Published: October 16, 2026
MONROVIA – Dr. Dougbeh Christopher Nyan says the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded the National Public Health Institute of Liberia’s new emergency operations center, not the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nyan, the institute’s former director general whom the Supreme Court ordered reinstated, accused the institute’s current leadership of giving the public a false account of who built it.
Documents Nyan provided show that the Africa CDC bought US$275,095.89 in equipment for the center in late 2024, in partnership with the African Development Bank. Nyan said the officer-in-charge described the Public Health Emergency Operations Center as a “refurbished” facility and credited the U.S. CDC during a briefing at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism. He said he built the center under his leadership with about US$300,000 in Africa CDC support.
“This statement circumvents the truth and distorts the facts, is totally inaccurate, and discredits the efforts of the actual institutions and our Team of Leadership at the NPHIL that made this ‘new’ PHEOC a physical and practical reality,” Nyan said.
His statement quotes the officer-in-charge as saying, “We want to acknowledge our partners, especially US-CDC, for furnishing our National PHEOC and also providing computers and printers.” Nyan said the institute’s board repeated the claim at information ministry briefings in July 2026.
The documents trace the equipment from Addis Ababa to Monrovia. The first is a Nov. 5, 2024, acknowledgment letter from the Africa CDC, signed by Tesfaye Hailemichael, lead of the agency’s supply chain division. It says the Africa CDC, “in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB), is supporting the Republic of Liberia in establishing a Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC). To this end, we have completed the procurement of ICT equipment, valued at USD 275,095.89.”
The letter asked the institute to countersign to acknowledge receipt when the supplier, Stellar Trading FZ LLC, delivered the equipment. The copy Nyan provided carries his signature and the stamp of the institute’s director general’s office.
On Nov. 19, 2024, Nyan wrote to Dorbor Jallah, then commissioner general of the Liberia Revenue Authority, to request a customs exemption. “The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa-CDC) in conjunction with the African Development Bank has donated a consignment of Public Health Emergency Operations equipment to the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) to be used during the ongoing Mpox outbreak and onwards thereafter,” the letter said. It said the equipment was due to arrive within 24 hours.
On Dec. 10, 2024, Saa Saamoi, then the revenue authority’s commissioner of customs, confirmed in a letter that “any donation or direct procurement by NPHIL is entitled to 100% duty and tax exemption.” The letter cites the Second Schedule of the Liberia Revenue Code. It does not mention the emergency operations center or the Africa CDC by name. Nyan forwarded it in a message describing it as the exemption for “the NPHIL PHEOC equipment sent by the Africa-CDC.”
According to Nyan, the Africa CDC chose Liberia because of the institute’s record during the mpox, Lassa fever and measles outbreaks and its work in disease surveillance, laboratories and biomedical research. In his statement, he said the institute received the materials around January 2025. He said installation began July 14, 2025, inside the institute’s headquarters building in Congo Town, and that a locally contracted construction firm completed it around September 2025 under Liberia’s public procurement laws.
Nyan said the Africa CDC also supplied computers for surveillance officers. It also provided wide-screen televisions for the center and for the main conference room where incident management meetings are held, along with audiovisual sets and office equipment. He said he was correcting the record because he and the Africa CDC representative must account for the donation.
“Moreover, as African institutions fight for independence from vestiges of socio-economic colonialism and scientific deprivation, due credit must be given to the Africa CDC and the African Development Bank for this valuable contribution,” he said.
Nyan credited the U.S. CDC with other help. He said it helped build the institute’s current container-type headquarters around 2017, with support from U.S. philanthropist Paul Allen after the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and that the building has outlived its lifespan. He also credited the U.S. CDC with training field epidemiologists.
He also accused Health Minister Louise Kpoto of holding up U.S. funding to the institute. He said most U.S. assistance came through a cooperative agreement, with funds channeled through the Ministry of Health. He said that for most of 2024 and 2025, Kpoto withheld those funds, boycotted meetings with the U.S. CDC country representative and the institute’s leadership, and refused to sign documents to release the money. He said she gave in after pressure from his leadership and the U.S. CDC, and that he has documentary evidence.
Nyan said his leadership had vowed not to allow “U.S. taxpayers’ money to be diverted into personal pockets and corrupted under my watch.” The statement does not say any funds were diverted. It does not accuse Kpoto or anyone else by name of diverting money.
Nyan tied the dispute to his removal from office. He said the officer-in-charge and the board were continuing what he called a “false and deceptive 11-point resolution” that misled President Joseph Boakai into dismissing him. Boakai removed Nyan on Sept. 17, 2025, on the board’s recommendation. The board cited poor coordination with the Ministry of Health, disregard for board authority, and communication with the president and the Legislature without its knowledge.
On Feb. 16, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that the removal violated due process because no legally valid investigation or hearing took place. It ordered Nyan reinstated or compensated for the rest of his statutory tenure.
“The discredited NPHIL Board and OIC can feed the Liberian President and his government with lies and gossips at breakfast, deception at lunch, and dishonesty at dinner; but, my team will not allow them for a nanosecond to do same to the public and distort our record of progress and accomplishments,” Nyan said.
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