Joseph Korto

Joseph D. Z. Korto (1949 – June 21, 2020) was a Liberian politician and member of the Liberia Equal Rights Party (LERP). Joseph Korto was born in Barpa, Nimba County, Liberia. He was Minister of Education in Liberia from 2006 to 2010 and was replaced by E. Othello Gongar, former Minister of Education during the regime of late president Samuel Kanyon Doe. He was also the executive director of the Liberian Development Foundation.[1]

Joseph D. Z. Korto
Minister of Education of Liberia
In office
January 2006 – April 2010
PresidentEllen Johnson Sirleaf
Personal details
Born1949 (1949)
Barpa, Nimba County, Liberia
DiedJune 21, 2020(2020-06-21) (aged 70–71)
Newark, Delaware, U.S.
Political partyLiberia Equal Rights Party (LERP)

Running as the LERP (Liberian Equal Rights Party) presidential candidate in the 11 October 2005 elections, Korto placed seventh out of 22 candidates, receiving 3.3% of the vote nationally and the highest vote total in Nimba County, his home base.[2]

After his loss in the first round of voting, he endorsed candidate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for the second round vote against football star George Weah. Johnson-Sirleaf went on to win the election, with Korto's support being viewed as an important factor in her victory, and she appointed Korto to her cabinet as Minister of Education shortly after she took office in January 2006. Korto had a background as a teacher and held a doctorate in education from the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.[3]

Korto died on June 21, 2020, in a Newark, Delaware, hospital.[4]

References
  1. "The Liberian Development Foundation initiates major relief campaign for war torn Liberia"
  2. Elections in Liberia, African Elections Database.
  3. "Sirleaf unveils first members of new peacetime government", IRIN, January 17, 2006.
  4. "Liberia: Dr. Joseph Korto, Presidential Candidate in ’05, Education Minister is Dead", Front Page Africa, June 23, 2020.


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