–Dehpue Yanpea Zuo’s Farewell Should Remind Liberia to Recognize Competence, Reward Excellence And Celebrate Public Servants While They Are Still Doing the Work
THE FAREWELL OF Deputy Minister for Economic Management Dehpue Yanpea Zuo at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning was more than an official ceremony marking the departure of a senior government official. It was an unusually powerful public acknowledgment of a Liberian professional whose career has been defined by economic management, international engagement, institutional service and, perhaps most importantly, a willingness to do the difficult work that often happens away from the public spotlight.
FOR MANY LIBERIANS, government officials become visible when something goes wrong. We hear their names when there is controversy, a policy failure, a political dispute or a corruption allegation. We are less accustomed to hearing the country pause to say: This person did good work. This person served well. This person deserves recognition.
THAT IS WHY the farewell for Zuo deserves to be considered beyond the speeches, handshakes and emotional exchanges. It raises a larger question about how Liberia treats competence. Do we recognize our best people while they are serving, or do we wait until they are leaving before we tell them what their work meant?
THE ANSWER SHOULD be obvious. We should give people their flowers while they are alive.
FINANCE MINISTER Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan did precisely that. In his tribute, he did not merely describe Zuo as a departing deputy minister. He offered a detailed account of a professional relationship that stretches back decades and of a colleague whose contributions have touched student leadership, diplomacy, international development cooperation, economic management and national policymaking.
NGAFUAN CALLED HIM “DZ,” “Deep-Dive” and “the Gentle Giant”—descriptions that, taken together, capture something important about the man. “Deep-Dive” speaks to an analytical mind that does not settle for superficial answers. “Gentle Giant” speaks to someone whose intellectual strength has not, according to those who worked with him, been accompanied by arrogance.
THAT COMBINATION IS rare in public service. Competence matters. But competence accompanied by humility matters even more.
NGAFUAN RECALLED THAT long before Zuo became a senior economic policymaker, he was already demonstrating a commitment to creating opportunities for others. During their days at the University of Liberia, Zuo played a role in expanding scholarship opportunities from 475 beneficiaries to 1,500 students. Those numbers represented more than administrative achievement; they represented young Liberians whose education and future were affected by the work of people who chose to serve.
YEARS LATER THE numbers became much larger, and the responsibilities much heavier. At the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Zuo became deeply involved in Liberia’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Union and other development partners. He was also credited with contributing to efforts that mobilized substantial development financing for Liberia.
NGAFUAN DESCRIBED HIM as one of the country’s “chief economic stewards.” That is not a small compliment. It speaks to the importance of the technical people who sit behind government’s economic decisions and international negotiations.
PERHAPS MORE TELLINGLY, Ngafuan described Zuo as the “Foreign Minister” of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. The phrase captures the increasingly international character of economic policymaking. A modern finance ministry cannot operate in isolation. It must negotiate, persuade, defend national positions and build relationships beyond its borders.
AND ZUO APPARENTLY did much of that work.
NOW HE IS taking that experience to the regional level as he prepares to serve as Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture at the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, Nigeria. Liberia should see this appointment not simply as the loss of a deputy minister but as the elevation of a Liberian professional to a position where his experience can benefit the wider West African region.
NGAFUAN PUT HIS confidence in Zuo’s new assignment in unmistakable terms: “I am not merely certain that he will do well. I am doubly certain.”
THOSE WORDS MATTER because they came from a minister who worked alongside Zuo through some of Liberia’s most demanding economic and development engagements. They also carry an implicit message: Liberia has professionals capable of representing the country at the highest regional and international levels.
THE FAREWELL BECAME even more meaningful because the praise did not come only from Ngafuan. Representatives of the IMF, World Bank, United Nations, African Development Bank, US Embassy, European Union and Central Bank of Liberia also spoke about Zuo’s contribution.
THE IMF REPRESENTATIVE described him as a public servant, diplomat and reformer. A UN representative called him a “co-creator.” The Central Bank recognized his contribution to coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities. Other partners spoke of his accessibility, preparation, commitment and willingness to work through difficult problems.
WHEN DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS independently arrive at similar conclusions about a public servant, Liberia should pay attention.
BUT ZUO’S OWN remarks may have been the most revealing. He acknowledged that leaving the Finance Ministry was painful. Yet he framed the next chapter of his career through the image of a candle.
“I need to go over with the candle. To go light our region and the world.”
THAT IS AN appropriate metaphor for public service. A candle does not lose its purpose by lighting another candle. Its value is in the light it creates and the light it helps others create.
LIBERIA NEEDS MORE public servants who understand service in precisely those terms. Government should not simply be a place where people occupy offices. It should be a place where knowledge is transferred, institutions are strengthened, younger professionals are mentored and opportunities are created for those coming behind.
ZUO ALSO SPOKE about leaving the ministry with “empty hands.” But he immediately made clear that material possessions were not the measure of what he was taking away from his years of service.
THAT REFLECTION DESERVES attention in a country where public office is too often associated with personal accumulation. A public servant should be judged by what he leaves behind—not merely by what he acquires while in office.
IF ZUO LEAVES behind stronger relationships, institutional knowledge, colleagues he mentored, economic reforms he helped advance and a reputation for professional service, then he is not leaving empty-handed.
HE IS LEAVING with a legacy.
AND THAT IS precisely where Liberia’s larger problem begins.
WE HAVE TOO often been poor at recognizing excellence. We celebrate people when they are appointed. We praise them when they are leaving. Sometimes we remember them most warmly when they are gone.
WHY WAIT UNTIL retirement? Why should a competent public servant have to leave office before colleagues feel free to say what they appreciate about him? Why should recognition be delayed until the person is no longer available to hear it?
PUBLIC SERVICE IS difficult work. It requires long hours, difficult decisions, criticism, pressure and, frequently, personal sacrifice. Those who do it well deserve accountability, certainly—but they also deserve acknowledgment.
RECOGNITION DOES NOT mean abandoning scrutiny. Quite the opposite. A mature society should be able to hold public servants accountable when they fail and commend them when they succeed.
THERE IS NOTHING contradictory about demanding transparency while celebrating competence.
THERE IS NOTHING partisan about recognizing excellence.
THERE IS NOTHING wrong with telling a public servant: You served your country well.
ZUO’S DEPARTURE ALSO provides another important lesson. Liberia should not be afraid to see its best professionals move into international and regional institutions. Their departure can be a national asset if they carry Liberia’s interests with them and create new opportunities for the country.
ECOWAS NEEDS CAPABLE professionals from across the region. Liberia needs its professionals to demonstrate that the country can produce people capable of contributing meaningfully to regional institutions.
SO WHEN ZUO walks into the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja, he will not be walking there merely as an individual. He will be carrying the reputation of Liberian public service with him.
THAT RESPONSIBILITY SHOULD be celebrated—and it should also be taken seriously.
THE MINISTRY OF Finance and Development Planning will have to fill the gap created by his departure. Institutions must continue beyond individuals. That, too, is an important test of good leadership: whether the institution remains stronger after a good person leaves.
NGAFUAN’S TRIBUTE RECOGNIZED that reality. He acknowledged that Liberia was losing “one of our most effective battlefront commanders,” but rejected the idea that the country should regard Zuo’s ECOWAS appointment simply as a loss.
LIBERIA’S GAIN IS that another experienced Liberian will now have a seat at a regional table where decisions affecting West Africa’s economic future are made.
AND SO THIS editorial is not a farewell to Dehpue Zuo.
IT IS A thank-you.
THANK YOU FOR the years of service. Thank you for the negotiations that never made the newspapers. Thank you for the economic analysis that most citizens will never see. Thank you for the difficult meetings, the late nights, the international engagements and the institutional work that keeps a government moving.
THANK YOU FOR the scholarship work that helped young Liberians. Thank you for the development partnerships. Thank you for the years spent representing Liberia in rooms where the country’s interests had to be defended with knowledge, preparation and diplomacy.
AND THANK YOU for reminding us that public service can still be about something larger than the person occupying the office.
DEHPUE ZUO IS now moving on to a bigger regional assignment. We wish him well. More importantly, we hope his story inspires Liberia to look around and identify the other men and women quietly doing excellent work in government, business, academia, civil society and communities across the country.
TELL THEM NOW that their work matters.
RECOGNIZE THEM NOW and do not wait until retirement.
CELEBRATE THEM NOW and do not wait until a funeral.
GIVE THEM THEIR flowers while they are alive.
BECAUSE IN THE end, a country does not become stronger only by criticizing those who fail. It becomes stronger by identifying excellence, rewarding it, learning from it and creating conditions for it to multiply.
DEHPUE ZUO HAS received his flowers.
MAY THEY REMIND him, as he takes Liberia’s light to ECOWAS, that his country saw the work—and appreciated it.
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