Ebola: Liberia’s President sacks 10 ministers, advisers

Ten senior government officials in Liberia have been sacked for defying an order to return to the West African nation to lead the fight against the deadly Ebola outbreak ravaging country.

Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf had ordered ministers to return within a week as part of a state-of-emergency announcement on August 6 to help fight “for the very survival of our state”.

Sirleaf’s office said on Sunday: “President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has dismissed 10 government officials with immediate effect. These government officials showed insensitivity to our national tragedy and disregard for authority.”

Among them was Victoria Sherman-Lang, the deputy minister for economic affairs at the ministry for justice and Wheatonia Dixon-Barnes, the deputy minister for administration and public safety at the ministry of justice.

Five members of various boards who had left the country without proper excuse have also been told their salaries and other benefits are forfeit until they return home, although they do not need direct presidential travel approval.

The country, according to a September 7 report by the World Health Organisation (W.H.O) had recorded 1,137 deaths out of 2,081 cases, more than half of them in the previous three weeks.