By Bill Cooper
The New Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 55th Legislature, Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa, has pledged to work with incoming President Joseph Boakai to develop Liberia, especially in the areas of road, agriculture, education, as well as infrastructure.
Representative Koffa, who is a lawmaker from the outgoing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), defeated his rival, Richard Nagbe Koon of the incoming Unity Party, in a tight race for the speakership, receiving 36 out of 67 votes while Koon got 31 votes.
In a brief remark, Speaker Kofa promised to work with the incoming government at all levels, because as he puts it, the failure of the government is as well the failure of the Legislature.
“I can assure you, Mr. President, that I will work with you, especially in the areas of road, education, agriculture, and in all areas, because the failure of the government is the failure of the Legislature and I will not let that happen,” the Speaker said.
Koffa served as deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives under former Speaker, Bhofal Chambers, in the outgoing CDC government, and is being blamed for contributing, by his action, or inaction, to the failure of the outgoing government.
The election of Rep. Koffa is being viewed by some stewards of the incoming government as not ideal, stating that he will preside over and control how the Boakai-Koung government rolls out its well-publicized AREST agenda.
As the head of the Legislature, Speaker Koffa now has the gavel of authority to appoint all standing committee members, and more importantly, decide the size of the budget, which is the core driver of the economy. The UPists fear that a CDC Speaker will garrote its government’s programs and policies intended to refurbish and rebrand the country.
They also see Koffa’s ascendency as Speaker of the 55th Legislature as a well-situated advantage that the outgoing CDC could use to sit on his (Boakai’s) development agenda and drag the Unity Party-led government into the mud of failures, as did the CDC during its regime, while on the contrary, Richard Koon as Speaker would have ensured and promoted the full rolling out of the AREST agenda of the party, something that the Speaker said is far from sight.
In an interview with journalists following his election, he promised to work for all Liberians, despite their political, ethnic, religious, or economic status.
“We were to represent our people, and this is what we will do. We may have made some mistakes in the past, but our elections and reelections have presented an opportunity for us to correct the wrongs,” the Speaker said.
Many persons, including outgoing Speaker, Bhofal Cambers, have accused Cllr. Koffa of vote-buying and vote-rigging in his Grand Kru County District 2, paying off potential candidates who may have presented themselves as threats to his election, as well as attempting to dethrone him in Maryland County by encouraging and financially supporting candidates against his reelection campaign.
