Liberia’s Finance Minister Assumes African Development Bank Constituency Leadership Post

Abidjan/Monrovia: Liberia’s Minister of Finance and Development Planning Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan has been elected to steer the affairs of Constituency 15 of the African Development Bank. Constituency 15 is a strategic coalition of five West and North African member countries comprising Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Liberia. 

By: Abraham Sylvester Panto 

The pronouncement was formalized at the 2025 Constituency Annual Meetings held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where Ngafuan’s appointment was confirmed following a high-level consensus among participating countries.

Constituency 15, one of several regional blocs within the AfDB governance structure, plays a critical role in coordinating member state perspectives on the bank’s policies, lending priorities, and institutional governance.

Liberia’s assumption of its leadership appears as a reflection of renewed international trust in the country’s post-crisis fiscal policy trajectory and institutional reliability.

Minister Ngafuan's official assumption of the position takes effect on August 1, 2025, replacing outgoing Chair Sheku A.F. Bangura, the Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone, thereby making it the second time in a decade that Liberia takes charge of AfDB constituency-level leadership for three years.

According to the Finance Ministry’s press statement released on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, the position is meant to place Minister Ngafuan at the forefront of Africa’s ongoing developmental financing debates, particularly as most African nations grapple with debt sustainability and infrastructure financing gaps.

The leadership reshuffle also coincides with the conclusion of Rufus N. Darkortey’s service as Executive Director of the Constituency.  Darkortey, a Liberian development economist, leaves the post after serving a full term, having helped to amplify the voice of the bloc within the bank’s core decision-making framework.

Reflecting on his term, Director Darkortey credited the collective leadership of member states for enhancing Constituency 15’s strategic value within the Bank’s multilateral processes. He emphasized that regional unity, rather than bilateral lobbying, had been the hallmark of the bloc’s recent influence in AfDB programming, leading negotiations, and voting power alignment.

Director Darkortey extended acknowledgments to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai and former President George Manneh Weah, respectively, for their support in enabling his service through their formal nominations and political backing. He attributed much of the Constituency’s credibility to the continuity of leadership support from both administrations, which spanned a full electoral transition cycle in Liberia.

In response to his departure, Minister Ngafuan praised the outgoing Executive Director for redefining Liberia’s technical credibility in regional finance and credited him for stabilizing policy coordination among member states. Ngafuan pointed out that Darkortey’s successful end of term would serve as a blueprint for deepening Liberia’s multilateral engagement and reinforcing the principles of shared responsibility.

The election of Minister Ngafuan as the Chairman of Constituency 15 follows his recent selection in April 2025 as Chairperson of the AfDB Standing Committee on Conditions of Service for Elected Officers.

Together, these two leadership roles positioned Liberia at the confluence of regional coordination and internal bank reform, an alignment that seems increasingly relevant as African nations push for institutional reforms that prioritize local ownership, fiscal discipline, and structural investment realignment. Liberia’s strategic leverage is therefore no longer symbolic but functionally embedded within AfDB’s evolving operational culture.

Further entrenching his continental presence, Minister Ngafuan is scheduled to participate as a key panelist on May 30, 2025, at a high-level AfDB knowledge event under the theme “Building Effective Institutions in Africa for Harnessing Capital for Development.” The session formed part of a broader institutional dialogue on sustainable governance models and capital optimization frameworks for African economies.

Minister Ngafuan is expected to share the panel with Ivorian Minister of Economy and Finance Mrs. Niale Kaba, Saudi Finance Minister Dr. Ryadh M. Alkhareif, and other distinguished participants.

Discussions are expected to focus on aligning institutional reforms with investment strategies, establishing governance metrics for capital deployment, and enhancing financial resilience across African economies.

As Minister Ngafuan prepares to assume Constituency leadership, he inherits not only the portfolio of multilateral coordination but also the responsibility of sustaining Liberia’s reform narrative across regional institutions.

In assuming the role, he becomes both a representative of national transformation and a custodian of continental financial governance, as Liberia is now positioned at the decision-making nucleus of Africa’s leading multilateral finance institution.