Joseph Boakai was sworn in today as Liberia’s president after his election victory over former football star George Weah, coming to the table with focus on tackling poverty and corruption. He failed to reach the end of his speech and had to be helped away from the podium during his swearing-in ceremony.
The 79-year-old was sworn in for a six-year term after he narrowly beat former Ballon d’Or winner Weah in November’s run-off poll with 50.64 percent of the votes to 49.36 percent.
The swearing -in ceremony in parliament was attended by Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo and US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Boakai has 40 years of political experience already behind him.
He was vice-president from 2006 to 2018 under Liberia’s first woman president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, before being soundly beaten by Weah in the 2017 election.
Mr Boakai, 79, had been speaking for around 30 minutes at his inauguration ceremony when it became clear that he was having difficulty continuing.
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 Mr Boakai’s face, before he was taken away.
By then, Mr 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.
Some reports suggested that he suffered from heat exhaustion as the temperature reached more than 30C.
Video footage showed a man fanning papers near Mr Boakai’s face, before he was taken away.
By then, Mr 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.
