Snakes ‘sack’ Liberian President Weah from office

Snakes found in the office of the Liberian President George Weah in Monrovia have forced him to work from his private residence.

Two black snakes were found in Weah’s office at the foreign affairs ministry building on Wednesday, according to Press Secretary Smith Toby.

All staff were consequently asked to stay away from work until Monday when the building would have been fumigated.

“It’s just to make sure that crawling and creeping things get fumigated from the building,” BBC quoted  Mr. Toby as saying in an interview.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosts the office of the president, so it did an internal memo asking the staff to stay home while they do the fumigation,” he said.

The office of the president has been based in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since a fire in 2006 gutted the nearby presidential mansion.

A Front Page Africa news website video shows workers trying to attack the snakes when they appeared near the building’s reception.

“The snakes were never killed,” Mr Toby said. “There was a little hole somewhere [through which] they made their way back.”

Police and presidential security were seen guarding Mr Weah’s residence in the capital Monrovia. A fleet of vehicles, including escorts jeeps, were parked outside.

Mr Toby said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs started to fumigate on Friday.

“That building’s been there for years now, and [because of] the drainage system, the possibility of having things like snakes crawling in that building was high,” he said.

The president is definitely returning to his office on Monday after the fumigation whether or not the snakes are found and killed, Mr Toby said.