Liberia: Bad wiring ‘destroyed palace’ in July

MONROVIA – The Liberian government said on Sunday that a fire that gutted the presidential palace in July as President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf hosted three African heads of state there was caused by faulty electrical wiring.

Boima Fahnbuleh, the president’s security advisor, said: “The fire at the executive mansion was caused by an electrical shock. “Three separate investigations were carried out by fire experts to establish those findings.”On July 26, Liberia’s independence day, Sirleaf was about to start a reception on the fifth floor of the mansion when fire broke out in her office destroying the palace’s fourth floor.Three African presidents – Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, John Kuffor of Ghana and Tejan Kabah of Sierra Leone – were her guests that day to celebrate 159 years of independence in Africa’s oldest republic.The festivities were marked by the switching-on of electricity for the first in 16 years in the west African state, where power was knocked out at the start of the 14-year-long war, which ended in 2003.After the fire, Sirleaf moved her office to the foreign ministry from where she was still conducting her work.News24″Three separate investigations were carried out by fire experts to establish those findings.”On July 26, Liberia’s independence day, Sirleaf was about to start a reception on the fifth floor of the mansion when fire broke out in her office destroying the palace’s fourth floor.Three African presidents – Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, John Kuffor of Ghana and Tejan Kabah of Sierra Leone – were her guests that day to celebrate 159 years of independence in Africa’s oldest republic.The festivities were marked by the switching-on of electricity for the first in 16 years in the west African state, where power was knocked out at the start of the 14-year-long war, which ended in 2003.After the fire, Sirleaf moved her office to the foreign ministry from where she was still conducting her work.News24