A Patriot’s Diary
Journalist Charles Yates undoubtedly has an affinity for Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa. Surely, he is not as outspokenly critical as any journalist should be when it comes to his friend, Speaker Koffa. What manner of journalism is that? Journalists do have friends though. Should such connections impede their ethics? Your guess is as good as everyone after all. Simply, No!
Whether we like it or not, it is the dawn of a new day in the small West African nation. The CDC is nursing its wounds as a result of a democratic bruising encounter. Liberia, they say, “Liberia will not bwen!” The country must unarguably move on as it were.
Notably, government is continuity. The new Joe Boakai-led UP administration is obliged to take-off from where soccer star-turned President George M. Weah haphazardly left us.
Journalist Charles Yates writes: “Imagine all those international guests came to grace the commissioning ceremony of the vessel to conduct the assessment of Liberia’s fish stock in the Liberian waters and nobody from the executive branch of the government attended the program because it was a George Weah administration initiative.” Hmm! If the new leaders were invited, why didn’t a representative or proxy show up? There is nothing to imagine here. The Speaker and Chief Justice are part of one government though. Haha!
It was totally uncalled for to give a foreign government that sought to offer its generosity the impression that the Boakai-led administration doesn’t give a damn as it were. Lest we forget, hundreds of Liberians are beneficiaries of Morocco Government-sponsored scholarship program.
Even a supposedly inept George Weah-led government was able to negotiate a Deal for the greater good. What the hell is wrong with the new UP leaders showing up out of diplomatic expediency? As Liberians reckon the countdown to President Joseph Boakai’s first 100 days, it was foolhardy to have cold-shouldered our foreign partners in such a disdainful manner. At the diplomatic level – we must take action to right the mess!
Morocco, as a critical powerhouse in solar energy – and a vital sustainable energy giant that Liberia so desperately needs to make energy accessible to mainly rural inhabitants – could not have been treated with such diplomatic disdain. This cannot be seen as a jostle for supremacy between the previous and incoming regimes. Our critical priorities are, as a nation, should never become political pawns!
Outside of any so-called public relations gimmick that would seek to present House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa of the 55th Legislature as a political saving grace is absolutely untenable! Speaker J. Fonati Koffa is an integral part of the ‘political trinity’ also known as our republican form of government.
More essentially, the government was ably represented amid the active presence of the Speaker of the House along with the Chief Justice. If the signing of the constitution took place in the Providence Baptist Church on Ashmum Street in Monrovia – the opaque characterization of the “grace of God and the good leadership ability…” on the part of Speaker Koffa is moot.
The Speaker of the 55th Legislature and Chief Justice, Sie-A-Nyene Youh simply did what they had to do in the best interest of the country they swore to serve. It is all in the name of service to the country. Had they been ordinary Liberians, of course it would have been out of the ordinary. That was not the case if you may.
On speculation that Vice President, Jeremiah Koung had accepted to be the chief launcher of the Moroccan Vessel, but failed to show up, it is clearly indicative of bad omen after all. Whatever informed Vice President Koung’s failure to honor a strategic intervention in the fisheries and aquaculture sector – was simply misplaced and miscalculated. There was no basis for such a grievous error!
Ekena Wesley
Darby
Delaware County, PA
+16107650305
Email: wes.critic@gmail.com
“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall. – Che Guevera
