Boakai Brings Back Sirleaf’s Corrupt Officials To Gov’t; Another Six Years Of Corruption & Bigotry? P-1

Today marks exactly one working week since His Excellency Ambassador Joseph Nyuma Boakai ascended to the helm of power, making his debut moves, statements and appointments as President of the Republic of Libera.

Since his inauguration on Monday, January 22, 2024, the office of President Boakai has released three separate lists of nominations of individuals who are to serve in public positions of trust and wield Boakai’s development agenda to success.

The first list named Boima Kamara as Minister of Finance and Development Planning; Sylvester M. Grigsby as Minister of State for Presidential Affairs; Samuel Kofi Woods as National Security Advisor; Gregory Coleman as Inspector General of Police; and Sam Gaye as Director of the Executive Protection Service (EPS).

The second list of nominees named Sara Beysolow Nyanti as Minister of Foreign Affairs; Dr. J. Alexander Nuetah as Minister of Agriculture; Amin Modad as Minister of Commerce and Industry; Dr. Jarso Jallah Saygbe as Minister of Education; Dr. Louise Kpoto as Minister of Health, Dorbor Jallah as Commissioner General of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA); and Abraham Kromah as Director General of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA).

The third list named only Kula V. Fofana as Presidential Press Secretary.

President Boakai and the Unity Party (UP) Alliance were elected on the platform of “AREST”, which prioritizes agriculture, road, education, sanitation and tourism. Their campaign promises also assured that government would pay key attention to the development of youth, fight against corruption, strengthening of the rule of law and the elimination of drug and crime.

Towards this effect, President Boakai has begun nominating, for subsequent confirmation, whom he believes will help to shoulder his administration’s development agenda. However, with Boakai’s first three lists of nominations, stakeholders and the public are beginning to express concern about the actualization of the “new” development agenda with these appointees, many of whom served in the same capacity they are about to serve during the corrupt Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf administration.

The first list of nominees brought back to public governance some of the worse appointees of the Sirleaf administration.

Sam Gaye served as Director of the Executive Protection Service (EPS) during the last years of Sirleaf’s second term. During his days at the EPS, Gaye was accused of murdering his neighbor with his assigned pistol, illegally dismissing EPS agents who would not cooperate with his alleged financial malpractices, and so on.

The Hot Pepper recalls a case in 2016 when agents of the EPS, including Josephine Santy, under Sam Gaye’s leadership, attacked a US trained bio-physician and medical researcher, Dr. John N. Zemou, and his family. During the attack, the doctor’s wife, over seven months pregnant, was hit on her stomach, leading to premature surgical delivery. The matter was reached to Director Gaye but he did nothing to reprimand the officer or even attend to the wounded pregnant woman.

Currently, Dr. Zemou and his family are in exile for fear that their lives are not safe.

Bringing back Sam Gaye to the EPS could be described as a dangerous move and a threat to some agents who served under his watch but were not on terms with him, and this could cause further chaos for the EPS, who are now under mandate to provide protection for the 79-year-old President.

Samuel Kofi Woods served as Minister of Labor from 2006 to 2009 and later became Minister of Public Works. Kofi Woods is documented by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) for several misappropriation of funds, which amounts to corruption and financial malpractice. John Morlu, who served as GAC boss during that time, described the Sirleaf administration as three times more corrupt than the Gyude Bryant transitional administration, which treated corruption as normality.

Sylvester Grigsby, now Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, served in the same capacity from November 2016 to January 2018. During these years, US$12 million was budgeted each year for the renovation of the Executive Mansion, which the Minister Grigsby oversaw. However, Grigsby and the UP administration are yet to account for the Executive Mansion renovation funds, as the Weah administration had to undergo the constrains to give the Mansion a facelift.

Grigsby is back in the same capacity under the Boakai administration, and it is obvious nothing will be new to him as it regards the running of the office and starting from where he left in 2018.

With all these former officials back in government, and relatively in the same capacity, Liberians cannot hope for much positive changes; instead, a retrogression into vicious corruption, bigotry and impunity. To be continued.