Boakai ousts Liberia’s drug agency bosses as crisis overwhelms government
- Michael T
- Aug 28
- 2 min read
Monrovia, Aug 28 – Liberian President Joseph Boakai has sacked the entire top leadership of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) and installed an interim team drawn from the police and security services — a blunt acknowledgement that his government is losing ground in the fight against drugs.
Anthony K. Souh, the agency’s director general, along with deputies Gwee K. Porkpah and Sebastian Farr, were dismissed with immediate effect, the presidency said in a statement early Thursday. The decision was described as “for administrative reasons” but comes amid mounting public alarm that Liberia’s narcotics epidemic is spiralling out of control.
Boakai named senior officers from the Liberia National Police and the National Security Agency to fill the key posts on an acting basis, with instructions to report directly to the justice minister. He has also ordered a 90‑day review of the LDEA’s mandate and performance, raising the prospect of wider reforms.
“This action is meant to strengthen our national resolve against illicit drugs,” Boakai said, calling trafficking and abuse an “existential threat” to Liberia’s youth.
The shakeup is Boakai’s latest attempt to assert control over agencies accused of weakness and compromise. Drug abuse, long marginalized by policymakers, has exploded into a central political crisis. Synthetic drugs known locally as “kush” have spread through impoverished communities, fuelling crime and addiction.
Critics say the agency was ineffective and occasionally complicit, with traffickers shielded by connections to the security establishment. Boakai’s choice to bring in trusted insiders from the police and NSA may restore discipline, but sceptics warn it risks recycling the same players.
For a president who promised renewal, the ouster of the drug agency’s chiefs is both a signal of urgency and an admission of weakness. Whether the new team can deliver results may define how much authority Boakai can command in the face of Liberia’s most destabilising social crisis.
________________________________________
Get Involved
Do you have additional facts to add to this insight or an opinion you would like to express?
Email Us
Comments