The Ministry of Commerce & Industry has two newly appointed officials. They are Deputy Commerce & Industry Minister for Administration, Tarnue Jeke, and Commerce Inspector General, Miantor Sei Gbatu. The new Deputy Commerce Minister for Administration was appointed by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai in May, while the new Commerce Inspector General was appointed on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.

Mr. Jeke succeeds Madam Scholastica Tanneh Nyenkan-Nimley, who was removed by the Liberian Chief Executive on May13, 2025, while Mr. Gbatu replaces D. Dorr Cooper who served in the role from February 2024 up to his resignation in early June, 2025. Details about the new Commerce Inspector General’s professional life will be provided subsequently. For the new Deputy Commerce & Industry Minister for Administration, he was this week among three presidential nominees who received overwhelming endorsement by the Senate Committee on Commerce & Industry during the Senate’s 36th day sitting. It can be recalled that Mr. Jeke appeared for confirmation hearing on Wednesday, 5th June, 2025, where he provided his standpoint about the kind of MoCI he pictures, with respect to the Ministry’s mandate.

In a well-tailored overview, Mr. Jeke said his primary focus would be on enhancing the Ministry’s administrative and operational efficiency. In support of his vision for the Ministry, he outlined a five-point approach that would be applied in achieving such an ambitious vision, taking collaboration into consideration. High on his agenda include streamlining internal processes in Human Resource(HR), procurement, logistics, and financial management; strengthening compliance with Public Financial Management and Public Procurement laws; introducing performance-based systems that improve accountability and responsiveness, etc.

Deputy Minister Jeke’s professional life records over fifteen years in both public and private sectors, where he supervised multimillion dollars projects with a number of financial and related institutions, including the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI), the American Refugee Committee, World Bank, EU, etc.