By Truth In Ink | Sidiki Fofana
When President Joseph Nyuma Boakai took the oath of office in January 2024, he stood on the shoulders of history. The oldest democratically elected leader in Liberia’s history, Boakai promised to redeem a country weary of political drama, economic mismanagement, and institutional rot. But two years into his presidency, a performance audit from his own government now points to an inconvenient truth: Boakai’s administration is failing, and not just politically, but functionally.
The government’s own numbers betray the rhetoric. Out of more than 50 ministries, agencies, commissions, and public corporations, only 13 met the benchmark set by the administration’s Presidential Performance Contract, a framework designed to enforce accountability.
This translates to a disappointing 26% institutional success rate, an abysmal record for any government, but especially damning for one that ran on the promise of “experienced and competent leadership.”
Boakai may have meant well. But good intentions do not clean streets, keep lights on, feed families, or provide textbooks for children. In Liberia, intentions without results are indistinguishable from failure.
History’s Warning: Liberia Has Been Here Before: This is not the first time a Liberian president has launched a reform agenda, only to be trapped by the system they vowed to fix. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to her credit, introduced performance contracts and the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program (GEMAP) during her first term.
Though imperfect, these reforms yielded modest gains. The World Bank in its 2010 report praised Liberia’s post-conflict governance as showing “modest but consistent gains in transparency and public sector management.”
Boakai, who served as Sirleaf’s Vice President for 12 years, had the benefit of hindsight and experience. Yet today, key ministries under his leadership, Health, Education, Finance, Public Works, and Water & Sewer, have not only underperformed, they have failed outright, according to the government’s own audit.
This is not just bureaucratic embarrassment; this is a national development crisis.
The Numbers Speak, and They Scream: Consider this:
- Electricity access remains below 30%, despite nearly $400 million in donor investments over the last decade.
- Liberia ranks 177 out of 191 countries on the Human Development Index (UNDP, 2024).
- Over 65% of primary school students in grades 3–6 read below their grade level (MoE Education Census, 2024).
- Maternal mortality remains among the highest in West Africa at 661 deaths per 100,000 live births (WHO, 2023).
These are not numbers on paper. They are lives on the line. And when institutions fail, it is not the ministers who suffer, it’s the market women in Duala, the schoolchildren in Zorzor, the farmers in Grand Kru, and the patients in Buchanan.
As one woman in Monrovia put it: “Government work is like pregnancy, when you do good, it will show. When you do bad, it will also show. They have all failed. Their pregnancy showed.”
You Can’t Use Propaganda to Govern: In a country where public trust is already fragile, the administration’s strategy to “rebrand” through media appearances like Class Reloaded, featuring many of the same underperforming officials, has not helped. As Panelist Isaac Doe rightly observed on Spoon Talk: “You can use propaganda to win, but it cannot be used to govern.
Even Mo Ali, one of the administration’s most visible figures on social media, much like the Managing Director of the Free Port, Sekou H. Dukuly , was noticeably absent from the list of recognized high-performing institutions.
Despite being seen everywhere and constantly spotlighted by online influencers, their omission from the list of top performers served as a stark reminder that showmanship and Facebook presence are not the equivalent of productive performance.
Indeed, the government’s performance audit does not just expose failed institutions, it exposes a failure of leadership. While President Boakai placed non-performing agencies under a “travel ban”, and announced a “Presidential Performance Improvement Plan” (PPIP), critics argue these are cosmetic fixes.
As one panelist on The Closing Argument show pointed out: “Liberians don’t have time for a minister to go to some performance class. Fire them. Replace them. If you keep them, the failure is yours.”
A Government on Borrowed Time: In 2025, Afrobarometer reported that 71% of Liberians believe ruling party leaders prioritize their party over the country, and 63% say partisanship is dividing Liberia more than uniting it. These sentiments are not abstractions; they reflect a dangerous erosion of hope in a nation already exhausted by postwar instability and elite impunity.
Boakai now has four years left. But subtract one year for political distractions ahead of 2029 elections, and subtract another for rebuilding public trust, it leaves two years, at best, to reverse the narrative.
So far, what we see is a president surrounded by loyalists instead of performers, and protected by a narrative machine instead of measurable outcomes.
But the failure is now more than just statistical numbers, real people are voicing their disappointment. And not just the opposition, but those who once championed Boakai’s “Rescue Mission.”
“Sometimes I sit back and ask myself if we were just pawns in a bigger political game,” lamented Amara Konneh, a Unity Party stalwart, in a Facebook post that has since gone viral.
That same sentiment was echoed by Lasana Kanneh, another longtime Rescue Mission believer: “The party we once knew has betrayed its youthful vanguards.”
If he continues to shelter underperformers and prioritize political balance over meritocracy, then he must wear the jacket of failure. Because a 26% success rate is not just a bad grade, it is a national emergency dressed in bureaucratic politeness.
The Verdict Is Already Out There: From the streets of Red Light to the corridors of the Capitol, the murmurs are growing louder: Boakai is failing. The people can see it. The numbers confirm it. And even some of his own allies now whisper it behind closed doors. The President still has time, but not much. History has shown us that governments fail when leaders mistake speeches for service, and intentions for impact.
And Liberia, scarred and struggling, cannot afford another failed government experiment.
Sidiki Fofana holds a Master of Science in Organizational Development and Leadership and a Graduate Certificate in Cybersecurity from Saint Joseph’s University.
He has extensive experience in leadership development, institutional change management, business development, and cybersecurity management As a grassroots political strategist and founder of Truth In Ink Incorporated, Fofana provides in-depth political, economic, and social analysis centered on ethics, governance, and democratic transformation in Liberia.
He can be reached through: WhatsApp +231 77814444 / 881144444 Mobile: 2674037612
Email:sfofana5@mail.dccc.edu
Editorial Disclaimer: Unapologetically Independent. Always Honest.
