PROMISES TO WORK IN THE INTEREST OF LIBERIANS
Washington DC, USA – In a move evoking the tough approach of his predecessor, Michael McCarthy, the recently appointed U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, Mark Toner, informed Congress that corruption and a worrisome contempt for the rule of law plague the country’s present administration.
Toner openly told the US Congress last Thursday, October 19, 2023, during his confirmation hearing that President Weah’s administration is drastically reducing the significant funding the US government provides for Liberia’s development.
According to Mark Toner, rising levels of lawlessness and corruption in the current administration have severely damaged the US government’s assistance, which has totaled over US$5 billion since 2003. In his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Congress Foreign Committee, he stated that the United States is Liberia’s largest bilateral contributor, having provided the country with more than US$5 billion in aid since 2003.
Toner stated that, should the committee confirm him, he will oversee the US embassy’s efforts in Monrovia to hold dishonest government officials responsible and maintain Liberia’s progress towards independence, allowing the general populace to reap the rewards of the country’s growing private sector.
Mark Christopher Toner is a U.S. Foreign Service Officer and former Spokesperson for the United States Department of State. Toner was raised in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, graduating from the Salesianum School in nearby Wilmington, Delaware in 1982. He earned a B.A. degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1986 and later studied journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. Toner received a graduate degree from the National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia. s a career Foreign Service Officer, Toner served overseas in West Africa and Europe. Toner was the Information Officer in Dakar, Senegal, the Public Affairs Officer in Krakow, Poland, and the Spokesman for the U.S. Mission to NATO, in Brussels, Belgium. In Washington, Toner worked as a senior advisor for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; as a Senior Watch Officer in the Department’s Operations Center; and as the Director of the European Bureau’s Press and Public Outreach Division.
Similar to the 2020 confirmation hearing of his predecessor, Ambassador McCarthy brought up the subject of corruption in Liberia and promised to devote his time to combating it and making sure that the American people’s investment in the country was safeguarded.
McCarthy was adamant in his opposition to corruption and poor leadership; he left this position in July of this year. Under this administration, the US Department of Treasury sanctioned former National Port Authority Manager Bill Twehway, Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson, then-Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Nathaniel McGill, and then-Solicitor General Cllr. Syrennius Cephas for corruption under the Global Magnitsky Act.
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