Joseph Boakai

Joseph Nyuma Boakai (born 30 November 1944) is a Liberian politician who has served as the 26th president of Liberia since 2024. He previously served as the 29th vice president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018, under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and as the minister of agriculture from 1983 to 1985. Boakai ran for president in 2017, losing the election to George Weah. He went on to defeat Weah in the 2023 election.

Joseph Boakai was born in the remote village of Worsonga in Foya District, Lofa County, on 30 November 1944, and is from the Kissi ethnic group. He is married to Katumu Boakai and they have four children. Boakai is a Baptist and a deacon of the Effort Baptist Church.

Active in philanthropic efforts, Boakai supervised and personally financed a 7-mile (11.2-kilometer) rural village road construction near Warsonga in Lofa county, Liberia. He also worked with the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY) and the Danish Youth to construct a school for 150 students and clinic for a community of 10 villages. He was active in organizing and fundraising for the rural electrification of Foya Kama in Lofa County, Northern Liberia.

Before serving as vice president, Boakai consulted with several institutions, including serving as Chief Technical Advisor on Agriculture Policy, Ministry of Agriculture. He reviewed and evaluated the Liberian 1986 proposed Green Revolution and FAO World Bank 1986 Agricultural sector Review Document and evaluated AMSCO, Amsterdam Funded training program for projects in Uganda in 1994 and Tanzania in 1996.

He is the owner of LUSU Resource Corporation and co-owner of AGROMACHINES Liberia.

Boakai has served on many boards, including as chairman of Liberia Finance and Trust Corporation, chairman of the board of Star Radio, founding member of LOIC, member of the board of the Liberia Baptist Theological Seminary, founding member of Bethesda Christian Mission, founding organizer-African Methodist Episcopal University, ambassador of the Liberia YMCA, president of LUSU Resource Corporation, and ex-president of the Monrovia Rotary Club.

As vice president, he was the president of the Liberian Senate and presided over plenary sessions of that body for two days each week. He also performed supervisory functions over several institutions and agencies, including the Liberia National Lotteries (LOTTO), the Liberia Marketing Association (LMA), the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE), and the National Commission on Disarmament Demobilization Resettlement and Reintegration (NCDDRR).

Boakai attended primary and high school in Sierra Leone and Liberia before graduating from the College of West Africa in Monrovia, Liberia. He later graduated from the University of Liberia in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.