Liberia News: Koffa Twists Tongue

Liberia-House Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa’s ‘six years not six months’ comments in response to flowery of  opposition and criticisms of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s early handling of the affairs of state is being viewed in many circles as a twist of tongue and a form of doubling down on the President, thus implicitly invigorating him to operate without check.

Prior to making the comments, urging a halt to criticism against the presidency, Koffa showed signs of standing up to the president on questionable decisions made, a case in point being the constitution of the asset recovery and retrieval taskforce.

In a rather pacifying move, Speaker Koffa recently told the nation that it was too early for members of the opposition to begin parading with negative things about the government, instead of focusing on how the country can develop under President Boakai’s Agriculture, Road, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation and Tourism (ARREST) Agenda.

The Speaker urged the opposition community to continue to forge bond of unity, keeping the peace and making significant contributions to nation-building.

“It is too soon to talk about this government when they have not even gone a single year. In fact, the CDC and Stewart started to undermine each other and begin the process of eliminating one another during those critical times. Those things should be lessons learned”, Speaker Koffa added.

He told his party, Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) Youth League Town Hall Engagement, that the former ruling party’s defeat in last year’s election was self-inflicted due to weak campaigns and propaganda.

Instead of focusing on the 2023 elections immediately before them, Speaker Koffa asserted that the CDC was too basically thinking about the 2029 elections that are yet to come.

“We will not do anything negative to bring the government out. Our responsibility as the largest party is first to keep the peace. Sometimes when I see a bit of panic among us as CDCians, I think of our weaknesses in the past. I am not a footballer but in any match, if your opponent scores some goals at the early stage, that is not the end of the game but the end is when the final whistle is blown”, he maintained.

According to the Speaker, CDC’s loss was due to undermining and eliminating each other within the coalition, saying that there should be a period of reflection for all members of the party.

He said the Unity Party government should rule in the interest of the people without criticism, especially at the early stage of their governance.

Speaker Koffa also said too many panics among CDCians at the beginning of leadership they lost but cautioned them to be resilient as 2029 massive will determine their true leader.

Veering from point to point, he called on the CDC begin to begin thorough planning as they have the resources to regain state power in 2029, indicating that the revolutionary efforts should be united between party and governance.

Speaker Koffa also stressed that, as head of the first branch of government, it is his priority to deliver a government of integrity to the Liberian people, saying the present administration should prioritize commitments made by the immediate past government.

His call for slowing down of criticism of the government is in light of growing disparagement of the administration for wrongful actions and decisions, including the deployment of AFL soldiers at the RIA, dismissal of Liberians, tempering with of tenure positions, controversial acquisition of yellow machines, and many others.

As the foremost opposition party, the CDC has been in the lead in criticizing the Unity Party-led administration.