Liberia: How LACRA's Deputy Director for Operations Became the Face of Liberia's Cocoa Export Scandal

Monrovia, June 30 -- President Joseph Boakai on June 26 suspended the Director General of the Liberia Agriculture Commodity Regulatory Authority (LACRA), Christopher D. Sankolo, along with his Deputy for Administration and Finance, Mr. Chea B. Garley.

By Selma Lomax, [e-mail]

The official explanation cites the need for transparency and accountability, with ongoing investigations being carried out by the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) and an audit from the General Auditing Commission (GAC).

But beneath the surface, a much deeper power struggle has been simmering -one driven by internal rivalries, political alliances, and, at the center of it all, a man many at LACRA believe should have been the o...