By Pewu Y. Sumo
BEYAN TOWN, LOFA COUNTY — Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan has revealed the deeply rooted historical role that President Joseph Nyuma Boakai played in securing the foundational financing for the newly dedicated 81-kilometer Gbarnga-Salayea road corridor.
Speaking on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, at the official dedication ceremony in Beyan Town, Lofa County, Minister Ngafuan provided a vivid historical reflection, tracing the modern journey of the highway back to critical diplomatic negotiations in 2010 during his first tenure as Finance Minister.
The 2010 Kuwaiti Negotiations
Addressing a gathering that included the President, Vice President, legislative leaders, cabinet officials, and international development partners, Ngafuan detailed how the project was resurrected from an old, conflict-interrupted blueprint.
According to Ngafuan, the original road design had initially been undertaken by Cameroonian engineers starting in 1989, but the outbreak of the Liberian civil war brought all progress to a sudden halt.
The turning point came in late 2010 when Liberia was on the verge of concluding debt cancellation agreements under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
Ngafuan recalled approaching former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ahead of a critical diplomatic mission to Kuwait to discuss what next major infrastructure priorities the government could put forward for new financing.
“As Finance Minister, I knew about this project,” Ngafuan said, noting that former President Sirleaf jokingly reminded him that because she was a “mother of twins” (balancing competing national priorities), she could not openly favor her own county too much.
However, Sirleaf acknowledged that while major road links from Monrovia to Buchanan, Fish Town to Harper, and Red Light to the Guinea border had already been mobilized or started, the people of Lofa deserved their key transit link. She noted that her then-Vice President, Joseph Boakai, “cannot rest because this road, the Gbarnga-Mendikorma Highway, is the key development priority for the people of Lofa.”
The “Vice President’s Sketch”
Ngafuan revealed that former President Sirleaf went behind her desk and handed him the original technical sketches and designs for the highway, which had been meticulously preserved and pushed forward by Boakai.
Sirleaf instructed the finance delegation to work directly with Boakai for proper guidance before departing for the Middle East.
“We interacted with then-Vice President Boakai before going to Kuwait, and then he blessed us,” Ngafuan told the audience. “He said, ‘Now you can go. Go and put this road.’ And when we went, we signed the agreement, and we carried the sketch. We carried the whole design as given to us by him.”
Ngafuan highlighted that Tareq, who now heads the Kuwaiti Fund, was a management manager involved in those very discussions back in 2010.
A Tribute to Public Servants
The Finance Minister used the occasion to praise the technical teams and long-serving technocrats who navigated the bureaucracy over the decades to bring the pavement to reality.
He specifically recognized the late Deputy Public Works Minister Victor Smith and senior public official Mr. Emmanuel Baker, who accompanied him to the initial Kuwaiti Fund negotiations. Ngafuan described these career technocrats as “the real bulwarks of our development.”
He also extended special recognition to figures like Public Works Minister Roland Lafayette Giddings and Honorable Tapalah Zuo for their roles in managing the transition and execution of the long-awaited corridor.
Reflecting on the long timeline from the 2017 groundbreaking to the 2026 completion, Ngafuan concluded that Tuesday’s dedication was not just a day of celebration, but a profound day of reflection on how visionary leadership and persistent diplomacy can successfully transform a nation’s infrastructure.
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