Liberia, July 1 -- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia's and Africa's first democratically elected female president, on Wednesday urged President Joseph Boakai to intensify the fight against corruption, calling on him to address what she described as "the several scandals that plague the society" while backing the creation of a Specialized National Anti-Corruption Court.

Speaking as the keynote speaker a one-day National Anti-Corruption Policy Dialogue in Monrovia, Sirleaf said Boakai, who served as her vice president for 12 years, must lead the fight against corruption-an issue she once described as a "public enemy number one" and later likened to "a vampire."

"We therefore call on the President to treat the request for the Specialized Cou...