Inaugurating a new president is cause for celebration, and we congratulate President George Weah for taking the oath of office this week.

After Monday’s euphoric ceremony, President George Weah is now in the leadership seat and needs to make careful decisions about the individuals he wants to carry out his pro-poor agenda.

However, from the looks of it, the new president is not off to a good start. His administration has already made some unforced blunders that suggests he may not have the most qualified people around him.

The first of these came on the night of the inauguration, when Sam Mannah, now the presidential press secretary, issued two separate press releases less than two hours apart, nominating several officials and asking a few existing cabinet members to hold on to their positions.

The press releases contained similar information, but the latter one included a few more nominations than the earlier one, suggesting that the authors were not thorough in their preparation of the first document. Additionally, the press releases were poorly formatted and error-ridden (e.g. ‘Arm Forces of Liberia’ and the misspelling of Samuel D. Tweah’s name).

Besides the hastily prepared press releases, the Executive Mansion’s website was not ready to welcome the new president. Information belonging to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is still visible. For example, Jerolinmek Piah is still listed as presidential press secretary despite the fact that Sam Mannah was appointed already and does not need confirmation. A well-prepared team would have ensured that a test version of the Executive Mansion website was populated with Weah’s information and laying dormant until it was switched as soon as 12:01 p.m. arrived on Monday. It should have been ready to go.

But releasing error-ridden press releases and blundering on the updating of the presidential website have not been the Weah administration’s only mistakes. The press release issued by the new government eliminated all but four top government officials, without having their replacements named or confirmed. This decision means that government agencies would be impotent until Weah’s nominees can be named. Such a decision suggests a lack of understanding of how government agencies function, as key operational decisions are largely stalled across the government. It was this very problem that Weah’s predecessor sought to prevent when she signed an executive order to allow her appointees to be in place until a little over a week past the inauguration.

Weah probably made the decision to sack all appointed officials because he did not foresee any backlash to his nominees. Unfortunately for him, his nominee for the justice minister post, Charles Gibson, was reported by several news outlets to have had his law license suspended by the Supreme Court at the time of the appointment. The fact that the top lawyer for the government would not be able to practice law is concerning and suggests poor vetting practices.

Weah must understand that donors and bilateral partners are carefully scrutinizing his first moves to guide their future level of support for the country. They want to support competence and do not care to be aligned with controversy or fiascos. They want to be sure their investments are in good hands and won’t be squandered. Their support is offered cautiously and easily withdrawn.

Fortunately, there’s still time. A few hiccups can be overlooked if corrected promptly. In fact, this is an opportunity to show leadership by taking charge.

With that in mind, here are a few suggestions for President Weah and his inner circle:

• It’s okay to admit mistakes. This is another opportunity to demonstrate leadership and accountability, but don’t delay. Admit the mistake, correct it, and move on to better things.
• Complete the website switch within the next few hours. Though already botched, it’s not difficult or overly time consuming to write bios and upload pictures. This should not take any longer than one day.
• Establish clear communications protocols for all communications channels. Consult the former communications team if that has not been done yet.
• Reinstate the old ministers, deputy ministers, and assistant ministers to allow the government to continue to function for now. An orderly transition is what’s needed, not empty government offices.
• Establish clear protocols and standards for vetting nominees. Ensure that you don’t allow anyone to go through without meeting minimum standards, without exception.
• Withdraw the nomination for the justice minister post and appoint someone who has a history of demonstrated integrity.

President Weah has stumbled out of the starting block, but a rough start doesn’t necessarily doom his administration. If he acts quickly, he can get back on track without long-term harm to his reputation and administration.