By: Naneka A. Hoffman
Citizens of Grand Kru County, mainly from Electoral District #2, are calling on their Representative, embattled Speaker Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa, not to resign as Speaker of the 55th Legislature.
The citizens, in an exclusive interview via mobile phone from various towns and villages across the county, say they depend on Speaker Koffa for a better change of mind and his developmental innovation for the people of the district and the county at large.
They note that since 2017, Grand Gru County has improved relatively through infrastructural development, social justice, and socio-economic development that have impacted all 12 (twelve) traditional communities in the county.
According to the citizens, they have received heartbroken news that Speaker Koffa is contemplating resigning both as Representative and Speaker, thus creating fear amongst the local population.
They have begun holding meetings across the county, speaking out publicly for first the time since the political crisis began in the House of Representatives to remove Speaker Koffa.
The Grand Kru citizens who spoke via mobile phone came from Forpoh, Dorbor, Buah, Jloh, Sass Town, Upper and Lower, and Barclayville, respectively.
“We were broken down when we got the news that our Representative will soon resign his positions in this government; this will bring shame and embarrassment to us that voted for him in 2023”, they say.
Sunday E. Toogbabu, Sr., general coordinator for “Friends of Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa”, Speaker of the 55th Legislature, pleaded with the embattled Speaker not to dream about resigning his post, least of resigning as a Representative.
Patrica Bartu of Sasstown Down Beach, Hawa Toogbabu of Weakeken, Barcyville city, and Wesley Nagbe of Noakia, and Patricia Bartu, in separate interviews, expressed deep regret if Koffa stepped down as Representative of electoral District#2.
They note that the people of District #2 elected him to represent their interest in the Legislature, so if he resigned, the district will not get anybody like him.
“We hope and pray that the rumors we are hearing are not true; we, the people of his district and the entire county, are standing with you, Speaker Koffa,” a group of women pledged.
The citizens continue that it took them time to speak out publicly because they were waiting for the Supreme Court of Liberia’s ruling on the case involving the Majority bloc and Speaker Fonati Koffa’s supporters, dubbed as the Minority bloc.
According to them, they were moved to speak out publicly when they saw on social media the forceful breaking into the Speaker’s Office to have him evicted on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, led by the Chairman on Rules, Order and Administration, Bong County District#2 Representative James Kolleh.
The Grand Kru County citizens disclose that they have planned to send a delegation to Monrovia to reassure embattled Speaker Koffa that they stand by him in these trial times.
“We calling on embattled House Speaker and Grand Kru County Electoral District #2 Representative Cllr J. Fonati Koffa, to always keep updating us back home because the disinformation is too much in the county, something that sometimes causes us to break down in tears”, they say.
Speaker Koffa has been embattled since last year when a group of his fellow lawmakers, sponsored by the Executive, waged a campaign to oust him illegally.
He has fought back, challenging his removal before the Supreme Court. The Court described actions by both sides as ultra vires and directed them to return to status code ante, to act within confines of the Constitution, but the Executive through the Minister of Justice, interprets the Court’s directive in its favor, empowering the Majority bloc to elect ruling Unity Party Representative, Richard Nagbe Koon, as Speaker, albeit illegally. Editing by Jonathan Browne
