Seventy-nine-year-old Joseph Boakai took office as the new President of Liberia vowing to
fight corruption, revive the economy and addressing the growing cost of living the West African nation of
5.5 million people.
Boakai says his secret oath o f office making a peaceful transfer of power is celebration of a new democratic dispensation.
This is clarion call for a new Liberia. A Liberia that adheres to the rule of law, he said.
“I come with rekindled hope. I have come to rekindle your Hope.
“Let us restore the years the locusts have eaten.”
Boakai, who served as deputy to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf between 2006 – 2018 capitalized on widespread
anti-Weah sentiment to build support, said he will improve the nation’s infrastructure and increase farmoutput.
“Our agenda sets broad goals for economic development, sustained growth and increased productivity “
Weah, the 57-year-old former AC Milan striker and FIFA World Player of the Year, narrowly lost the Nov.
2023 presidential runoff vote narrowly to Boakai, nearly six years after comfortably defeating the political
vetern in a 2017 runoff to win his first six-year term. But rising fuel and food prices, as well as corruption
scandals connected with his administration, eroded his support.
Fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed Liberian inflation to 12.4% in June, the highest in more
than two years, before it eased to 11.7% in August.
Liberia ranks at 142nd out of 180 nations on advocacy group Transparency International’s annual
corruption perceptions index. Last year, Weah accepted the resignations of three top officials after the US
Treasury imposed sanctions on them for their involvement in bribery and diversion of public funds.
Between 2020-2023 Treasury had sanctioned nine Weah’s allies in Cabinet and Senate.
The country is struggling to recover from two civil wars that ended two decades ago and its worst ever
outbreak of Ebola that peaked in 2014. Per-capita income remains about a third of the level prior to the
two civil wars between 1989 and 2003 and only about 7% of roads
