters directly written to him. The Chairman even failed to execute instructions from the Bank of Sierra Leone and has been influencing some Board Members to take sides and join him in support of Dr. Gilpin’s acts.

“In all of these happenings, I had informed the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) seeking protection from them especially when I realized that the Board Chairman was not ready to address the issue. The BSL wrote two letters in which I was copied instructing the Board Chairman to take action against Dr. Gilpin but the Chairman on all occasions refused to adhere to the BSL’s instructions. The Chairman continued to protect Mr. Gilpin, who is the harasser and who any normal or responsible Board should have suspended pending the outcome of the investigation of such criminal allegation, I feel disadvantaged, deprived, victimized, and unfairly treated and as a result, I have suffered depression, anxiety, isolation and recently a miscarriage,” Mrs. Davies stated.

The former Legal Adviser & Company Secretary of Rokel Commercial Bank Clarified that she is interested in not only bringing her harasser (Dr. Gilpin) to justice but to fight for the many voiceless and vulnerable women in workplaces who cannot maximize their full potential without being harassed and suppressed by men in positions of authority and who cannot speak out for the fear of retaliation, being victimized and losing their jobs as in her case. She added that as a lawyer she is going to seek redress locally for both sexual harassment and wrongful termination and in the event, the process is tampered with or if she is not satisfied, she will take it further to the ECOWAS Court.

A formal complaint has been filed against the Managing Director of Rokel Commercial Bank, Dr. Walton Ekundayo Gilpin at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters for sexual harassment. Dr. Gilpin is to be interrogated this week by senior CID personnel.