Monrovia, Liberia – Following a formal recommendation from the National Public Health Institute of Liberia’s (NPHIL) Board of Directors, President Joseph Boakai on Wednesday sacked Dr. Dougbeh Christopher Nyan from his position as Director General.
The Board submitted a comprehensive resolution that listed what it called “gross inefficiency, undesirable actions against the public interest, and violations of the NPHIL Act of 2016” as the basis for the President’s decision. Nine out of the ten Board members voted in favor of the Board’s decision, which was made during an Ad-Hoc meeting on September 10, 2025, with one member abstaining.
The Board stressed that the need to restore accountability, efficiency, and good governance at NPHIL served as the foundation for its decisions. The resolution claims that Dr. Nyan’s time leading the nation’s premier public health facility was characterized by several managerial and administrative blunders. The Board accused the Director General of consistently evading statutory scrutiny, acting in secret, and making arbitrary decisions that threatened the Institute’s governance framework.
According to the Board, Dr. Nyan consistently neglected to include the Board in important decision-making processes pertaining to NPHIL’s activities. There was a persistent lack of cooperation and coordination between the Ministry of Health and NPHIL.
According to the decision, Dr. Nyan sent official emails to the National Legislature and the President of Liberia without the Board’s knowledge or consent. Concerns over his behavior and leadership were also voiced by partners. In addition to the institutional budget being submitted without their consent, the Board saw that institutional affairs were frequently reported in the media without their consent. According to the Board, these problems are significant governance shortcomings.
The Board had previously suspended Dr. Nyan and asked for a written apology in February 2025 for a different set of issues involving inappropriate media activities. The Board claims that because the same conduct continued during and after his suspension, it called for his dismissal.
As stated in the official resolution, the Board recommended that the Director General be removed with immediate effect for violating Section 4.4 subc (i) of the NPHIL Act 2016 because he was “found to be grossly inefficient” and (vi) because he “engages in acts that are undesirable to the public interest and undermine principles of good governance.” In order to stabilize the organization and oversee operations in coordination with the Ministry of Health, other governmental organizations, and foreign partners until a new Director General is found and appointed by the President, the Board’s resolution also mandated that Dr. Sia Wata Camanor, the Co-Chair of the Board, act as Interim Director General.
Dr. Dougbeh Christopher Nyan is a well-known physician, inventor, social activist, and biomedical research scientist from Liberia. He graduated from the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, which is connected to the Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany, with a medical degree.
With a focus on infectious illnesses and public health diagnostics, he has held positions at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the US National Institutes of Health. In testimony before the US Congress during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Dr. Nyan promoted the creation of the Africa Centers for Disease Control, strengthened national public health systems throughout the continent, and provided a public health roadmap.
His most well-known invention is the “Nyan-Test,” a US-patented diagnostic tool that can quickly identify and diagnose several infections, including hepatitis, HIV, COVID-19, Ebola, and malaria, in less than an hour. He was awarded the 2017 African Innovation Special Prize for Social Impact for his inventiveness.
Despite being cleared of previous charges of vehicle theft by the Liberia National Police, the Board recommended Dr. Adams K. Lincoln, the Deputy Director General for Administration, be replaced for persistently sharing sensitive institutional communications with external partners without authorization. The resolution received one recusal, two abstentions, and seven approvals.
In a formal letter dated September 18, 2025, the Board explained its prior activities and gave background information on its decision to Hon. Samuel A. Stevquoah, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs (Designate).
The letter detailed the actions the Board took after looking into other management-related matters, such as claims that the Deputy Director General for Administration (DDGA) had allegedly stolen a car. A committee made up of both statutory and non-statutory Board members carried out an initial study, and on February 3, 2025, a report was produced. The investigation ended with a recommendation that the DDGA be suspended indefinitely until more investigations were conducted by the General Services Agency (GSA) and the Liberia National Police.
Because there was insufficient documentation, the Liberia National Police ultimately freed the DDGA of the theft charge. The Board did observe, however, that even after that particular issue was settled, the DDGA kept sharing a lot of private and unlawful institutional communications with both internal and external parties via radio talk programs, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
The Board believed that this violated governance protocols and institutional confidentiality. Members therefore discussed whether to remove the DDGA for conduct that are considered undesirable to the public interest under Section 4.4 sub c (vi) of the NPHIL Act during the Board meeting on September 10.
Although a two-thirds majority did not endorse the request to dismiss him, the Board recommended that the DDGA be moved to another government agency while the President made a decision. However, he was dismissed by the President. Neither the President’s decision nor the Board’s recommendations had received a formal response from the two fired officials at the time of publishing.
Credit: Selma Lomax
