Choosing Koung and an Ad Hoc Committee Is a Direct Snub to Ngafuan and the Economic Management Team—Signaling Distrust in Their Ability

Michael T
Jul 30
3 min read

L-R, Vice President Koung and Finance Minister Ngafaun

Appointing Vice President Jeremiah Koung and an improvised ad hoc committee to investigate Liberia’s worsening economy—while deliberately bypassing the statutory Economic Management Team (EMT)—is a dangerous misjudgment by President Joseph Boakai. A political calculation that exposes a vicious disregard for Liberia’s technocratic governance legacy at the exact moment when competence is most urgently required.

The EMT has, since its inception, formed the backbone of Liberia’s postwar recovery and macroeconomic management. It is a high-powered framework headed by seasoned economists, central bankers, fiscal strategists, and development planners. It was the EMT—under both Presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and George Weah—that delivered Liberia’s largest national budgets, supervised sweeping debt relief exceeding $4.6billion, drove double-digit revenue increases, stabilized inflation, and restored donors’ trust. Its institutional triumphs helped pull Liberia from the financial wreckage of war toward global economic reintegration1 2 3.

Today, Liberia’s economy is in deep crisis. From soaring food prices to currency fluctuations and unemployment, ordinary Liberians are increasingly disillusioned—some going days without income or electricity, others being battered by a weakening private sector and crumbling public services4 5 6. Now is not the time for improvisation, political appeasement, or administrative experiments. Liberia desperately needs a steady financial hand, not performative politics dressed in crisis garb.

President Boakai’s decision to pick Koung and replace the EMT with a loosely defined Ad hoc committee is, therefore, not merely puzzling but recklessly dismissive of policy wisdom.

More damningly, it questions whether the President truly understands the fragile state of the economy he governs. By ignoring highly educated, internationally trained minds within the EMT—including Finance Ministry experts, Central Bank economists, and institutional planners—Boakai signals to the nation and its partners that expertise can be sacrificed at the altar of political impression7 4 8.

Crucially, Koung’s maneuvering is not just about national service; it’s also about self-projection. In his quest to assert himself as an indispensable leader on economic matters, Koung sees influential members of the EMT—such as Finance Minister Ngafuan—not only as professional colleagues but as political threats to his own ambitions. By undermining their reputations and positioning himself as the President’s favored problem-solver, Koung believes he can amplify his political credibility and eclipse established technocrats.

This strategy is less about finding real solutions and more about consolidating personal power9.

Jeremiah Koung is not an economist, not a technocrat, and not known for financial integrity. With only a basic bachelor’s degree in business administration (and serious doubts surrounding that credential), Koung is neither equipped to lead economic deliberations nor qualified to scrutinize the work of credentialed economists10 9 11. His rise to political prominence has been marked not by innovation or transparency, but by transactional loyalty, budget gamesmanship, and well-coordinated alliances with questionable power brokers like Prince Y. Johnson10 9.

Put plainly, Koung is a political impressionist: highly skilled at projecting strength but lacking the technical substance to lead any genuine reform. This appointment sends the worst message at the worst time: that in Liberia, technical competence is no longer necessary, institutional memory is disposable, and political impression is worth more than credentials.

It is an insult to professionals at the MFDP, Central Bank, and planning institutions—some of whom have spent decades building the architecture that’s now being sidestepped.

Worse, it raises doubts among international partners who rely on coherence, competence, and predictability in their economic collaborations with Liberia4 6 8.

President Boakai has made a self-inflicted leadership wound—one that risks alienating public trust and making any future economic rescue harder to coordinate. In an era of intense hardship, this kind of political decision is dangerous. When people can’t afford bread, electricity, or transport, appointing a political operator to “study” the economy isn’t a solution. It’s a national affront.

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