Mapping Progress in Liberia: The 2020 Ibrahim Index of African Governance

Mapping Progress in Liberia: The 2020 Ibrahim Index of African Governance 

26 August 2021 | 11:00 AM – 6:30 PM GMT / 12:00 PM – 7:30 PM BST

As the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development continues on its mission to champion women’s ascension to the highest levels of leadership and challenge systemic barriers to girls and women’s advancement, one of its most fundamental tasks is to gather, generate, analyze, and use pertinent data to ensure its programs and the support it provides its women leaders are evidence-based and responsive to the changes within the African governance landscape.

To this end, on 26 August 2021, the EJS Center hosted Mapping Progress in Liberia, a webinar that convened several leaders to discuss and assess Liberia’s past, present, and future governance trajectory, utilizing the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG). The IIAG assesses governance performance in 54 African countries and is the most comprehensive dataset measuring African governance. The results of the 2020 IIAG serve as the most up-to-date baseline of the current challenges facing good governance in Africa. The index assesses governments on their delivery of public goods and services in four categories. Each of these categories served as the theme of one of four panel discussions held throughout the day.

A report on the event highlights some of the most significant points raised during the panel discussions and audience Q&A sessions, showcases statements shared by panelists during their respective sessions, and includes in-depth written contributions from some of the panelists. More information about the panelists and each of the sessions is below.  

1. Security and Rule of Law: 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM GMT / 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM BST

• Moderator: Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin, Vice-President and Professor of Security, Leadership & Development, Kings College London
• Justice  Gloria Musu Scott, Former Chief Justice, Republic of Liberia
•  T. Negbalee Warner, Dean, Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia
• Dr. Yvette Chesson-Wureh, Founder, Angie Brooks International Center
• Major General Prince C. Johnson  III, COS, AFL, Ministry of National Defense, Republic of Liberia

2. Participation, Rights, and Inclusion: 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM GMT / 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM BST

• Moderator: Ambassador Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh, Liberian Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria
•  Kou Dorliae, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Justice, Republic of Liberia
• Ernest Duku Jallah, Social activist and filmmaker, youth activist
• Kula Fofana, President, People’s Foundation Africa
• Hh Zaizay, Executive Director, President’s Young Professionals Program

3. Human Development: 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM GMT / 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM BST

• Moderator: Dr. Olivia Lwabukuna, Tanzanian lawyer and Lecturer in African Laws and Development at SOAS University of London
• Moses  Zinnah, PhD, VP Academic Affairs, University of Liberia
• Romelle A. Horton, PhD, President, Cuttington University
• Mosoka Fallah, PhD, MA, MPH, Public Health Expert, Former Director-General NPHIL
• Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor, Environmentalist and Founder of the Sustainable Development Institute
• Christiana Hena, MD, MPH, Founder, Healthy Women/Healthy Liberia

4. Foundations for Economic Opportunity: 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM GMT / 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM BST

• Moderator: Dr. Aloysius Uche Ordu, Senior Fellow, and Director of the Africa Growth Initiative at the Bookings Institution
•  Boima S. Kamara, Former Minister of Finance of the Republic of Liberia
• Mawine G. Diggs, Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Liberia
• Monie R. Captan, LEC Board Chair; Former CEO, Millenium Challenge Account – Liberia
• Jeanine Cooper, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Liberia

Learn more about each of the panelists below. 

Panel 1: Security and Rule of Law: 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM GMT

Justice Gloria Musu-Scott became Liberia’s second female Chief Justice following Cllr. Frances Johnson- Allison. She was educated at the University in Liberia where she received a bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in Management and a Bachelors degree of Law from the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law. She worked as a Prosecutor at the Ministry of Justice, and in 1991, she was appointed as an Assistant Minister of Justice. She was appointed as Judge for the Monthly and Probate Court in Montserrado County by the President of the Interim Government. She became a Counsellor at law of the Supreme Court Bar in 1992 and started work as a lecturer at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law. In 1996, Cllr. Gloria Musu-Scott was appointed Minister of Justice and served as the Chairman for the Ad Hoc Elections Commission amid the ongoing civil war. Musu-Scott became a member of the Independent Elections Commission, which conducted the 1997 elections in Liberia. Following the 1997 elections and the restoration of the Constitution, Cllr. Scott was then appointed Chief Justice for the Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia, from 1997 until 2003. In 2005, Cllr. Scott became Senator for Maryland County in the General Elections. In 2012, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf appointed her Chairperson of the Constitution Review Committee due to her previous experience in legal action.

Cllr. T. Negbalee Warner is a Liberian lawyer with more than twenty years of experience as a practicing lawyer including thirteen years of teaching law. Cllr. Warner is currently the Dean of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law of the University of Liberia, and the Senior Partner of Heritage Partners & Associates, Inc (HPA) law firm located in Monrovia, Liberia. Dean Warner holds a BSc (Honors) in Economics, an LLB (Honors) from the University of Liberia, as well as an LLM from Cornell Law School. He is also a member of the Liberia National Bar Association and the New York Bar Association.

Cllr. Dr. Yvette Chesson-Wureh is the Establishment Coordinator of the influential Liberian-based Angie Brooks International Centre (ABIC) for Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace, and Security. As an advocate and champion of women’s rights and gender equality, she is best known for initiating the “Women’s Situation Room” (WSR) for the Liberian elections in 2011. WSR enables peaceful, democratic elections led by empowered women through a structure of volunteers, a call center, a team of eminent women leaders, and a pool of experts across the country. Since then, the WSR has been successfully replicated in 7 countries across Africa. She received her Juris Doctorate law degree with honors from the North Carolina Central University School of Law and serves on many US and Liberian boards including the United States Supreme Court Bar, the U.S. Federal District Bar, and the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL).

Major General (Maj/Gen) Prince Charles Johnson, III, is an infantry officer in the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) who has served his country for over fourteen years and is currently serving as Chief of Staff (COS), AFL. Maj/Gen Johnson III has attended several military schools, including the US Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, USA; Infantry Mechanized Company Commander Course (MCCC) in Shijiazaugh Hebei Province, China; Junior Staff Course (JSC), Horton Military Academy, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Infantry Young Officer Course (YOC) at the Nigeria Army School of Infantry in Jaji, Kaduna, Nigeria. Maj/ Gen Johnson III holds a Master of Arts Degree in Peace Studies (MAPS) from the Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation (KAICT), University of Liberia; Post Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Management from the Institute for Public Administration and Management (IPAM) – University of Sierra Leone, Freetown; a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree in Accounting from the United Methodist University. In addition, he has completed the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education for Senior Executives in National and International Security, Harvard University, and both African Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) Seminars in Senior Military leadership and managing Security Resources in Africa, all in the USA. He is married with two sons.

Moderated By

Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin is Vice-President and Vice-Principal International and Professor of Security, Leadership & development at King’s College London. She founded the African Leadership centre (ALC), which aims to build the next generation of African scholars and analysts generating cutting edge knowledge for peace, security and development in Africa. She was Director of the Conflict, Security and Development Group (CSDG) at King’s College London from 2003 to 2013. Prior to this, she worked in the Office of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict.

Olonisakin has positioned her work to serve as a bridge between academia and the worlds of policy and practice. Her most recent research has focused on “Reframing narratives of Peace and State Building in Africa” and on “Future Peace, Society and the State in Africa”. In January 2015, Professor Olonisakin was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, as one of seven members of the Advisory Group of Experts (AGE) on the Review of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture. She was also appointed in 2016 as a member of the Advisory Group of Experts for the UN Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security. She serves on the board of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and Chairs the Africa Regional Advisory Committee of the Open Society Foundation.

The University of Pretoria appointed ‘Funmi Olonisakin as an Extra-Ordinary Professor in the Department of Political Sciences in 2016. In 2018, she was appointed to the Council of the United Nations University.

Panel 2: Participation, Rights, and Inclusion: 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM GMT

Kou Dorliae is a lawyer with 10 years of public service in Liberia.  She is currently the Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Justice and has held previous positions as Assistant Minister for Economic Affairs and Legal Consultant in the Department of Economic Affairs.  She is also an advisor to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Eligibility Unit, which monitors various international governance indicators and proposes policies and programs for improved governance in Liberia. She is a graduate of Drexel University School of Law and is a member of the Liberia National Bar Association and the Pennsylvania State Bar.

Kula Fofana is the President of People’s Foundation Africa, an organization working for marginalized and hard-to-reach communities in Liberia and across Africa. She is also the CEO of MyNewCrib Realty, an emerging real estate and construction company in Liberia. Before co-founding the foundation, Kula served the Liberian government as Assistant Minister for Youth Development; Co-Chaired Liberia’s Vision 2030, and headed the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection Adolescent Girls Division. Kula ran for the Senate in the recently held by-elections in her county of Grand Cape Mount in Western Liberia. Despite not winning the election, she continues to engage her people and provide services for her community. Kula is a candidate for an MSc in Violence, Conflict & Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. She holds a BA in Mass Communications, graduating cum-laude from the African Methodist Episcopal University in Liberia. She is an Amujae Leader.

Ernest Duku Jallah is a social activist, feminist, and aspiring documentary filmmaker. He is also the Deputy Secretary for Programs at the Federation of Liberian Youth. In 2020, he founded Libpedia to use short films, podcasts, and creative writing to advance social causes and create a valuable internet resource on Liberian history, tourism, trailblazers, and to revolutionize journalism in Liberia. He studies economics at the University of Liberia Graduate School.

Hh Zaizay is the Executive Director of the President’s Young Professionals Program (PYPP) – a competitive and prestigious youth development innovation for public-sector leadership that is designed to groom young Liberian college graduates for future leadership in Liberia’s civil service. He joined the PYPP as an inaugural fellow in 2009 and was placed at the Ministry of Gender and Development where he served as Technical Support Staff to the Minister. He later joined the PYPP Management Team in 2013 as Deputy Program Director and excelled to the position of Executive Director in January 2014. Before joining the PYPP, Hh worked with the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa-Liberia – a gender and development and women empowerment focused organization as Executive Director. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Sociology from the United Methodist University and a Master of Arts (MA) in Gender, Peace and Security from the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana. He is an inaugural Obama Africa Leaders Fellow. Passionate about youth and women development empowerment issues, Hh supports several youths, gender equality, and women-led and focused organizations.

Moderated By

Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Liberia to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with concurrent accreditation to the Republics of Benin and Equatorial Guinea, and Liberia’s Permanent Representative to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He served as the Chairman of the ECOWAS Permanent Representative Committee and the Mediation and Security Council of ECOWAS at the Ambassadorial level from 2017 to 2018. He is currently Dean of West African Ambassadors and Deputy Dean of African Ambassadors in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Dr. Conteh is also the Co-Chair of the Board of the Africa Peace Fellows Program at the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution at California State University, Sacramento. Prior to his Ambassadorial assignment, he served as the President and Vice President of the University of Liberia (UL) and Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Conteh has a long history of development work in organizations such as UNFPA, the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution, USAID, the World Bank, and UNDP. Ambassador Conteh is a published author and holds a Ph.D. degree in Regional Science and Demography from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Arts degree in Demography from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Philosophy degree in Demography from the United Nations Cairo Demographic Center, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and Demography from the University of Liberia.

Panel 3: Human Development: 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM GMT

Moderated By

Dr. Lwabukuna is a Tanzanian lawyer and a Lecturer in African Laws and Development at SOAS University of London. She obtained her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Swaziland, Master of Laws from the University of Cape Town and a Doctor of Laws from the University of Pretoria. She has worked for over a decade within professional and academic roles in South Africa, Tanzania, Swaziland, Kenya, Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Olivia is currently a lecturer in the department of Law, SOAS, University of London where she has convened and taught on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules including International Law, Foundations of Human Rights, Legal Systems of Asia and Africa and Law and Development in Africa. She is also an associate editor of the Journal of African Law (Cambridge). Under auspices of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s Rule of Law Program for Sub-Saharan Africa, Olivia has convened  the Annual Regional Workshops on the Rule of Law and Inclusive Development in Africa since 2017. Her research interests lie in the area of law’s interaction with development and migration, specifically within an African regional context. In this respect, she has worked particularly on issues of law, governance and economic development in Africa, internal displacement in Africa, and the wider subject of migration governance in Africa. These research areas straddle fields of human rights law, migration law, international economic law and international development law.

Panel 4: Foundations for Economic Opportunity: 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM GMT

Hon Boima S. Kamara is a Christian and is married to Attorney Nadia S. Kamara. Their union is blessed with 5 children. He is currently an International Consultant of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Sub-Regional Office for West Africa (SRO-WA) based in Niamey, Niger. He is a highly motivated and goal-driven professional with 16 years of public sector experience in macroeconomic management relative to monetary policy formulation and its implementation, and fiscal policy design and execution. He is an academic with training in Financial Economics, Monetary Economics, International Economics, Health Economics, and Advanced Econometrics. Before joining UNECA as a Consultant, he served as Deputy Governor for Economic Policy at the Central Bank of Liberia and Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Republic of Liberia. Mr. Kamara holds 2 Master’s degrees: MPhil Economics from the University of Ghana and Master of Science (MSc.) in Applied Economics with a concentration in Financial Economics from Johns Hopkins University, USA.

Hon. Mawine G. Diggs is the Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Liberia, with many years of service both at the national and international levels. Before she was appointed the Minister of Commerce & Industry, Minister Diggs served as Deputy Minister for Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a post where Madam Diggs served as head of administration, ensuring adherence to organizational culture and compliance with employment or placements of diplomatic staff, amongst others. Madam Diggs served as Acting Minister and Special Presidential Envoy on behalf of the President of the Republic of Liberia, H.E. George M. Weah.  She was also Director-General of the National Commission on Higher Education, where she was responsible for making sure universities, colleges, and other higher institutions of learning were accredited and in compliance with appropriate standards and regulations. Before her Presidential Appointments, Madam Diggs served as President and CAO, Eastern Campus, Wayne Community College District, Detroit Michigan. Minister Diggs holds a BA in Environmental Policy, Roanoke College, Salem, VA; a Masters of Education, Clemson University, specialization: Counselor Education, and is working on a Ph.D. (Higher Education Leadership) at the National American University.

Monie R. Captan obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of San Diego in San Diego, California in 1985 and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the same university in 1987. Currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at the IBB School of International Relations, Mr. Captan has a wealth of experience across national, regional, and international organizations. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs,  Minister of State for Presidential Affairs,  Head of the Central Planning Unit of the Ministry of Transport.  He was the President of the Liberia Chamber of Commerce from leading advocacy on issues related to labor, taxation, commercial, trade, and investment policies, energy, regulatory reforms, and Public-Private Partnerships. In the private sector, Mr. Captan owned and operated several businesses.  He continues to serve as an ex officio member of the Executive Committee of the Liberia Chamber of Commerce and most recently, served as CEO of the Millennium Challenge Account Liberia. He is the author of An Introduction to Liberian Government and Political System, and co-author of the Liberia Economic Constraints Analysis.

Hon. Jeanine Cooper founded FABRAR Liberia in 2009 and managed the company until her 2020 appointment as Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Liberia. From a micro-milling operation, purchasing rice from smallholder farmers, FABRAR has grown to be Liberia’s largest rice producer, supplying school-feeding and other institutional contracts, as well as supermarkets and retailers. Before moving home to Liberia to run FABRAR, Hon. Cooper served 13 years with the United Nations. She served as the Permanent Observer to the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa and Head of the Liaison Office for the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Hon. Cooper also held postings with the UN-OCHA in Kenya and the Eastern and Southern Africa region. Hon. Cooper has also supported community-initiated agricultural projects and served on the board of directors of developmental bodies and educational institutions in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.  She graduated from Michigan State University in 1982 and has an MSc in Managing Rural Change from the University of London, Imperial College at Wye, earning distinction for her dissertation in 2003. She has completed several certificate courses on business and entrepreneurship.

Moderated By

Dr. Aloysius Uche Ordu is a senior fellow and director of the Brookings Institution’s Africa Growth Initiative in the Global Economy and Development program. Prior to taking up his appointment at Brookings, he was managing partner at Omapu Associates LLC, a boutique advisory services and consulting firm. Ordu was previously vice president at the African Development Bank. Before his appointment as vice president, he was regional director for Eastern Africa (covering Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, and Uganda). He also worked at the World Bank for over 22 years and served in various leadership and managerial capacities, including director of operations policy and country services; operations director for the Latin America and the Caribbean region; country manager (Manila, Philippines); manager, development effectiveness, Middle East and North Africa region; and manager, Young Professionals Program. He led the design of investment projects in diverse sectors, including urban water and sanitation, agriculture, irrigation and rural development, energy, and transport infrastructure.

Event Host

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation