By Sylvester W. Korwor, LINA Bong County Correspondent
GBARNGA June 9 (LINA) – As the 2026 Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) recruitment exercise continues in region three (Bong, Lofa and Nimba Counties), the Chief of Operation Colonel NE Williams has expressed excitement over the overwhelming momentum demonstrated by young people to serve their country through the army.
Speaking to LINA at the David Kuyon Sports Stadium in Gbarnga Monday June 1, 2026, Col. Williams said he is upbeat about and very excited over the huge attendance of young people describing it as ‘good sign for the country” where the Youths have demonstrated interest to enlist into the AFL.
According to him, though the process is ongoing peacefully, there are however major challenges the team has encountered so far include the poor composition skills exhibited by some candidates during the written test as well as the habit of some to present fake documents including WAEC certificate.
“Most of the failures in the recruitment process he maintained derive from the written test, especially the composition aspect of the exercise. He assured that those that will be qualified following the recruitment process, will serve their country adequately,” he said.
“You find out that many will just write the normal colloquial”, he said. Colloquial, referred to by some as “Liberian English”, does not require applying grammatical rules though it is what is widely spoken by the majority population across the country especially in rural settings.
Another challenge he figured out is what he termed as “un-unified WAEC documents” , something according to him, has made it extremely difficult to verify candidates’ documents. He has strongly recommended WAEC to unify their documents for speedy verification processes.
Meanwhile, Col. Williams has lauded the local authority headed by Superintendent Loleyah Hawa Norris for the support accorded them by providing a safe environment for region three recruitment exercise.
Contained in his state of the nation address in January 2026, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai publicly announced the recruitment of 600 military personnel each year up to 2030.
The Armed Forces of Liberia was established on February 6, 1908 as the Liberia Frontier Force (LFF) during the administration of Former President Arthur Barclay.
In 1956, it was then recognized and officially named the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) with assistance from the United States Military. Following the 14 years of civil unrest in Liberia, the AFL was completely demobilized and a new, professionalized modern AFL was structured, and further trained under the security sector reform.