MONROVIA — Stephen Marka Yekeson is returning to the Liberian government more than a decade after his name surfaced in one of the country’s most closely watched public-sector asset-verification exercises, bringing renewed attention to financial questions raised about him during his previous government service.
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has appointed Yekeson as Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, replacing Magdalene E. Dagoseh, who is being reassigned. The appointment was announced Friday, September 11, as part of a broader reshuffling of the Boakai administration.
The appointment places Yekeson at the head of a ministry with direct responsibility for Liberia’s commercial environment, trade, business development and private-sector interests.
But his return to government also revives a record that includes unresolved questions raised during a 2013 Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission asset-declaration verification exercise and a separate procurement concern identified by the General Auditing Commission.
The financial controversy dates back to 2013, when Yekeson was serving as Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Public Works under former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The LACC conducted a verification exercise involving the asset declarations of 63 officials drawn from seven government institutions. The Commission said the exercise was intended to determine whether public officials’ declared assets and financial information were consistent with their lawful sources of income.
Yekeson’s name appeared in the LACC report among eight officials whose verification processes could not be completed within the reporting period because outstanding issues remained unresolved.
That classification is important.
The report did not place Yekeson in the group of four officials whose verification had been completed and against whom the Commission said it had formally joined issues for misrepresentation or unexplained wealth accumulation. Instead, he was listed in Group III, comprising officials whose verification processes remained incomplete because of outstanding matters.
Yet the financial questions surrounding Yekeson were publicly reported at the time.
In an October 2013 interview with VOA, then-LACC Chairperson Frances Johnson-Morris said the Commission had identified deposits totaling US$305,590 in three separate bank accounts associated with Yekeson.
VOA reported that Yekeson’s official monthly salary at the time was L$14,137.50, alongside a special allowance of approximately US$2,250.
Johnson-Morris questioned how an official receiving that level of government compensation could have deposits exceeding US$300,000 over a period of approximately two to three months without providing a satisfactory explanation of the source of the funds.
“We arrived at the description of unexplained wealth on the basis of a person’s lawful income,” Johnson-Morris was quoted as saying.
The exact amount has been reported differently in secondary accounts, with some publications citing US$303,590 while VOA reported US$305,590. The difference should not obscure the central issue raised at the time, which was the relationship between the deposits and Yekeson’s declared lawful income.
The LACC’s own report also makes clear that its asset-verification exercise was broader than Yekeson alone.
The Commission reviewed officials from the Ministries of Finance, Public Works, Health and Social Welfare and Internal Affairs, as well as the National Port Authority, Liberia Maritime Affairs and the LACC itself.
Thirty officials were ultimately listed as having their declarations verified and certified as truthful, while 18 were classified as officials who did not cooperate with the verification process and eight, including Yekeson, remained unresolved because of outstanding issues.
The report recommended appropriate administrative or legal action against officials who disregarded the verification process, were booked for unexplained wealth accumulation or were found to have intentionally and materially misrepresented information.
But the available 2013 LACC material reviewed for this report does not establish that Yekeson was convicted of corruption or that a court subsequently found him guilty of possessing illicit wealth.
That distinction matters as he now returns to public office.
Yekeson’s appointment also comes at a time when President Boakai is publicly emphasizing discipline, integrity and accountability among government officials.
In the same reshuffle announcement that named Yekeson Acting Commerce Minister, President Boakai suspended Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection Frederick S. Cooper for 60 days without pay over conduct the presidency described as incompatible with his status as a public official.
The President also warned appointed officials to conduct themselves in ways that reflect the standards and values of his administration and said public office is a position of trust.
That message gives Yekeson’s appointment an additional layer of public interest.
The new Acting Commerce Minister is not returning to government as an unknown figure. He brings extensive private-sector experience and has been described by CitiTrust Liberia as a senior executive and business leader with more than 20 years of experience in strategic planning, business development, entrepreneurship, management consultancy and infrastructure development.
South Atlantic Capital Group currently identifies Stephen Yekeson as its Group Chief Executive Officer.
His professional profile therefore presents him as a businessman and experienced executive capable of contributing to the private-sector agenda of the Boakai administration.
But public service demands another standard.
The central question surrounding his appointment is not simply whether Yekeson possesses the business experience required to lead the Commerce Ministry. It is whether the financial questions raised by the country’s anti-corruption institution more than a decade ago were ever fully resolved.
The LACC report shows that his verification remained incomplete because of outstanding issues. Contemporary reporting shows that the Commission publicly questioned the source of more than US$300,000 deposited into accounts associated with him.
Those two pieces of the record make the issue one that cannot simply be erased by the passage of time.
At the same time, responsible reporting requires that the unresolved questions not be converted into a finding that the available record does not establish.
For the Boakai administration, the appointment therefore presents an accountability test.
If Yekeson’s financial history was satisfactorily explained after the 2013 controversy, the public deserves clarity about how the matter was resolved.
If it was never fully resolved, the public deserves to know why an issue identified by the country’s anti-corruption institution remained outstanding and whether any subsequent review was conducted.
And if the government believes Yekeson’s record meets the integrity standards President Boakai has demanded from his appointees, the administration can demonstrate that confidence through transparency.
Yekeson now assumes responsibility for a ministry expected to promote investment, protect businesses, strengthen trade and help create an environment in which Liberians can participate meaningfully in the economy.
That responsibility makes his old financial questions more than a historical footnote.
They are now part of the public record that accompanies his return to government.
