Liberia’s President, George Weah, has sacked the Acting Director of the country’s census body, Wilmot Smith, and one of his deputies, Alex Williams, with immediate effect.
The dismal, announced in a statement, comes amid confusion over the country’s much-postponed population count, which is expected to end on November 22.
The statement based the decision “on administrative reasons.”
President Weah, who has been out of Liberia for weeks to watch his son play for the US in the World Cup in Qatar, has appointed Lawrence George to act as the head of the agency.
The sacked officials had publicly disagreed on whether the country was ready to conduct the census.
President Weah has been out of Liberia for weeks to attend to official functions – including watching his son, Timothy, play for the US in the football World Cup in Qatar.
The 2022 National Population and Housing Census was scheduled for Friday, November 11, but many citizens waited in vain as enumerators did not show up at their homes.