Incapable Or Incapacitated?
It has been keenly observed that since President Joseph N. Boakai assumed the helm of power on January 22, 2024 he has not attended any official sub-regional, regional or international engagement; instead, designates a representative to proxy on his behalf, leaving critics to wonder if President Boakai’s action is an indirect manifestation of being unable to handle the presidential task at hand or is his action is driven by other circumstances, such as claims of his incapacity due to acute illness.
President Boakai is 79-year-old, with an alleged heart complication that needs a triple bypass surgery. On the occasion of his inaugural ceremony, he was rushed off the podium after suffering from heat exhaustion, which nearly caused his fainting. The ceremony was cut shot, and the rest is history.
A week later, he returned to the Capitol to give his State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA), in which he shockingly accused former President George M. Weah of lying about the amount he left in the government’s consolidated account, which was later proved that, indeed, he was the one who provided wrong figures in his address.
In addition to the early glitches, President Boakai has engaged in what is being described an “unbecoming posture” of a head of state, failing to attend international engagements that direly require his debut appearances as President of the Republic of Liberia.
President Boakai has vehemently missed out on his debut appearance at the Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), held on February 17—18, 2024. Instead of attending, the Liberian President designated the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sara Baysolow Nyanti, who had gone there to attend the 44th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council (Ministers of Foreign Affairs) on February 14—15, 2024, to represent him.
The AU Assembly of the Head of State and Government is the union’s supreme policy and decision-making organ, comprising of all member state Heads of State and Government, and determines the AU’s policies, establishes its priorities, adopts its annual program and monitors the implementation of its policies and decisions.
Unfortunately for Liberia, President Boakai, who is the crafter of his administration’s development agenda: ARREST (agriculture, road, rehabilitation, education, sanitation and tourism), could not be in attendance to receive his honor as newly elected President of Liberia and to personally push for Liberia’s interest, relying solely on his foreign minister who has been practically out of African politics for several years.
Interestingly, the theme for this year’s summit coincided with one of the pillars of Boakai’s development agenda: education, coined, “Educate an African fit for the 21st Century: Building Resilient Education Systems for Increased Access to Inclusive, Lifelong, Quality, and Relevant Learning in Africa”. Unfortunately, President Boakai was not there to make the case himself.
In early February, President Boakai received an invitation to attend the inaugural ceremony of His Excellency Douye Diri, Governor of Bayelsa State, on February 14, 2024. However, instead of attending in-person, President Boakai sent his Vice President, Jeremiah K. Koung, to represent him at the ceremony.
Bayelsa State is famously called the “Glory of all Lands” and contains Nigeria’s largest gas reservoir or crude deposits. According to information, the state has immense potential in the petroleum industry, agriculture and fishery, and President Boakai’s attendance could have possibly opened doors for partnership and intervention. Unfortunately, Vice President Koung could only speak to his counterpart, Vice President Kashim Shettima and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and could not make his way through to President Bola Ahmed Tinibu.
Amidst the absenteeism at pressing regional and continental issues, President Boakai was recently off to Ghana, where it was said he had gone to meet with his counterpart, H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, on matters of mutual interest to both countries and issues obtaining in the sub-region. But it was embarrassing to later note that President Akufo-Addo had left Ghana the same day of Boakai’s departure to attend a function in Munich, Germany. Whether the Executive Mansion knowingly lied to the Liberian public or was not aware of the Ghanaian President’s trip is an entire discussion for another day, but critics are of the opinion that President Boakai is either unable to handle the task of the presidency or is not being transparent with the electorate about the governance and state of affairs of the country.
A source close to the Presidency, who confided in the Hot Pepper on the basis of anonymity, alleged that President Boakai is acutely ill and needs serious medical attention. According to the source, Boakai’s recent trip to Ghana was not intended to meet with the Ghanaian government, but to give attention to Boakai’s health issue. The source alleged the Executive Mansion’s press release was only a cover-up and not anything serious.
The source further alleged that on Friday, February 16, 2024 Boakai’s health condition worsened to a point where the Executive Mansion instructed the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority (LCAA) to make flight reservation to fly the President out, but it was not successful.
On Sunday, February 18, 2024, it was rumored that President Boakai had been rushed to the ELWA hospital for medical attention, but the Hot Pepper could not independently verify the information.
Meanwhile, the government’s information machinery has refuted the allegation, and termed it as false and misleading. The Hot Pepper was told that President Boakai on Sunday attended the closing ceremony of the Liberia Baptist Missionary & Education Convention, held at Ricks Institute. They called on critics to fact-check their information before accusing the presidency.