“PresidentWeah Is not proceeding wrongly”
By Mark N. Mengonfia- mmenginfia@gmail.com
Cllr. Fonati Koffa, a one-time executive of the opposition Liberty Party (LP) and now Grand Kru County Representative, has given a strong backing to President George Weah and his CDC government’s handling of the Liberian economy and other policies.
Addressing a press conference at his Capitol Building office in Monrovia at the weekend, Rep. Koffa urged Liberians to be patient amidst the tough economic situation in the country, as it is not the fault of President Weah, who is in the interest of the masses unlike previous administrations.
Rep. Koffa said “to change from one policy to another it takes time. Former president Sirleaf had a policy that ‘focused on people like us who already have money’ and for president Weah to change that policy to target the poor people; it has to take some time”.
Flanked by the chairperson of the ruling CDC, Cllr. Koffa went on to say that “you will expect these kinds of challenges for few months, but when the policy takes shape, everyone will be happy.”
The Grand Kru County District #2 Representative also backed the current policies being pursued by President Weah, including his request to the Legislature to scrap tenured positions, saying the CDC Standard Bearer is not wrongly proceeding as being perceived by some Liberians.
During the closing stage of the Sirleaf administration, Cllr. Koffa became a close confidante of Liberia and Africa’s first elected woman President.
Former President Sirleaf appointed him Chairman of the Special Presidential Prosecution task force to investigate the Sable Mining massive bribery case, linking former House Speaker Alex Tyler and Grand Cape Mount County Senator Varney Sherman.
Pres. Weah didn’t break the law
The Grand Kru County Representative, who is also a Lawyer, clearly stated that the president has not violated any law by requesting the legislature to change what he (Weah) believes is not in the interest of the people of Liberia.
Recently, Liberians, opposition politicians have been commenting on the recent decision made by the Liberian Legislature to agree to the request of president Weah to cancel all tenured positions, this, they have said is intended to adjoin more powers to the already imperial presidency Liberia has.
But, the Liberian lawmaker said “the president is doing everything according to law.”
He said that if the president had not consulted the Liberian legislature and went ahead to undo all the tenure passions, it would have been unconstitutional and unlawful.
The Grand Kru District #2 lawmaker indicated that the best thing any president can do in any democratic society is to follow the laws of that country.
“If the president has sat and decide within himself to remove all of those who have tenured positions from their posts, then we have a case, but for now there is nothing to hold him for.
The tenured positions were enacted into law during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; some just before she departed the presidency in 2017.
But President Weah recently requested that all tenured positions be cancelled. The House Committee on Judiciary and Good Governance that were given the mandate by the plenary saw the need to leave the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL), General Auditing Commission (GAC) and the National Elections Commission (NEC) untouched.
The withdrawal of tenured positions affected the some government entities and integrity institutions including the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), the Governance Commission and the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA).