-Weah retains Police Chief and 4 other Sirleaf officials
Hours after being sworn in as President, the new Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) George Manneh Weah has retired the army Chief of Staff, Major Gen. Daniel Ziahnkan and named him the country’s new Defense Minister, says a press release from the Presidency issued Monday evening.
In Gen. Ziahnkan’s place, the new Liberian leader has appointed AFL’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Brig. General Prince C. Johnson as Chief of Staff.
“The Commander in Chief of the Arm Forces of Liberia, H.E. President George Manneh Weah has retired with immediate effect the Chief of Staff of the Arm Forces of Liberia, Major General Daniel Ziahnkan; and is hereby appointed as Minister of National Defense subject to confirmation by the Liberian Senate. Deputy Chief of Staff, Brig. General Prince Charles Johnson III, is hereby appointed Chief of Staff of the Arm Forces of Liberia with immediate effect with the rank of Major General, pending confirmation by the Liberian Senate,” the release says.
Others appointed pending Senate nomination are: the Chairman of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), Nathaniel McGee as Minister of State for Presidential Affairs; Samuel Tweh, a former official at the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, Minister of Finance and Development Planning; former Senate President Pro Tempore, Gbehzongar Findley as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Cllr. Charles Gibson, Minister of Justice.
The Liberian Chief Executive has also appointed, Sam Manneh as Presidential Press Secretary.
Meanwhile, President Weah has also directed five top officials of the former Ellen Johnson Sirleaf government remain in their posts until further notice.
They are the Minister of Information, Len Eugene Nagbe, Education Minister George K. Werner, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Varney Sirleaf, the Inspector General of the Liberia National Police, Gregory Coleman, and the Director of General Services Agency, Mary Broh.
“All other Ministries and Public Corporations will be supervised by the Director of Human Resource of those entities until further notice” the press release from the Presidency says.