Joseph Boakai has been sworn in as Liberia’s president on Monday following 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.
November’s poll in the West African country was peaceful in a region that has seen a succession of military coups in recent years in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger.
But the small nation of five million has been plagued with corruption, high levels of poverty and a weak justice system, after years of civil war and an Ebola outbreak.
Impunity related to crimes committed during those civil wars is another unresolved issue.
