Retired Major General Daniel Dee Ziankahn Jr. appointment as the new Director General of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) has been received with cheers and approbation in many quarters, including Senator Amara Konneh, but at the same time warned that a leadership change alone will not fix systemic corruption within the country’s drug enforcement and security sector.
In a social media post Tuesday hours after President Joseph Boakai made the appointment, Senator Konneh said Gen. Ziankahn “brings a strong operational record to an agency that urgently needs stability and direction” and pledged his “full support in the Liberian Senate” during confirmation.
If confirmed by the Liberian Senate, Ziankahn will replace removed Officer-In-Charge, former Police Deputy Commander Fitzgerald Biago, who President Boakai axed following the Ministry of Justice reports submitted to the President regarding his alleged connection with members of Liberia’s drug cartels.
The Senator however cautioned that replacing the head of the LDEA does not address deeper issues.
“Changing the leadership at LDEA does not automatically fix the cancer eating away at our security system,” Konneh stated.
“A new director, regardless of respect or decorations, cannot hide the ongoing, high-profile drug investigations involving senior security and law enforcement officials. True reform requires more than an administrative change.”
His comments come amid public scrutiny over the $19 million cocaine seizure at the Roberts International Airport in June, and allegations that some senior officials may be linked to narcotics networks.
Senator Konneh laid out three conditions he said are necessary for real reform at the LDEA. According to him, “Institutions with heavy corruption and cartel allegations cannot investigate themselves, the public demands an open, credible, and independent inquiry into all high-ranking individuals linked to the narcotics web, and fixing the LDEA involves removing complicity at every level, not just replacing the figurehead who is currently under investigation for complicity in Liberia’s record cocaine bust.”
While wishing Gen. Ziankahn success in his confirmation and tenure, Konneh said the Senate will be watching closely. “The fight against illicit drugs in Liberia will only be taken seriously when no official, regardless of rank, is above true accountability,” he said.
Gen. Ziankahn, a retired Army Chief of Staff, is expected to appear before the Senate for confirmation hearings in the coming days. If confirmed, he will take over an agency under pressure to deliver results in the wake of Liberia’s largest drug bust.
The Senator called for rule of law, end impunity, and anti drugs, saying Liberia cannot afford another cycle of “administrative changes without accountability.”
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