He won power by promising to end corruption – but try telling that to the people who want him to just hand out jobs.
“A lot of people come into government believing they are there to enrich themselves,” says Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai.
“They don’t understand what public service is about.”
In the three months since he defeated President George Weah and took the reins, Mr Boakai says he has been “very selective” about who he brings along with him because he blames corruption ‘”for all the crises we’ve had”.
The 79-year-old is a former vice-president but does not hail from a political dynasty.
I never really had a childhood,”
Africa Daily in a wide-ranging interview. “My ambition was just to live a normal life”.
As one of five sons born to a disabled, poor mother and an absent father, he went on to work as a school janitor and rubber tapper.
It was gruelling work – causing him pain because he didn’t realise he was meant to carry rubber on his shoulders instead of his head – but it gave him the grit a politician needs,
Those early jobs paid for two pairs of smart trousers, two shirts and a one-way ticket to the capital city of Monrovia.
After gaining a place at the city’s College of West Africa, he could only see his mother one week each year as he had to work within the college to pay for his tuition and upkeep.