George Weah makes appointments — less than 24 hours after inauguration

Liberia’s President George Weah on Tuesday made his first appointments less than 24 hours after his swearing in on Monday.

Seven names made the first batch of appointees, including former senate pro-tempore Gbezohngar Findley, who has been named Minister of foreign affairs.

Findley, according to local media, is a close ally of 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 the then Unity Party (UP), and aligned with Weah, heavily campaigning for him in parts of the country.

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

Daniel Ziankahn was immediately retired as the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and appointed the minister of national defence, 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” of members of the armed forces.

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), Nathaniel McGill as the minister of state for presidential affairs.

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 Charles Gibson as minister of justice, and Sam Mannah as press secretary with immediate effect.

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