{"id":16859,"date":"2024-01-22T15:01:13","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T20:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/liberias-new-president-fails-to-end-inauguration-speech\/22\/01\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-01-22T15:01:13","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T20:01:13","slug":"liberias-new-president-fails-to-end-inauguration-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/liberias-new-president-fails-to-end-inauguration-speech\/22\/01\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberia’s new president fails to end inauguration speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Liberia’s new President Joseph Boakai<\/a><\/span><\/span> failed to reach the end of his speech and had to be helped away from the podium during his swearing-in ceremony.<\/p>\n

Mr Boakai, 79, had been speaking for around 30 minutes at his inauguration ceremony when it became clear that he was having difficulty continuing.<\/p>\n

He failed twice to carry on speaking, and the ceremony was adjourned.<\/p>\n

Some reports suggested that he suffered from heat exhaustion as the temperature reached more than 30C.<\/p>\n

Video footage showed a man fanning papers near Mr Boakai’s face, before he was taken away.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

After he was taken away, new Vice-President Jeremiah Koung spoke to guests and escorted them to the presidential dinner.<\/p>\n

Mr Boakai narrowly defeated the outgoing president, former football star George Weah<\/a><\/span><\/span>, in a run-off election in November.<\/p>\n

Concern about Mr 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”.<\/p>\n

Before he was forced to cut short his speech, Mr Boakai said: “Elections are over, partisanship must give [way] to the forward march of Liberia.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

Mr Boakai was vice-president in Nobel Peace Prize-winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government until 2018, and contested the presidency under the banner of the United Party (UP).<\/p>\n

He defeated Mr Weah by just over 20,000 votes in a run-off election in November.<\/p>\n

Mr Boakai also ran for the presidency in 2017, but lost to Mr Weah, who became Liberia’s young-ever elected president.<\/p>\n

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Liberia’s new President Joseph Boakai failed to reach the end of his speech and had to be helped away from the podium