Verity News has been hinted about a high possibility that President Joseph Boakai is considering the nomination of African Development Bank (AfDP) Boss in Uganda as Liberia’s next Finance Minister.
Augustine Ngafuan appointment as Next Finance Minister which is possibly to be pronouced comes barely a week after former Finance Minister, Mr. Boima Kamara, tendered his resignation attributing it to health issues.
President Joseph Boakai appointed an Acting Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) while desiring to get a new Minister.
In an official Executive Mansion release dated Friday, July 12, 2024, President Boakai named Mr. Anthony Myers as Acting Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
Amid delayed disbursements to spending entities and rising prices despite increased revenue collection for quarter one of fiscal year 2024, Mr. Myers who currently serves as the Deputy Minister for Fiscal Affairs will now act following the leadership vacuum created at the fiscal house of Liberia.
Temporarily, President Boakai has implored Acting Finance Minister Myers, to ensure the stability of the economy and strive to put Liberia on a sustained path of growth, development, and prosperity while at the same time demonstrating integrity, diligence, commitment, professionalism, and loyalty in service to the country.
As the hunt for former Minister Boima Kamara’s successor takes center stage, political pundits including some Lawmakers on Capitol Hill believe that any delay in the appointment of a new Finance Minister could potentially lead to the disruption of economic activities especially ahead of Liberia’s much-heralded Independence Day Celebrations.
A few names, including former Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan, Former Auditor General John Morlu, and Boakai’s economic advisor Molley Kamara, have been rumored as possible successors of Mr. Boima Kamara.
But an inside source from the Executive Mansion confiding in Verity News has confirmed that a decision has been reached to pick the current Country Manager of the African Development Bank Group in Uganda, Mr. Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan.
Our source narrated that President Boakai has called on Mr. Ngafuan, a former Foreign Minister and a former Finance Minister, to return home and help drive his economic agenda for Liberia’s growth, development, and prosperity.
“The President has expressed full confidence and trust in Ngafuan’s ability to turn things around due to his past performance in public service,” the source who prefers anonymity narrated.
It can be recalled that the possible pick for Finance Minister, Mr. Augustine Ngafuan, led scores of financial and economic reforms when he served as Minister of Finance from August 2008 to February 2012.
Some of his accomplishments include the initiation and passage of the 2009 Public Financial Management Law, the Internal Audit Agency, the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS) intended to automate government processes, the Direct Deposit Account Scheme for civil servants, Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative canceling over 4.6 billion USD in debt, the 60 million USD Ministerial Complex, the 50 million USD Japanese Freeway among others.
With the mixture of financial, economic, and diplomatic experience and qualifications of Mr. Augustine Ngafuan, It is reported by our source that President Boakai hopes that tangible economic results could become the outcome of his looming appointment of Mr. Ngafuan in the short run.
As speculations of who becomes Liberia’s next Finance Minister upsurge, all eyes are on President Boakai to fill this important vacuum sooner rather than later because the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning is the lifeline of the economy – a lot is dependent on it.
