Joseph Boakai was sworn in Monday as Liberia’s president after his election victory over former football star George Weah, with the challenge of tackling poverty and corruption.
The 79-year-old was sworn in for a six-year term after he narrowly beat former Ballon d’Or winner Weah in November’s run-off poll with 50.64 percent of the votes to 49.36 percent.
The investiture ceremony in parliament was attended by Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo and US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Boakai has 40 years of political experience already behind him.
He was vice-president from 2006 to 2018 under Liberia’s first woman president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, before being soundly beaten by Weah in the 2017 election.
The country in West Africa held a peaceful election in November, despite the region having witnessed several military takeovers in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Niger in recent years.
But following years of civil conflict and an Ebola outbreak, the small country of five million people has been beset by corruption, extreme poverty, and a deficient legal system.
Another unresolved issue is impunity for crimes committed during those civil wars.
Boakai aligned himself with local barons during his election campaign, including former warlord Prince Johnson.
In 2017, Johnson, who is well-liked in northeastern Nimba County, supported Weah.
In a video, Johnson was also infamously shown sipping a beer as his men executed former president Samuel Doe by torture.
Jeremiah Koung, one of his colleagues, has been nominated by him to serve as vice president of Boakai. The US has imposed sanctions on Johnson.
Liberians anticipate that Boakai, who made fighting corruption one of his main campaign promises, will fight corruption, strengthen institutions, create jobs, and improve the economy given his lengthy political career.
“There are high expectations for Boakai’s presidency,” former Nimba County official Larry Nyanquoi told AFP.
Boakai is regarded as someone who “has attempted to live the simplest possible life and has not engaged in corruption.”
According to Nyanquoi, Liberians also expect Boakai to maintain a steady supply of water and electricity and to upgrade the country’s road system in order to draw in investment.
The Weah government did not live up to its commitment to ensure the rule of law was upheld, to establish a war and economic crimes court, and to end impunity in the country.
The mysterious deaths of four government auditors also raised suspicions.
“Every leader has promised to crack down on corruption and they have failed, so he has to say something different,” Abdulla Kiatamba, an analysts at Geo Baraka Group of Strategists, said of Boakai.
“They have promised improved economic conditions and they have also failed so he has to say and do something that will be different.”
Boakai now faces the tricky challenge of accommodating all those who supported his election campaign when he starts distributing jobs, analysts say.
He is also believed to have several people in his inner circle with presidential ambitions of their own.
John Kollie, the executive director of Liberia Media for Democratic Initiatives, told AFP that Boakai was expected to drop the prices of basic commodities such as gasoline and rice.
AFP
