Josiah Joekai tells outgoing fellows that technical systems alone cannot transform Liberia without competent, courageous, and accountable public servants to run them
BY: JOHN KAMARA TAYLOR
MONROVIA — The Civil Service Agency (CSA) and Board Chairman of the President’s Young Professionals Program (PYPP), Josiah Joekai, has charged the program’s outgoing graduates to apply their skills, integrity, and experience toward Liberia’s national development, insisting that strong institutions are built on capable, ethical, and committed professionals.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony for the program’s Class XII, Joekai described PYPP as far more than a fellowship or placement scheme calling it a crucial pathway for nurturing Liberia’s next generation of public servants and leaders.
Drawing on the program’s 17-year history as evidence, the CSA boss noted that its graduates have risen to greater responsibilities within government while others have pursued advanced education and built careers in international organizations, civil society, and the private sector.
Joekai linked the program’s mission to the Civil Service Agency’s broader drive to build a public service that is professional, merit-based, ethical, accountable, responsive, and results-oriented. He acknowledged that government can modernize recruitment, strengthen performance management, improve human resource systems, introduce technology, and enhance accountability yet warned that none of these systems can transform Liberia without the people to operate them.
“It is not just about the systems we put in place, but the character of those who run them,” Joekai told the graduates, urging them to develop the competence, integrity, and courage needed to improve public institutions and deliver meaningful results for the Liberian people.
He called on the fellows to become problem-solvers, innovators, and ethical leaders capable of analyzing data and using technology responsibly, challenging them to reflect on how they would conduct themselves when confronted with ethical challenges, broken systems, and difficult responsibilities.
The CSA Board Chairman stressed that the graduates’ true impact would be measured not by the positions they occupy, but by the integrity they demonstrate, the problems they solve, and the positive change they create within Liberia’s public service.