User:Giovaunni/Samuel D. Tweah

Samuel Doe Tweah Jr. (born May 6, 1971) is a Liberian politician, diplomat, and current Minister of Finance of Liberia, being appointed by the current president of Liberia, George Weah at the beginning of January 2018, succeeding Boima Kamara. Prior to designation, Tweah served as Chairman of the CDC Grievance and Ethics Committee. He is a husband and a father to six children, including 2 boys and 4 girls.

Early life and education
Samuel Doe Tweah was born in Monrovia, Liberia on May 6, 1971 and is the son of Samuel Tweah, Sr and Mary Williams, a married couple who are native to Liberia. Samuel Tweah, Sr is from Matuken, Barrobo District and Williams is from Doloken, both cities located in Maryland County. Mrs. Williams is a well-known Methodist, and her son is a devout follower of the faith as well. She worked at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital for 23 years before her retirement and her husband worked as a mechanic at the Jos Hansen Garage, formerly located in the Waterside area.

As a resident of the Bong Mines Bridge community in the early 1980s, he attended William V. S. Tubman Elementary School located on Bushrod Island, before moving to Bomi County where he had his private education at the St. Paul Episcopal Elementary School and the more famous St. Dominic’s Catholic School. Tweah completed middle school at the G. W. Gibson Jr. High School before enrolling at the William V. S. Tubman High School, where he graduated as valedictorian in 1993.

Two years later, in 1995, Tweah was among the first group of students to gain admission at the University of Liberia, five years after the onset of the Liberian civil war. At the UL, he read economics and mathematics, graduating with a magna cum laude in 2001. In 2009, he obtained a Master’s degree in economics from George Washington University, in Washington D.C., United States.

As a young man and while a student at the University of Liberia, Tweah was always drawn to politics and social advocacy. He was elected President of the first post-war Freshman class at the UL in 1995 and thereafter joined the Student Democratic Alliance (STUDA), where became Assistant Secretary General, Secretary General and Chairman. In 1999, he became Standard Bearer of STUDA and contested the leadership of the University of Liberia Student Union (ULSU). Also while at the UL, Mr. Tweah led the establishment of the first post-war student-based anti-AIDS advocacy, the Student Anti-AIDS program (SAAP), which mobilized students and young people against the deadly HIV virus in the late nineties.

Tweah made his first foray into National politics as a Member of the Unity Party in the 1997 presidential elections, serving as member of the UP youth wing. As the 2005 election approached and while residing in Minnesota, Mr. Tweah joined LIBWIN, an organization supporting the presidential bid of Cllr. Winston A. Tubman and chaired by Mr. Nathaniel F. McGill.

Career
Prior to and during graduate school, Mr. Tweah began his formal work experience in Minnesota variously working for U.S. Bank, Citi-Financial Auto, a subsidiary of Citi-Group, B. F. Saul Company in Bethesda, Maryland and MBA Management in Chantilly, Virginia.

As Lead Economic Consultant
In 2011, Tweah was hired as the lead economic consultant at the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs to cost the Agenda for Transformation, the five year development plan from the Government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The costing team developed the methodology and conducted wide-ranging consultations, and finally putting the cost of 1,200 interventions in the AFT Results Framework at USD $3.2 billion. Beyond duties of costing the Agenda for Transformation, Mr. Tweah also provided program and policy advice and support at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, starting in 2011 and finishing in 2013.

While serving both as Consultant at the Ministry of Planning and Economic affairs and as lead economist on the Compact Team, Mr. Tweah had the opportunity to also consult with many NGOs and other organizations on economic matters ranging from the economics of natural resource management to agriculture development. He was hired by UNESCO and the Government of Liberia as the consultant to cost Liberia’s Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for five year implementation plan.

As Lead Economist
In 2013, he was also hired as the Lead Economist of the National Millennium Compact Development Project. The country’s team assembled to manage Liberia’s access to United States Compact grant administered by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). In 2013, Liberia became eligible to receive the MCC grant but as a requirement the country had to develop an economic constraints analysis proffering evidence of the binding constraints to private investment in Liberia. Under the lead authorship of Tweah, the MCC Liberia Country Team delivered a 212 page Liberia’s Constraints Analysis, which identified the poor quality of roads and the lack of reliable and affordable electricity as the binding constraints to private investment. The Country Team worked to deliver for Liberia USD $257 million, the lion share of which partly financed the rehabilitation of the Mount Coffee Hydropower Dam.

As Governor of the AfDB
In 2016, he was appointed as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the constituency comprising of The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan. At the Board of the AfDB, Senior Advisor Tweah became known for his impassioned advocacy for Africa’s development. He was, and remains as Governor of the African Development Bank, a loud voice for recapitalizing the AfDB to enable the Bank do more for Africa.

As Minister of Finance and Development Planning
In January 2018, Mr. Tweah was appointed Minister of Finance and Development Planning by President George Manneh Weah.