Liberia: Boakai Starting Team

President Joseph Boakai has completed the formation of his main cabinet after nearly one month of internal party unrest and fallout over the appointment of people to serve his administration for the six-year period end 2029.

There have been concerns of age-old nepotism and cronyism regarding the overall makeup of the cabinet.

The assembling of the government puts the administration on wheels to deliver on promises made to voters during the 3023 presidential campaign. There is nothing much to show for the first 30-day in office.

Cabinet Task

“We will act in the first hundred days of our Administration, and then diligently pursue our rescue mission,” the President said on inauguration day.

“Our vision, dubbed ARREST (Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation, Tourism), defines the development path we set for our people. We must and will harness opportunities in agriculture, roads, and other infrastructure development; improve the rule of law, rethink the education sector, improve sanitation, and unlock the potential of tourism.

“We believe the economic linkages these will create and their reinforcement of each other in meeting our developmental goals will help arrest and reverse years of economic downturn.

Agriculture must be the key driver of our economy and potentially of national development. As a major source of employment in the country, agriculture provides over 50 percent of our population with livelihood and contributes substantially to the country’s GDP.

It is our long-held view that, more than any other sector, agriculture is the most critical catalyst to drive growth in an agro-based economy like ours, create employment and ensure food security.

It is our goal to leverage our comparative advantage in agriculture including the provision of incentives and application of appropriate technology, as well as key interventions across the value chain such as food processing, storage, marketing, and trading.

“I believe our strategy for improving agriculture will help with food self-sufficiency, boost economic transformation, and reduce poverty.

“The poor state of our roads has undermined development and reduced the quality of life of citizens. This is indeed a major contributor to rural neglect in the country.

This is why we view the building of good roads as a critical intervention in infrastructure improvement for economic growth and national development. Our development agenda and the critical areas we want to address for economic growth cannot be realized without the appropriate investment in road connectivity and other infrastructure developments.

“We plan to invest in roads to connect our people, improve agriculture, commerce and industry, education, promote tourism, and provide needed social services such as quality health care delivery for our people.

“Enforcing the rule of law and public safety is vital to the ARREST agenda for overall national development. Our government pledges to improve transparency, accountability, and openness to promote good governance.

In addition, access to justice to preserve social, economic, and political rights and freedoms and long-term stability in the country will be a top priority of our government.