Monrovia.Newly-sworn in Liberia President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has made changes in two key ministerial positions as she crafts a cabinet in a process expected to be stretched out over the next week.Four officials - three cabinet ministers and the presidential press secretary - have so far been named in the new government following her inauguration earlier this week.A statement  on Thursday announced changes in the ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs, while the Defence docket remains unchanged.

Mr Augustine Ngafuan, the former Finance minister, takes over the Foreign Affairs ministry while Mr Amara Konneh, the former acting minister for Planning and Economic Affairs has been redeployed to the ministry of Finance. President Sirleaf took oath of office on Monday pledging to fight graft among promises of other major democratic undertakings during her second and final six-year term as Africa’s first female head of state.

With poverty at its peak in a country rich with mineral wealth, Mrs Sirleaf is under immense pressure to raise the standard of living of her people and tackling corruption has been identified as being key to this.

And she appears to be carving her new government with this in mind.All three officials named were praised by the President for their “competence, commitment and integrity” as demonstrated in their record during her first term in office.

Mrs Sirleaf said she nominated Augustine Ngafuan as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Dean of the Cabinet to help “bring to the task the probity in financial management that is so well needed in our Diplomatic Missions, and the negotiating skills that he has so well exhibited that has resulted in a significant reduction in our large external debt, thereby giving us the fiscal space to accelerate the implementation of our development agenda.”

And for Mr Konneh, she said, he had guided the formulation "of our development agenda and has managed the relationship with policies that have resulted in increased levels of development assistance including budgetary support."

She noted that the new Finance minister would also be charged with leading the effort to establish an autonomous Revenue Authority, which is consistent with African countries, and also to provide guidance for a new scheme of integrating the portfolio of Finance and Economic Planning. (NMG)

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