MONROVIA, Montserrado – President George Weah has accepted the resignation of Tolbert Nyenswah, the director-general of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia.

FrontPageAfrica had first reported that Nyenswah had tendered in his resignation on Thursday, October 17, citing family reasons.

According to the Executive Mansion, Weah thanked the outgoing director-general for his time of service to the government and people of Liberia.

“Pending the appointment of a new director-general of NPHIL, the Liberian leader has asked the deputy director of the NPHIL, Mosoka P. Fallah, to act as head of NPHIL with immediate effect,” the Executive Mansion said in the release.

In the meantime, the president appointed Jane Amanda McCauley as acting deputy director-general for technical affairs at the institute.

Nyenswah became the first head of the institute, which was established in January 2017 in the aftermath of the Ebola epidemic by an act of the legislature to prevent and control public health threats.

During his tenure, Liberia secured a US$20 million support from the World Bank and the government of the United States for the construction of the institute’s headquarters and a National Reference Laboratory, which is currently in progress.

Nyenswah also previously served in other capacities under the Health Ministry, including as deputy health minister for Disease Control and Epidemic Control, and director of the Incident Management System, which coordinated the country’s Ebola response activities.

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah