Monrovia, Liberia – Former President Ellen Johnson has called on the International Community to commit more resources to help African countries recover from the looming economic crisis after the Covid-19 pandemic.
She has also joined other African leaders in proposing a debt cancellation for Africa as part of interventions from the international community.
The former Liberian president noted that while solidarity was much better now than during the Ebola outbreak back in 2014, Liberia’s economy had still not fully recovered from Ebola.
She spoke at the weekend in an Interview with France 24, English Channel.
Madam Sirleaf is concerned the focus on Covid-19 could provoke an upsurge in deaths caused by other infectious diseases, mainly malaria, urging the world body to commit resources towards fighting malaria.
Meanwhile Former President Sirleaf said the Liberian Government has so far responded well to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sirleaf said that lockdown and isolation measures were “necessary” to stop the spread of the virus.
She however stressed that at some point some of those measures need to be relaxed to allow the economy to restart.
On President Weah’s recent decision to re-open religious services, Madam Sirleaf believes the government acted in accordance with data received from the health authorities.
She told France 24 that President Weah’s decision had to be coordinated with the civil society in order to allay concerns that it might help spread the virus.
