International Courant
On Monday, January 22, Liberia swore in Joseph Boakai as its new president. Boakai, whose critics name “Sleepy Joe,” had gained 50.64% to 49.36% over George Weah, the previous soccer star, in November’s runoff election. The victory was controversial as a result of he obtained assist from a former insurgent commander, Prince Johnson. There’s a well-known video from 1990 of Johnson ingesting a beer whereas his males tortured former President Samuel Doe to dying. However that is not the entire drama.
Boakai is now the nation’s oldest sitting head of state. And there are issues about his health to control. The tag ‘sleepy’ has loads to do with this concern. It appears he has a behavior of falling asleep throughout public gatherings. Nevertheless, his aides have denied this, saying his small eyes and drooping eyelids give this impression. To enhance his picture, Boakai typically wore darkish shades throughout his campaigns.
Throughout his swearing-in, Boakai once more introduced up his health points. He paused throughout his speech and appeared unhappy, and aides rushed to fan him. A couple of minutes later he continued, however stopped once more. This time, assistants helped him stroll away from the stage, and the ceremony ended abruptly. The presidency mentioned Boakai suffered from warmth exhaustion throughout an out of doors ceremony. However medical doctors had since mentioned he was “positive”, including that “he has resumed regular actions.”
Out with the outdated, in with the older?
Boakai misplaced the earlier elections to Weah, and the previous Ballon d’Or winner turned the nation’s youngest elected chief on the age of 51. Now the tables have turned as public goodwill in direction of Weah waned as he neared the top of his six-year time period. Critics accused him of failing to ship on marketing campaign guarantees to revive Liberia’s ailing financial system, root out corruption and guarantee justice for victims of the nation’s successive civil wars between 1989 and 2003. Transparency Worldwide ranks Liberia 142 out of 180 on the Corruption Perceptions Index. The mysterious deaths of 4 authorities accountants additionally aroused suspicion.
The nationwide debt rose below Weah’s rule to approx $2.03 billion – greater than 50% of GDP – by the top of December 2022. Liberia additionally turned one of many African nations with the bottom international reserves. So the large query is whether or not Boakai’s tenure can be higher.
The draw back of Boakai’s issues about his age is that he has forty years of political expertise behind him. He served as vice chairman from 2006 to 2018 below Liberia’s first feminine president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, earlier than shedding to Weah within the 2017 elections.
Nevertheless, his age is just not the one concern. Boakai’s new friendship with Prince Johnson got here at a worth: Johnson received to decide on the vice chairman. He nominated Jeremiah Koung, a 45-year-old who went from avenue vendor to businessman and lawmaker. Jeremiah Koung comes from the Motion for Reconstruction and Democracy (MRD) occasion, led by Prince Johnson. As a result of Koung is way youthful, many appear to consider he may cowl up the shortcomings in bringing concerning the speedy adjustments the Liberian financial system wants. However solely time will inform if that would be the case.
Joseph Boakai: Can Liberia’s ‘sleepy’ new president shake up the financial system?
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