The remains of the former Minister of Education, Dr. Joseph Korto, has returned to Liberia on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 and was taken to his residence for a night of wake-keeping. Dr. Korto’s body will be laid to rest on Saturday, November 21, 2020 in Sanniquellie, Nimba County. Official wake-keeping will be held tonight at the Administrative Hall in Sanniquellie.
Dr. Korto was a politician and member of the Liberia Equal Rights Party (LERP). He was born in Barpa, Nimba County, Liberia. He was Minister of Education in Liberia from 2006-2010 and was replaced by E. Othello Gongar, former Minister of Education during the regime of late President Samuel Kanyon Doe. Dr. Korto served as Education Minister from 2006 to 2010 during the former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf regime. He was born in 1949 in Nimba and died June 21, 2020 in Newark, Delaware, United States of America.
Running as the LERP (Liberian Equal Rights Party) presidential candidate in the 11 October 2005 elections, Korto placed seventh out of 22 candidates, receiving 3.3% of the vote nationally and the highest vote total in Nimba County, his home base.
After his loss in the first round of voting, he endorsed candidate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for the second round vote against football star George Weah. Johnson-Sirleaf went on to win the election, with Korto’s support being viewed as an important factor in her victory, and she appointed Korto to her cabinet as Minister of Education shortly after she took office in January 2006. Korto had a background as a teacher and held a doctorate in education from the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.
Dr. Korto’s LERP got delisted as political party in Liberia after his failure to pay rent for the party headquarters and maintain the party bank account active.