– President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has appointed her son as governor of Liberia’s central bank
– Charles Sirleaf was suspended for failing to declare his assets
– Liberians are unhappy with the appointment
Reports filtering-in suggests that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has appointed her son as interim governor of Liberia’s Central Bank (CBL).
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has made her son governor of the CBL
The CBL confirmed the new appoint on Thursday, February 18, following the resignation of Mill Jones.
Two week ago, Jones resigned his post as CBL governor to enable him to stand for the presidential elections due to take place in 2017.
Charles Sirleaf was made despite previous suspension from the institution for failing to properly declare his assets.
In 2012 he was temporarily suspended on his mother’s orders for breaching declaration rules.
Sirleaf was deputy governor of the bank until his promotion to interim governor on Wednesday, February 17.
It was unclear how long he was expected to remain in the interim governor post or when a permanent replacement would be named.
His appointment has raised fresh allegations of nepotism against Sirleaf following the short-lived appointment of another son, Robert Sirleaf, to the National Oil Company of Liberia.
According to AFP, Robert Sirleaf was forced to resign in 2013 after attracting heavy criticism, and went on unsuccessfully to contest a Senate seat in 2014.
Jefferson Knight, head of human rights monitoring at the influential United Methodist church in Liberia, said he believed Charles Sirleaf was appointed primarily due to his name.
He said: “There are so many Liberians who are qualified for that post, why it is only he who will be elected? This is nepotism.”
“I am sure the president is testing the water and I hope she will do the right thing by appointing another person. Though
we don’t know for how long her son will remain as interim head, this is not smelling good,” Knight added.
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“Liberians spoke against it until Robert resigned. That will also be the case with Charles Sirleaf’s appointment,” the activist said.
The new appointment has sparked an uproar among the masses, with many claiming that President Sirleaf is operating on nepotism.
It would be recalled that Leymah Gbowee, a Nobel Laureate like Sirleaf, resigned as head of Liberia’s reconciliation commission in 2012 accusing President Sirleaf of failing to fight graft.
In a 2013 Transparency International survey, 96 percent of respondents said they felt that Liberia’s lawmakers were corrupt or extremely corrupt, and 77 percent reported paying a police bribe in the last year.
Meanwhile, President Sirleaf was recently in Nigeria where she met with President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Nigerian president who has put so much effort in waging an antigraft war, held talks with his Liberian counterpart regarding ways to strengthen ties between the neighboring countries.
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