Domestic policy A fire broke out at the Executive Mansion on 26 July 2006, seriously damaging the structure. An independent panel formed to investigate the incident ruled out arson, attributing the fire to an electrical malfunction. Sirleaf's government called funding for the repair of the mansion a low priority in the face of more pressing needs, with Sirleaf transferring her office to the nearby Foreign Ministry building and choosing to live at her personal home in Monrovia. On 26 July 2007, Sirleaf celebrated Liberia's 160th Independence Day under the theme "Liberia at 160: Reclaiming the future." She took an unprecedented and symbolic move by asking 25-year-old Liberian activist
Kimmie Weeks to serve as National Orator for the celebrations, where Weeks called for the government to prioritize education and health care. A few days later, President Sirleaf issued an Executive Order making education free and compulsory for all elementary school aged children. On 4 October 2010, Sirleaf signed into law a
Freedom of Information bill, the first legislation of its kind in West Africa. In recognition of this, she became the first sitting head of state to receive the Friend of the Media in Africa Award from The African Editor's Union. On 1 April 2011, Sirleaf told reporters that she planned to charge an opposition candidate with
sedition for organizing a rally protesting corruption in the government. Her press secretary later clarified that the remark had been an
April Fools' prank.
Debt relief From the beginning of her presidency, Sirleaf vowed to make reduction of the
national debt, which stood at approximately US$4.9 billion in 2006, a top priority for her administration. The United States became the first country to grant debt relief to Liberia, waiving the full $391 million owed to it by Liberia in early 2007. In September of that year, the
G-8 headed by German
Chancellor Angela Merkel provided $324.5 million to paying off 60% of Liberia's debt to the
International Monetary Fund, crediting their decision to the macroeconomic policies pursued by the Sirleaf administration. In April 2009, the government successfully wrote off an additional $1.2 billion in foreign
commercial debt in a deal that saw the government buy back the debt at a 97% discounted rate through financing provided by the
International Development Association, Germany,
Norway, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The discounted rate was the largest ever for a developing country. In June 2010, the country reached the completion point of the HIPC initiative, qualifying it for relief from its entire external debt. That same month, the World Bank and IMF agreed to fund $1.5 billion in writing off the Liberia's multilateral debt. On 16 September, the
Paris Club agreed to cancel $1.26 billion, with independent bilateral creditors canceling an additional $107 million, essentially writing off Liberia's remaining external debt. Sirleaf vowed to prevent unsustainable borrowing in the future by restricting annual borrowing to 3% of GDP and limiting expenditure of all borrowed funds to one-off infrastructure projects.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission in
Fort Worth, Texas In 2006, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission began work with a mandate to "promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation" by investigating more than 20 years of civil conflict in the country. The TRC was formed through a legislation in 2005 under the Interim government headed by C. Gyude Bryant. In their final report, issued in June 2009, the TRC included Sirleaf in a list of 50 names of people that should be "specifically barred from holding public offices; elected or appointed for a period of thirty (30) years" for "being associated with former warring factions." The proposed ban stemmed from her financial support of former President Taylor in the early years of the First Liberian Civil War. On 26 July 2009, Sirleaf apologized to Liberia for supporting
Charles Taylor, saying: "When the true nature of Mr. Taylor's intentions became known, there was no more impassioned critic or strong opponent to him in a democratic process" than she. On 28 August, the legislature announced they must "consult our constituents for about a year" before deciding whether or not to implement the Commission's recommendations. During an appearance at the
Council on Foreign Relations in 2010, Sirleaf argued that the implementation of the TRC's recommended ban would unconstitutionally violate her right to
due process. In October 2010, the chairman of Sirleaf's Unity Party,
Varney Sherman, argued that implementation of the recommendation would be unconstitutional, as Article 21(a) of the Constitution prohibits
ex post facto laws, and Sirleaf had broken no law by financially supporting Taylor that imposed a ban from public office as a penalty. In January 2011, the
Supreme Court ruled in
Williams v. Tah, a case brought by another person recommended for being banned from public office in the TRC report, that the TRC's recommendation was an unconstitutional violation of the listed individuals' right to
procedural due process, and that it would be unconstitutional for the government to implement the proposed bans.
Gay rights Following a speech made by
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December 2011 that America's foreign aid would be used to promote the protection of gay rights, the issue of
LGBT rights became a significant political topic in Liberia. According to
The Guardian, "Since Clinton's remarks, Liberian newspapers have published numerous articles and editorials describing homosexuality as 'desecrating', 'abusive' and an 'abomination'." In February 2012,
Bong County Senator
Jewel Taylor proposed a bill that would carry a term of ten years in prison for homosexual activity, while a similar bill was introduced in the
House of Representatives.
The Guardian published a correction to its story: "'Nobel peace prize winner defends law criminalising homosexuality in Liberia' was updated to restore material cut in the editing process. The restored material clarifies the stance that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is taking on laws concerning homosexuality in Liberia. That is: she refuses to dismantle the existing anti-sodomy law, while also saying she will refuse to sign two new bills that would toughen laws on homosexuality." The comments, letter, and clarification suggest that she considered the
status quo for gay rights in Liberia to be one of
de facto tolerance until the recent controversy, and did not support decriminalization of homosexuality, but also refused to support further criminalisation of homosexual acts which was being attempted in Liberia. She reaffirmed this view during an interview with Tony Blair.
Foreign policy , Washington, D.C., 2013 Upon her election to office, Sirleaf made her first foreign trip as President to neighboring
Ivory Coast, meeting with Ivorian President
Laurent Gbagbo in an attempt to repair relations between the two countries following Côte d'Ivoire's support of the
Movement for Democracy in Liberia during the
Second Liberian Civil War. During the
2010–2011 Ivorian crisis, Sirleaf, as chairperson of the
Mano River Union, supported ECOWAS's recognition of Gbagbo's opponent,
Alassane Ouattara, as the winner of the
disputed presidential election, but rejected calls for a military solution to the crisis. Sirleaf also forged close relations with the United States, Liberia's traditional ally. Following the establishment of
United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) by the
United States military, Sirleaf offered to allow the U.S. to headquarter the new command in Liberia, the only African leader to do so. The command was eventually headquartered in
Stuttgart, Germany. On 15 March 2006, President Sirleaf addressed a joint meeting of the
United States Congress, asking for American support to help her country "become a brilliant beacon, an example to Africa and the world of what love of liberty can achieve." Sirleaf has also strengthened relations with the People's Republic of
China, reaffirming Liberia's commitment to the
One-China policy. In return, China has contributed to Liberia's reconstruction, building several transmitters to extend the
Liberia Broadcasting System nationwide and constructing a new campus for the
University of Liberia. Sirleaf is a member of the
Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development. During the
2011 Libyan civil war, Sirleaf added her voice to the international community who asked the previous Libyan leader
Muammar al-Gaddafi to cease the use of violence and tactics of political repression. However, she criticized the
international military intervention in Libya, declaring that "violence does not help the process whichever way it comes". Her government later severed diplomatic ties with Libya, stating that "The Government took the decision after a careful review of the situation in Libya and determined that the Government of Colonel Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to govern Libya." On 27 February 2015, President Sirleaf was expected to make a visit to U.S. President
Barack Obama at the
White House in Washington, D.C., according to an official online statement from the Office of the
White House Press Secretary. Among other issues, they planned to discuss the hope to expeditiously close the recent 2013–2015
Ebola virus epidemic, which heavily affected
Liberia,
Sierra Leone, and
Guinea, and other areas in West Africa (and beyond in other countries due to importation of cases for treatment and some new infections), down to an ideal of zero reported cases in Liberia and nearby areas in the near future, with continuing monitoring and reporting, care, support, and fiscal and professional assistance. They also planned to discuss how to sustain and rebuild the healthcare infrastructure and the country's other difficulties in the wake of the massive outbreak's morbidity and mortality toll and impact on the area, as well as review progress that had been made and efforts to continue it.
Administration and Cabinet Following her victory in the 2005 election, Sirleaf pledged to promote national reconciliation by bringing in opposition leaders into her administration. Opposition politicians who joined her initial administration included Minister of Transport Jeremiah Sulunteh, Minister of Education
Joseph Korto, and Ambassador to the United Nations
Nathaniel Barnes. Sirleaf also appointed several women to high-level posts in her administration, with female ministers initially leading the Ministries of Finance, Law, Commerce and Industry, Gender and Development, and Youth and Sports. Sirleaf said that while she had planned on appointing an all-female cabinet, she had been unable to find qualified female candidates for every position. Despite this, critics have argued that corruption remains rampant within Sirleaf's administration; Information Minister Lawrence Bropleh was sacked in 2008 over allegations that he had stolen more than $200,000 in state funds, while Internal Affairs Minister Ambullai Johnson, Sirleaf's brother, was dismissed in 2010 after the disappearance of funds for county development. Sirleaf herself has acknowledged that corruption in government remains, noting that her zero tolerance policy was hampered by the need to pass major economic reforms through the legislature, a goal that would have been impeded by significant anti-corruption legislation and prosecutions. Sirleaf dismissed her entire cabinet from office on 3 November 2010, promising to reassemble the cabinet in as short a time as possible. She argued that the move was taken to give her administration a "clean slate" in preparation for the final year of her term, though critics argued that the move was aimed to bolster her chances at reelection by confronting corruption in her administration. Sirleaf was accused in 2014 of interfering with a criminal investigation involving her stepson Fombah Sirleaf and the security agency. Her Minister of Justice Christiana Tah resigned in October 2014, accusing President Sirleaf of interference with the criminal investigation into the
illegal seizure of money from Korean businessmen by the NSA in a warrantless hotel raid in July 2014. Lewis and three of Sirleaf's Associate Justice nominees, J. Emmanuel Wureh, Francis Korkpor and Gladys Johnson, were confirmed by the
Senate on 2 March 2006. Sirleaf's nomination of Kabineh Ja'neh, a former leader in the rebel
LURD movement, as Associate Justice received criticism from the opposition
Congress for Democratic Change due to concerns over Ja'neh's human rights record during the civil war, and Ja'neh was not confirmed until 9 May. Following the death of Justice Wureh in July 2006, Sirleaf nominated Christiana Tah, a deputy minister at the Justice Ministry, to fill his seat. However, the Senate later rejected Tah's nomination, leading Sirleaf to nominate her Minister of Youth and Sports, Jamesetta Howard Wolokollie, who was confirmed. Banks was confirmed by the Senate on 20 August 2011.
International image Forbes magazine named Sirleaf as the 51st
most powerful woman in the world in 2006. In 2010,
Newsweek listed her as one of the ten best leaders in the world, while
Time counted her among the top ten female leaders. That same year,
The Economist called her "arguably the best president the country has ever had." In 2010, Sirleaf released her first book, ''This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President''. In November 2017, an investigation conducted by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalism cited Sirleaf among
the list of politicians named in "
Paradise Papers" allegations. == Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the West African Ebola outbreak (2014–2016) ==