Liberia’s President, George Weah, makes cabinet appointments

By NAN

Less than 24 hours after his inauguration, Liberia’s President George Weah, announced seven appointments, including that of former Senate Pro-Tempore Gbezohngar Findley, as Foreign Affairs Minister.

Findley, according to local media, is close to immediate past President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and staunchly supported Vice President Joseph Boakai at the initial stage of the campaign period.

He reportedly dumped Boakai, who ran for the presidency on the platform of then Unity Party (UP), and aligned with Weah, heavily campaigning for him.

This fuelled speculations that Weah was receiving support from former President Johnson-Sirleaf, who was recently expelled by the UP for anti-party activities.

Maj.-Gen. Daniel Ziankahn was immediately retired as the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and appointed the Minister of National Defense, subject to Senate confirmation.

Ziankahn replaces Brownie Samukai at the defence ministry, which is in the middle of an alleged wasteful spending of “welfare and supplementary pension benefits” members of the Armed Forces.

Brig. Gen. Prince Johnson takes over from Ziankahn as the new Chief of Staff of the AFL.

Weah named Chairman of the now ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), Mr Nathaniel McGill, as the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs.

Mr. Samuel Tweh, a long-time member of the CDC, is to serve as Minister of Finance and Development Planning.

Until his appointment, Tweh worked as an economic consultant at the Millennium Challenge Corporation under the Ministry of Finance.

The president appointed Mr Charles Gibson as Minister of Justice, and Mr Sam Mannah as Press Secretary.

All the appointments were with immediate effect.

Weah has directed that the heads of other government ministries and agencies remain in place until further notice.

Meanwhile, some Liberians have urged the new president to honour his promise of holding government officials accountable to the people.