Liberia's newly installed President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has dismissed some finance ministry officials in a bid to curb the corruption crippling her country.
Living up to her reputation as an "Iron Lady", Africa's first elected female head of state said her victory in November's presidential runoff gave her a mandate to clean up Liberia's finances.
"Those who are part of financial malpractices and scandals must give way for those who are prepared to do the will of the Liberian people," Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf told employees during a surprise visit to the ministry.
She had earlier said the entire staff of the finance ministry were to be sacked, but her office later issued a statement clarifying only those employees appointed by the outgoing caretaker government were relieved of their posts.
Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf faces the task of rebuilding a nation shattered by 14-years of civil war. Endemic corruption was a key cause of Liberia's civil war, which killed 250,000 people and devastated Africa's oldest republic, founded by freed American slaves in 1847.
Ms Johnson-Sirleaf, a 67-year-old Harvard-trained economist, pledged at her inauguration last month before assembled African and other world leaders to make the war on corruption a top priority.
She named former World Bank official Antoinette Sayeh as Finance Minster, with a brief to root out graft and build bridges with international donors, who have made further aid reliant on weeding out corruption.
With a debt of over $3 billion , the West African nation is reliant on aid from the United Nations, the World Bank, the United States and Europe.