Liberia new president, Boakai fails to end inauguration speech

Liberia’s newly sworn-in President, Joseph Boakai, faced an unexpected hurdle during his inauguration speech, causing the ceremony to be momentarily halted.

According to BBC, the 79-year-old leader, who had been addressing the nation for approximately 30 minutes, struggled to conclude his remarks.

He failed twice to carry on speaking, and the ceremony was adjourned.

Some reports suggested that he suffered from heat exhaustion as the temperature reached more than 30C.

Video footage showed a man fanning papers near Boakai’s face before he was taken away.

By then, Boakai had already been sworn in as Liberia’s oldest-ever president at the ceremony held at the Capitol Building, the seat of parliament in the capital, Monrovia.

After he was taken away, new Vice-President, Jeremiah Koung spoke to guests and escorted them to the presidential dinner.

Boakai narrowly defeated the outgoing president, former football star George Weah, in a run-off election in November.

Concern about Boakai’s health was a major issue during the election campaign, but he told the BBC that he was in good health and “age should be a blessing to this country.”

Before he was forced to cut short his speech, Boakai said, “Elections are over, partisanship must give [way] to the forward march of Liberia.

“I come to rekindle our hopes,” the new president said, adding that dignity in public service and respecting the rule of law must be restored.

Boakai was vice-president of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government until 2018 and contested the presidency under the banner of the United Party.

He defeated Weah by just over 20,000 votes in a run-off election in November. Weah had since conceded defeat and promised not to run again.

Boakai also ran for the presidency in 2017 but lost to Weah, who became Liberia’s young-ever elected president.