MONROVIA – Few charges cut deeper in Liberia than favoritism by tribe and county. Liberia’s history has made it so. Moses D. Sandy once led the Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA). He now levels that charge at President Joseph Nyuma Boakai. He names more than a dozen ministries and agencies he says are led by Lofians, chiefly Gbandi and Kissi. He invokes 1980 and 1989 as warnings, not footnotes. He also turns the Unity Party’s (UP) own campaign rhetoric against the ruling party. His list still awaits independent verification and a government response. As THE ANALYST reports, the 2029 race may already be quietly forming around who gets a seat at the table.
NEW CASTLE, Delaware, USA – The former National President of the Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA), Moses D. Sandy, says President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s uneven appointments of several Liberians, mainly people from Lofa County, to high-profile positions in the Liberian government are divisive and unwarranted.
Sandy said people hailing from Lofa County, especially those from the Gbandi and Kissi tribes, and relatives of Boakai are not the only educated and qualified Liberians who deserve prominent political appointments in the Unity Party (UP)-led government.
The US-based Liberian journalist stated that Lofians, mainly people from the Gbandi and Kissi tribes and relatives of the President, don’t own Liberia, and they should not be given the most lucrative jobs in government whenever Boakai makes political appointments.
Sandy said he acknowledges and accepts that Lofians are Liberians and that they are educated and experienced in public service; however, that doesn’t give them the right of exclusivity to high-profile jobs in the Boakai administration.
Sandy Names Ministries and Agencies
He said all Liberians have the right to benefit from the resources of the country, including political appointments.
In a press release issued on November 2, 2026, the ALJA National President emeritus named the Ministries of Commerce, Local Government, Finance and Development Planning, and Education, the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), Liberia Immigration Service (LIS), Civil Service Agency (CSA), and the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) as some of the key ministries and agencies of government that are led by people from the Gbandi and Kissi tribes in Lofa County.
According to Sandy, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and the heads of the Yellow Machines Board of Authority (YMBOA), Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC), General Services Agency (GSA), and the Ministry of Health are Liberians with ties to Lofa County. Sandy said Boakai’s preferential selection of people from the Kissi and Gbandi tribes hailing from Lofa County when making appointments doesn’t represent inclusivity in government.
He termed the President’s action ill-advised. He said such behavior has the propensity to polarize Liberians and drive a wedge among the people. Sandy said Boakai’s action inadvertently puts Liberia on the path of systemic instability, social unrest, and political upheaval.
History’s Warnings: 1980 and 1989
The ALJA National President emeritus recalled that on April 12, 1980, a group of soldiers of the AFL, then under the leadership of the late Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, dethroned the government of the late President William R. Tolbert because the administration marginalized native Liberians through the uneven distribution of political power.
He said, “The people felt ostracized as a result of the disproportionate representation of Americo-Liberians and relatives of former President Tolbert in positions of trust in his government.”
He also recalled that on December 24, 1989, the defunct National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) of former rebel leader Charles Taylor launched a civil war against the Samuel K. Doe administration. Taylor and the NPFL accused the late President Doe of bad governance, which included the uneven appointments of Krahn people to positions of trust in the Doe administration.
The December 24, 1989, civil uprising was followed by successive civil wars that lasted for 14 years. The civil wars reportedly claimed more than 250,000 human lives and millions of US dollars’ worth of property.
Sandy Accuses Boakai of Hypocrisy
He reminded Boakai that on January 22, 2024, when he was inaugurated as Liberia’s 26th President, he declared, “This will not be business as usual.” However, Sandy said the President’s brazen practice of tribalism when making high-profile political appointments in government is a paradox of that statement.
The ALJA National President emeritus said that in 2023, when then presidential hopeful Boakai and the UP campaigned for the Liberian presidency, they accused former President George Weah and other former Liberian presidents of practicing nepotism, regionalism, tribalism, and other forms of bad governance when political appointments were made in government, but Boakai is now treading the same path. Sandy said, “This is hypocrisy.”
He maintained: “Mr. President, this is not what the rescue mission is about. You and your people came under the guise of rescuing Liberia from a reported failed leadership that was marred by bad governance, but unfortunately you and your cronies have now gone off track. This is not what the people of Liberia voted you for.”
Warning Over 2029 Re-election Bid
Meanwhile, the ALJA National President emeritus is calling on Boakai and his cronies to rethink how political appointments in the UP-led government are made. He said, “President Boakai and the UP risk losing the 2029 presidential re-election bid if they don’t change for the better.”
He said Lofa County is a subset of Liberia, and the county can’t give Boakai and the UP a second term when Liberians from other counties and regions of the country feel marginalized and unappreciated by the ruling government.
He warned, “Mr. President, you can build all the roads, bridges, schools, and hospitals in Liberia, but if the people become displeased as a result of marginalization or under representation in your government, they will vote against your administration in 2029.”
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