Mourners trooped in their numbers upon hearing the news of Alhaji G. V. Kromah who died at dawn on Tuesday, January 18, at his residence in the Wroto Town Community
The late Kromah lived within the vicinity of the James Springfield Airport in Sinkor and he is expected to be buried today in accordance with his religious rites befitting a deceased.
Christians and Muslims and other members of the religious groups as well as the government will congregate at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium today, January 19, to bid farewell to a fallen Statesman, Alhaji G. V. Kromah.
Kromah, 76, died following a period of illness though the cause of death is not known; perhaps it might have been linked to a stroke which confined him to the bed during the most part of his poor health.
He was a journalist, writer, politician, teacher, former warlord and leader of the defunct United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO-K) a warring faction during the Liberian Civil War.
Kromah was a moderate Muslim and member of the Mandingo ethnic group from Tusu Town, Quardu Gboni Statutory District, Lofa County.
It is not yet known where he will be buried; many believed that it will be in Tusu, Quadu gboni Statutory District, Lofa County, where his late father hailed or Wenni in Suehen Mecca Statutory District where his late mother originated.
Until his death, Kromah was one of the founding leaders of the All Liberian Coalition Party which was birthed by the defunct but breakaway faction of the ULIMO.
The likes of Kromah, Emmanuel Bowier, all now deceased and others came to prominence in contemporary Liberian politics through the ranks and files of the youth league of the grand old True Whig Party.
Kromah attended the defunct Saint Patrick’s High School (1973) in Monrovia after which he served as the Special Assistant to former Vice-President, Bennie Warner before the 1980 military takeover.
He later became Assistant Information Minister during the same regime of President William Tolbert before becoming Director General of the Liberian Broadcasting System in 1982.
In 1984, he became Minister of Information under President Samuel Doe and denied the government’s crackdown leading to some deaths at the University of Liberia in 1984.
He went into exile in June 1990; months after the civil war began in Liberia. He later co-founded the ULIMO, a resistance armed group that forced Charles Taylor to a negotiating table that eventually brought a tangible political solution to the Liberian conflict.
ULIMO split into two factions in 1994, with Kromah leading one faction known as ULIMO-K with a power base in northwestern Liberia in and around Lofa County.
After the war ended, Kromah contested the July 19, 1997 presidential election representing the ALCOP taking a third placed; winning 4.02 percent of the votes.
Kromah ran again as the party’s presidential candidate in the October 11, 2005 elections in which he was again defeated thus receiving 2.8 percent votes.
President George M. Weah who received with profound sadness news of the passing of Prof. Kromah, a former member of the Council of State of the Liberian National Transitional Government conveys his deepest sympathy to the Kromah family and all those affected by Prof. Kromah’s passing.
Before falling sick, Prof. Kromah was an active member of the faculty of the University of Liberia, where he helped mold the minds of many of the country’s youths.
The Liberian Leader has said despite the mixed views about the role of the learned Professor in Liberian history, there’s no denying that he is a pillar of strength to many of his supporters and urged the grieving family to take solace in the Almighty Allah during this difficult time.