By former Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Tamba Koijee
I woke up this morning to the news that Senator Lindsey Graham had passed, and honestly, it has been hard to put into words since. On behalf of myself and everyone at the Congress for Democratic Change, I want to extend our deepest condolences to his family and to the American people during this incredibly painful time.
I still think back to the day I met him in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. It wasn’t a long meeting, but it stayed with me. As a young leader coming from Liberia, I didn’t expect a U.S. Senator of his stature to speak with such warmth, and such genuine curiosity about where I came from and what I was trying to build for my country. That conversation gave me more than I think he realized it was inspiring, it was generous with his time, and it pushed me to think differently about leadership itself.
What struck me most about Senator Graham was that he never treated the world as divided into places that mattered and places that didn’t. He believed, deeply, that America’s strength and its friendships even with a country as small as Liberia were part of the same story: standing up for freedom, wherever it was tested.
America has lost one of its most dedicated public servants. The world has lost a voice that didn’t shy away from hard conversations. And I have lost someone who, in a single meeting, reminded me why I chose this path in the first place.
To his family, and to the people of South Carolina and America who loved him my prayers are with you. May his memory be a lasting blessing, and may the example he set continue to guide those of us still finding our way in public life.
Jefferson T. Koijee
Former Mayor of Monrovia
National Secretary General, Congress for Democratic Change (CDC)